Insulation plant uses copper slag GRAND FORKS, B.C. — About 500 kilometres east of Vancouver, in this small city of 3,700, in what is known: as “Boundary Country,” exists a giant heap of slag from an old copper smelter. For more than 10 years, a plant has been making rock wool insu- lation out of what would otherwise be a useless pile of black material. Since late March of this year, [WA - CANADA Local 1-423 has represented over 100 workers at the Bradford Enercon Inc. insulation plant in the newest certification to join the local union. The workers have been enjoying the benefits of their first collective agreement which will expire in July of 1992. Although the workers aren’t em- ployed in the forest industry, they sought out representation from IWA - CANADA based on its reputation throughout the B.C. Interior. © On the weigh scales, Howard Smith measures precise density of the bonded insulation. Before the Union signed up the workers there was a 3 member in-plant committee which handled grievances and many problem. In 1987, when Bradford Insulation of Australia took a 70% interest in the existing Pacific Enercon plant, the workforce eventually expanded and the worker members of the committee realized they needed a trade union to lend them the ability and knowledge to negotiate certain outstanding issues in the plant. “We had to get some official repre- sentation from organized labour, so we shopped around for a union,” says plant Chairman Fred Derhousoff. After initially contacting William Schumaker, the now retired President of Local 1-423, the organizing cam- paign was completed within a two week period. National Organizing Director John Smithies and Local Officer Ben Landis’ combined with Brother Schumaker and workers inside the plant to bring in the new union members. Since the first collective agreement was signed in July, labour relations in the plant have been going quite smoothly. As part of the 2-year deal the union secured an across-the-board wage increase of 50¢ per hour in the first year. The negotiating team, which inclu- ded National Third Vice-President Fernie Viala, Brother Landis, Brother Derhousoff, and Jim Kastrukoff, also signed for an across-the-board wage increase of 5% in the second year of the agreement. The agreement also saw workers gain seniority protection, a grievance procedure, job positions and the basic health and welfare that they hadn't had before. In late August the Lumberworker, along with local union president Troi Caldwell and Brother Landis, was given a thorough tour of the plant and met with plant manager Rick Jones, Superintendent Bill Wright, and Brothers Derhousoff and Kastrukoff. Bradford Enercon produces the insulation from the copper silica slag as it melts the raw material under high temperatures (2,500°F) then spins the molten material into a fine wool. The raw material originates from a ladled pile of slag at the old Granby Mining and Smelter Corp.’s mill site on the banks of the Granby river. The Granby smelter, which operated from 1919 to the 1930's, was at one time the largest of its kind in the British Empire. Crushed slag is brought to the plant by dump truck. It is then moulted in electric furnaces which operate with electrodes that act like a giant arc welder. The electrodes use 5,000KVA of electricity (more than all of the indus- trial and residential hydro power in Grand Forks combined) to melt the copper slag. On two separate production lines the molten material is spun by either centrifugal force or by high velocity air into a wool-like material. The rock wool is then manufac- tured into either bonded products (insulation batts, pipe insulation, or wire mesh insulation) or granulated wool which is a loose fill product used in roof attics domestically. The company has created some new jobs by adding on a bagging line in the past two months. Its bonded products are strictly measured for thickness, density, and chemical composition. In addition to the copper silica slag, some basalt materials, resins, aluminum, and additional chemicals are added to the material at the stage when it solidifies. The bonded insulation is finished © Top photo: Packaging the loose fill insulation on new bagging system are Dennis Wiggins (left) and Darcy Roberts. thititans: a Gohn (front) and Bill Moyle. Below: Stacking the bonded insulation batts are Randy — and trimmed down to precise mea- surements for custom orders. The company produces more than 6,500 variations of orders for industrial applications. Its pipe insulation can be manufac- tured from thicknesses of 4 inch to 28 inches. Production in the plant is e Pete Krause handling pipe insulation on the SPI line. always shifting from one custom order to the next, and the company keeps very little inventory. To accommodate the scheduling of production the collective agreement recognizes the plant as a 5-day-a-week regular shift operation which needs the latitude to operate 7 days a week in particular parts of the plant. The melting process must remain operat- ing on a 24-hour-a-day basis. Plant Manager Rick Jones says the company uses the most modern elec- tric melt technology in the world which was developed in Germany and Australia. He says that since the electrode melt technology was introduced the workers have learned a great deal about maintaining a high productive capacity in the system and have become highly skilled in their opera- tions. Base-rate in the plant is $13.49 per hour with varying classifications and top rates for tradesmen. Bradford Enercon markets its prod. ucts in western Canada, the U.S. mid-" west, Pacific Northwest, California, and Texas. The employer is the only organized insulation producer in western Can- ada. In an effort to help the company sell its union-made insulation, Brother Viala has contacted officials at the BC. and Yukon Territories Building Trades Council and Federations of Labour across Canada to seek further endorsement of the products. 16/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1990