Local 1-184 president Dennis Bonville Nikolai Andreev; Mikail Kuleshov president of
Russian union; Anatoli Katerushin; Shirley St. Louis, Local 1-184 trustee, and inter-
preter Marina Mussineants.

UNION HOSTS VISIT BY
SOVIET WOODWORKERS

IWA-CANADA played host to a four
person delegation from the Timber,
Paper and Woodworkers Union of the
Soviet Union between June 17-26.

Heading the Soviet delegation was
Mikhail Kuleshov, President of the
union's Central Committee. The other
Soviet visitors included Anatoli
Katerushin, President of the Tiumen
Regional Committee in Siberia and
Nikolai Andreev, a team leader from
Kapevsky logging operations in Ust-
Wmosk Siberia.

The Soviets spoke to the Canadi-
ans through Marina Mussineants, an
officer with the International Depart-
ment of the union.

In the fall of 1989 a three member
IWA-CANADA delegation headed by
Jack Munro, visited Moscow and the
Siberian region of Irkutsk to get a
first hand look at the Soviet brand of
trade unionism.

The Soviets were escorted through-
out their Canadian Tour by Terr:
Smith, Secretary-Treasurer and Phil-
lip Legg, Assistant Research Direc-
tor with IWA-CANADA.

In Ottawa, Ontario the Soviets met
with officials of the Canadian Labour
Congress and received an overview on
the Canadian Labour movement.

Federal New Democrat MP’s Brian
Gardner, Dave Barrett, and Joy
Langan also greeted the Soviets at a
luncheon engagement with John Fra-
ser, speaker of the House of Commons.

The Soviets also toured the Labour
College of Canada to discuss labour
education issues before meeting with
representatives from the Canadian
Labour Market and Productivity
Centre.

In Saskatchewan, the Soviets were
escorted by Dennis Bonville and Ted
Becker, President and Financial Sec-
retary of IWA-CANADA Local 1-184.

In Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan the
guests met with officials from the
local union, district municipality and
industry. Following the meeting, a
brief tour of Saskatchewan Forest
Products’ plywood plant was ar-
ranged.

Mr. Kuleshov gave a brief address
on trade unions in the USSR and
fielded questions on the timber, puln
and paper industry in his country.

In Vancouver, B.C., the Soviets met
with IWA-CANADA’s Jack Munro,
First Vice-President Gerry Stoney,
and National office staff to learn about
the structure of the IWA and the type
of forest industries that operate in
Canada.

Brother Munro explained the IWA’s
collective bargaining procedure to the
Soviets and the methods and nature
of the adversarial bargaining system
with Canadian industry.

Later on the tour the guests met
with John Weir, a staff representative
with the B.C. Federation of Labour to

© Mr. Kuleshov and interpreter met with IWA-CANADA president Jack Munro and
union officials to discuss principles of collective bargaining.

get historic background on the pro-
vincial labour organization.

B.C. Federation President Ken
Georgetti also met with the Soviets to
give them an idea of the role of the
Federation and compare roles with
regionally based Soviet organizations.

New Westminster Local 1-357 and
Haney Local 1-367 played host to the
Soviets in an informal get together
with local officers and union activists.

Later in the tour the Soviets were
choppered over to Vancouver Island
and toured through Canfor logging
operations in Camp Woss and Engle-
wood Division. Loggers’ Local Presi-
dent Warren Ulley and Courtenay
Local 1-363 President Sy Pederson
accompanied the tour which also took

in MacMillan Bloedel’s Eve River
operation and Carmanah Valley in the
Port Alberni region.
The final B.C. stop in the tour was
in Castlegar where the delegation was
reeted by Local 1-405 sident
fayne Nowlin and Business Agent
Klaus Offermann. The Soviets toured
the Doukhobour Cultural Centre and
met with Christina Somoroff, a Rus-
sian speaking Canadian.

Later a tour through the Pope and
Talbot Sawmill in Grand Forks was
arranged by union representatives
from Local 1-423.

Before returning to the Soviet
Union the delegation met with For-
estry Canada officials in Ottawa.

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2
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© The Soviet visitors were impressed with this giant western hemlock in the Carmanah

Valley watershed on Vancouver Island.

Soviet leader concerned
by ‘free market’ reforms

As President of the Union Central
Committee of the Timber, Paper and
Woodworkers’, Mikhail Kuleshov is a
man in an important position.

The 3.3 million member union is
facing some challenging times as
political and economic changes sweep
the Soviet Union. With the recent
introduction of a multi-party political
system some trade unions within the
US.S.R. are having their authority
challenged as well.

But Kuleshov and his fellow union-
ists are optimistic that they can hold
the woodworkers union together and
build on its strength and solidarity.

In the face of “free market” reforms
the union has put forth demands,
before the Ministry of Timber and
Wood Industries in each of its regions,
to maintain social guarantees and
employment protection.

The Soviet union leader wants to
know what the transfer of a free mar-
ket economy would bring. As such he
witnessed some of the disastrous
effects that the free market economy
has had in Canada.

During the Soviet’s stop through
Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan the Sovi-
ets met with workers that have been
effected by mill shutdowns and mar-
ket slumps.

Whereas Canadian industry basi-
cally deserts its worker when times
are tough, the Soviet trade unions

and timber enterprises are charged
with creating new jobs and openings
for laid off or displaced workers.

Mr. Kuleshov says that mobility
and displacement of workers causes
his union many problems. Whereas a
shortage of workers in some regions
can cause serious production prob-
lems, the movement of workers and
their families to other industrial areas
can result in the shortage of housing,
schooling, medical care, and other
social amenities.

Kuleshov expressed interest in
IWA-CANADA’s democratic approach
to collective bargaining. He realized
that the bargaining systems in the
Soviet Union may be entirely rear-
ranged as division between labour,
management, and government appear.

“We want our collective agreements
to be very concrete and represent
the interests of union members,”
said Mr. Kuleshov through an
interpreter.

The Timber Paper and Wood-
worker Union has been around for
40 years, succeeding various wood-
working unions in the Soviet Union
which existed even before the revo-
lution in 1917.

Woodworkers struck near Mos-
cow over wages and working condi-
tions in 1903 and that scenario may
need to appear again to guarantee
workers’ rights.

10/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 1990