© At The Pas Company’s Bear Lake division is cut-off saw operator Don Graff.

Northern B.C. Local
has largest membership

ITH over 5,000 members

in its jurisdiction, [WA

-CANADA Local 1-424,

boasts of the largest

steady membership of

any IWA local in the

country. Its jurisdiction has members

in over 40 operations which also cov-

ers the largest area of any single

IWA-CANADA local in the province of
British Columbia (see map).

The Northern B.C. local has oper-
ated under union charter for more
than 45 years and hit a membership
high of more than 7,000 workers in the
late ’70s.

In 1977 part of the local’s southern
portion was separated to form the Wil-
liams Lake Local 1-425. The new local
union was carved out in order to
provide the membership with better
service and help combat raids from
other unfriendly unions.

LOCAL UNION STRUCTURE

The local has maintained its head-
quarters in Prince George, a city of
80,000 people, about 700 km north of
Vancouver.

Working out of the office are 8
full-time staff, 6 of which act in ser-
vicing the membership as business
agents. The local President is Frank
Everitt, who has maintained that
position since 1983. Brother Everitt
originates from Weldwood Canada’s
plant in Quesnel.

Local union by-laws stipulate that
each plant with fifty or more mem-
bers will receive a seat on the local
executive board.

The 37-member board meets every
two months to discuss union policy
and procedure. Members from across
the local meet once a year at a dele-
gated meeting to set the local union’s
agenda.

JOINT INTERIOR BARGAINING

Like local unions on the B.C. Coast,
Local 1-424 bargains the majority of
its collective agreements on an
industry-wide basis. At present eleven
operations are covered under agree-
ments negotiated with the Council of
Northern Interior Forest Industrial
Relations Ltd. (CONIFER), who repre-
sent employers such as Findlay For-
est Products, Questwood, Lakeland
Sawmills, Dunkley Lumber, and The
Pas Company.

The present 3 year contract, which
will expire at the end of June 1991,
will coordinate bargaining activity
with the provincial negotiating
committee.

The local unions have collective
agreements covering sawmills, ply-
wood operations, planers, remaners,

¢ Debarker operator Linda Casner, at Dunkley Lumber, handles seven controls simul-
taneously for two debarkers.

LOCAL 1-424
IWA
CANADA

Prince George o

Fort St. Johno

© Mackenzie

© Fort St. James

© The northern B.C. local (non-shaded) is the province's largest area-wise and Canada’s

largest membership-wise.

construction workers, and automo-
bile shop workers.

In the construction sector the local
may have up to 1,000 members work-
ing under certification in a boom
period. The four construction firms
certified are Linden Sawmill Con-
struction, B.I.D. Mill Installations,
North Central Mill Installations and

envy of other forest products pro-
ducers world wide.

Excessively high stumpage rates,
which have penalized interior produc-
ers, have caused the employers to
introduce massive tech change which
is resulting in the layoffs of hundreds
of workers.

© On hand during the Lumberworker’s visit were (I. to r.) local financial secretary
Shiv Garcha; president Frank Everitt; and business agents Rob Theriault and Sucha

Deepak.

Stolberg Mill Construction (North-
ern) Ltd.

In the lumber and wood chip haul-
ing sector, the local union retains two
certifications, Excel Transportation
Ltd. out of Prince George and Ter-
race, and Lucus Trucking in Macken-
zie.

Some of the local’s big mill opera-
tions include more than 540 members
of Weldwood’s sawmill, planer and
plywood operations in Quesnel,
Westar Timber’s 275 member sawmill
and planer in Vanderhoof, Northwood
Pulp and Timber’s Houston and
Upper Fraser Mills (each with over
270 workers), and Babine Forest Prod-
ucts and Houston Forest Products
operations, each with in excess of 220
IWA members.

HI TECH OPERATIONS

In some of the CONIFER opera-
tions, the most up to date technology
is used. The northern interior of the
province, like the central and south-
ern interiors, has adapted it milling
capacity into something that is the

Traditionally, IWA-CANADA has
not opposed technological change.
Brother Everitt says the local will be
increasing its efforts to seek replace-
ment jobs for workers laid off due to
tech change.

“I think that we can argue with the
companies and the public that the
companies should find other suitable
employment for people rather than
kicking workers and their families out
on to the street,” says Everitt.

At The Pas Company's Bear Lak a

(Hart Division) sawmill, 45 mile:

north of Prince George, only 93 work-
ers (of which 50 are in maintenance)
produce over 1 million board feet of
dimensional lumber daily on 2 shifts.

Such technological advances have
made interior wood producers the
most efficient in the world. -

Most of the lumber production in
Local 1-424 is kiln-dried for its cus-
tomers. At Dunkley Lumbex compa-
ny’s hi-speed dimension mill in

Continued on page 14

6/LUMBERWORKER/MAY, 1990