e At Amoco Fabric and Fibres, Angeline Séguin works where material for outdoor
@ carpets is twisted and spun on spools.

Local 1-1000 bargains
new education funding

In three sets of contract talks this
year, IWA-CANADA Local 1-1000 nego-
tiators have taken the forefront by
negotiating special assessments from
their employers. The assessments,
based on a pattern agreement set at
Amoco Fabric and Fibre in Hawkes-
bury, call for employers to pay one
cent per hour to members into an
‘education’ fund which is to be admin-

istered by the local union.

Prior to the settlement at Amoco, a
synthetic fibre plant employing now
close to 300 workers, Local 1-1000 had
no formal policy regarding education
funding. In April, Amoco first got the
deal with a 13% wage increase over
three years retroactive to January 1,
1990.

Local business agent, Mike McCar-
ter, who acted as union negotiating
committee chairman on all three sets
of negotiations, says the Amoco talks
paved the way for pattern agreements
at Greif Containers in Belleville, a 40
member plant and at Canadian Splint
(Eddy Match) a match stick plant in
Pembroke with between 50-75 mem-
bers.

The agreements were reached at
Greif in June and at Canadian Splint
in late August.

Brother McCarter credits the union
negotiating committee at Amoco

which consisted of plant chairman,
Richard Morris, vice chairmen, Guy
Charbonneau, Guy Lapensee, Yvon
Rochon and Gilles Crete for their
resolve in establishing the pattern.

“The committee dug in and it came
to a point where they said to the
company that if it’s not part and
parcel of a settlement package, then
there would be no agreement,” says
McCarter.

Since the Amoco settlement, Local
1-1000 has adopted the principle of
getting the pattern in all future sets
of contract talks. At its local annual
meeting held in North Bay in May, the
local unanimously adopted the policy.

The new fund will solve problems in
educating the membership.

“Our sub-local members need to be
trained in basic things like how to
recognize and process basic griev-
ances,” explained Brother McCarter.
“Management is always sending staff
to different schools for management-
labour training, and unless we take
similar action to know where manage-
ment is coming from, then we will be
running blind.”

Local 1-1000 hopes to use the pro-
ceeds for such programs as CLC edu-
cation seminars, where the fund will
be able to pick up some travel, accom-
modation and per diem costs.

Local 1-425

Continued from page 6

with the Workers’ Compensation
Board. The local union has been strug-
gling to hire a third full time officer to
take some of the work load but this
will require a dues increase from its
members.

Since the 1970's the local union
membership has enjoyed various
Employee Assistance Programs in
individual operations. Although there
has been no central Assessment and
Referral Services, members and their
families have obtained help through
either shared expert or in-house
counsellor.

FUTURE OF LOCAL POSES
CHALLENGES

Local 1-425 lost its last logging
erew due to contracting out in 1978
and has had several unsuccessful
attempts to organize the largely

- Sree operetcr workforce that’s work-

The companies have contracted out
every phase of their operations, be it
falling, skidding, hauling or loading.

It appears the local union intends
to pick up some new members when a
new fibre board plant is built in Wil-
liams Lake.

Local president Arcand says that
he would like to see the IWA get more
involved in the tree planting and silvi-
cultural aspect of ARs forest industry
and that the local union will likely
make a move in that area.

The local union has also organized
in non-traditional areas for the IWA.
In 1987 and 89 the local certified more
than 50 workers in the home care
field.

Workers at the South Cariboo Home
Support, Services in Williams Lake
and 100 Mile House enjoy union nego-
tiated wages and benefits which are at
the top of those gained in the sector.

The workers tend to work with
mostly elderly clients and handi-
capped persons in domestic non-
institutionalized care settings.

The local boundaries are spread out
to include about 2,100 members in 32
operations from Sault St. Marie in
north-central Ontario to Hawkesbury
near the southeastern extremity of
the province. Without special funding
for education, costs are burdensome
on the local’s finances.

Credit for the agreements negoti-
ated at Belleville goes to plant chair-
men, Bob Hird, Todd Lucas and Doug
Brunet, while a union negotiating
committee at Canadian Splint con-
sisting of chairman Walter Seck, vice
chairmen, Terry Gorr and Richard
Delaurier deserve credit for holding to
the pattern agreement.

To illustrate an example, if the
workforce at Amoco were at 250
employees, the fund would yield ap-
proximately $450 per month to the
local union. The local intends to estab-
lish the pattern elsewhere to raise
thousands of dollars for education.

In other sets of contract talks ear-
lier this year in Kapuskasing, Ontario,
Local 1-2995 union negotiators at
Malette Lumber in Timmins estab-

= lished a similar type agreement for

future contract talks in northern oper-
ations. In February of this year the
committee negotiated a pact which
provides up to 10 days paid leave for
educational purposes during the term
of the contract.

The demand was formulated in May
of last year under the auspices of the
Northern Ontario district council, a
long standing affiliation between the
Kapuskasing Local and Thunder Bay
Local 1-2693.

Local 1-2998 president Norman
Rivard says the demand was neces-
sary to get funding for occupational

Photo by Mike McCarter

© Working on a loom is Gilles
union negotiating team member at
Amoco.

health and safety training. Despite
resistance from employers, both
Northern Ontario locals have been
able to get the clauses in several of
their agreements.

Although the two locals have
achieved their goals with different
formulas, McCarter says Local 1-2995
set the tone for talks with employers
for special education provisions in
collective agreements.

The Ontario local unions deserve
accolades for stepping out in the fore-
front for their members.

° Above: Edger Feeder Darren Beta working at Fletcher Challenge’s Pinette and
Therrien Division in Williams Lake. Below: At Weldwood's 100 Mile House dimension
sawmill is twin band saw operator Garfield Lamb, an executive board member of the

local union.

LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1990/7