® IWA attends tropical forestry conference The International Federation of Building and Woodworkers, the “Trade Secretariat” of which IWA -CANADA is an affiliate, is sponsoring a series of three regional conferences on the subject of Tropical Forestry and Conservation. The first was held in September, 1990 in Singapore, and the second, for the Western hemi- sphere, was held in Caracas, Venezu- ela, November 19 to 23, 1990. Brother Clay Perry attended the Conference at the request of the IFBWW, and spoke on the subject of “Multinationals in the Forest Industry.” “Tt was a marvellous experience for me”, said Perry. “It’s an opportunity to put our own problems in perspec- tive — and to meet and talk with people whose dedication to trade unionism has really been tested. Peo- ple from Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua. “For example, after a long technical conversation about what forest har- vest techniques will best ensure natu- ral regeneration of tropical rain for- ests, the delegate from El Salvador said, ‘Well, it is not really an issue in E] Salvador. We have very little rain forest left, and what we have, the government is dropping napalm on’. “The delegate from Peru reported that in areas controlled by the ‘Shining Path’ guerilla movement, there are informal banks operating, where landless peasants can borrow money against future hard drug crops. These peasants — there are about 200 million of them in Latin America — have no other means of simple, day- to-day, survival, and once you have contracted with these ‘bankers’ to grow cocoa, which is a crop that requires levelling the forests, and one that very quickly depletes the forest soils, you had better do so. Those guys do not send polite letters, gently reminding you that you're behind in your payments. “My overwhelming impression from the Conference,” said Perry, “is that the discussion of the rain-forest problem that takes place in rich coun- tries like Canada is massively unin- formed, and generally leads to initia- - tives that are both inhumane and ineffective from a conservation or environmental point of view. “Civilized accords reached with the aboriginal peoples of the Region, have to be reached, and very special areas have to be treated very specially. “But in general, when you have 200 million ple in desperate need, you cannot just tell them not to touch the physical resources of their land. Aside from morality, it simply won't work. “If you take action — boycotts or whatever — that removes all the eco- nomic or livelihood value from the plants and trees of the rain forests, the desperate people there will simply be forced to mow down the natural species and replace them with some- thing they can get a living from: drug crops, or massive monoculture of some wholly foreign plant like the 60,000 acres of gmelina aborea, a plant from India that Stone Paper is plant- ing in Costa Rica. : “The paradigm has to shift away from nes ee huge areas to finding ign ways of supporting the people, the crucial rain- ‘ing to uses for more of its rain more medicines and uses, so that the in ways that survival of ment is trying to do this — try’ find more and wood A can make a li them “But what they have been getting from the developed world is offers of more guns from U.S. President Bush, to shoot people who grow drugs, and uninformed though better-motivated demands to ‘lock-up’ more jungle. “The one positive thing that comes through from talking to all these peo- ple is that they love their land and forests, and if given a chance to save them that does not require them to watch their families starve, they will save them. They need resources, money, help, access to our markets for finished goods (not by way of Mulroney-Bush ‘Free Trade’ Agree- ments) what they do not need is instruction and admonitions. “The IFBWW has been doing good work down there. The Regional repre- sentative, Pablo Arosemena, from Panama, has seen some interesting things, and paid his dues. He is an extremely able and absolutely dedi- cated trade unionist. “Pablo took special care to intro- duce me to the Chilean delegates, who as you can imagine have also had their commitment to the movement severely tested. “In many ways, we Canadians have most in common with the Chileans,” Perry said. “The forestry is large- scale conifer-based, though they also are growing Bucalyptus. They have the same kind of employers and in many cases, the same problems, though a lot more severe. There is a fight with Fletcher-Challenge over, you guessed it, contracting out. “We are hoping to develop with help from the CLC a program to help the Chilean Forest Workers. ‘ “Everyone at the National Office knows that everyone in the Union is pretty strapped right now, so we aren’t thinking of anything grand. “But in the long run, and apart from Solidarity obligations we all feel, it is in our own interests to do every- thing we can, so I hope we are able to get a start now.” © Ore Fredriksson, President of Swedish Woodworkers Union in Venezuela, November, 1990. Swedish labour leaders murdered in Soviet Union Brothers Ore Fredriksson, Presi- dent of the Swedish Woodworkers’ Union, and Bertil Whinberg, Presi- dent of the Swedish Construction Workers’ Union, were brutally mur- dered in Talinn, Estonia, on the night of January 23, 1991. «They were in Estonia as.a part ofa mission of Nordic Trade Unionists, with the I.F.B.W.W., to develop closer contacts and cooperation with Baltic wood and forestry workers. It is believed that they were victims of a kind of Baltic “mafia” that spe- cialized in robbing tourists. Estonian labor officials have joined I.F.B.W.W. calls for a complete investigation, even urging that “Interpol” be asked to join in the search. As we go to press, Swedish newspapers are reporting that arrests have been made that confirm the “mafia” theory. The losses of these two leading trade unionists are of course equally tragic, but Ore Fredriksson’s death is especially painful for IWA-CANADA people. When Brothers Bill Routley, Clay Perry and Jack Munro were on tour of Swedish Forestry last year, Ore was one of many leaders of the Swedish Woodworkers’ Union to make them welcome and assist generously in their tour, as well as take part in the Union's 100th Anniversary. President Jack Munro has since met with him several times at 1.F.B.W.W. meetings, and Clay Perry spent a week with him at an I.F.B.W.W. Conference on Tropical Forestry in Caracus, Venezuela. VACION Y PRO ;OSQUES CARACAS TECC TROP VENEZ 1990 © Left to right at Tropical Forestry Conservation Conference in Venezuela are Victor Mara, outgoing president of Venezuelan Forest Industry Workers; Pablo Arosemena, Latin American representative of the IFBWW; and Caupolican Pavez Munoz, president of Chilean Forest Workers Union. Photo by Clay Perry Photo by Clay Perry