© British Columbia's chief forester John Cuthbert told the forum that there will
likely be a smaller land base for the lumber industry in the future.

IWA-Industry holds
Ist annual conference

VANCOUVER, B.C. — On March 11 -
13 IWA - CANADA joined with represe-
ntatives of the major forest industry
employer groups for joint participa-
tion during a conference of “Issues
and Adjustment in the Forest Indus-
try.”

The conference was sponsored by
the Western Wood Product Forum, a
labour-management initiative which
was begun in April of 1988.

It dealt specifically with three criti-
cal issues related to the Value Added/
Remanufacturing, Timber Supply
and Training and Labour Adjustment.

One Hundred and twenty dele-
gates, consisting of an equal number
of IWA and industry representatives,
were in attendance to listen to panels
of guest speakers discuss these issues.

With regards to the Value-Added/
Remanufacturing future of B.C.,
Gianni Scaramella, a consultant with
H.A. Simons Ltd., told the conference
that the forest industry must look for
new opportunities as growth in com-
modity lumber production is unlikely.

Scaramella said that B.C. must
develop an industrial strategy to move
into high value added markets. He
also said the future of the industry
will depend on well financed opera-
tions on a large scale which can com-
pete in global markets and not in the
“mom and pop” value added initiative
created by the Small Business Enter-
prise Program.

BC. high quality inventory of old
growth fibre, skilled workforce and
existing infrastructure are all advan-

tages to be capitalized on in the global
market place said Scaramella.

Industry Consultant Ted Cameron
said that the public pressure to take
away tenure from some corporations
will increase if established mills do
not make innovations.

He said that salvage remanufactur-
ing is not a true value-added strategy
and that there is far more research
and product development in other
countries. :

Cameron mentioned that B.C.’s nar-
rowing species and supplies will need
to be considered in product develop-
ment.

Cameron agreed that well-financed,
independent entrepreneurial compa-
nies will have a mark to make in the
industry.

He also said that elected officials
must realize that the public will even-
tually see that the “misuse of timber
equals with the rape of the forests.”

Wes Cheston, Assistant Deputy
Minister of Forests, said that govern-
ment is well aware that modernization

and technological change have resulted
in employment loss and that the
“government is saying they want
some of these jobs back.”

He said the industry must diversify
and that concentration in single mar-
ket commodities (dimension lumber)
is very limiting.

The Assistant Deputy Minister
outlined the government’s initiatives
to create jobs such as the Small Busi-
ness Enterprise Program, a coopera-
tive Overseas Marketing Program,
and funding through the Ministry of
Regional and Economic Development.

A panel on Training and Labour
Adjustment featured Professor Ken
Strand, Chairman of the B.C. Task
Force on Employment and Training,
Paul Heath from the Sectorial Skills
Council in the Canadian Electronic
Industry, and Frank Ball from the
Canadian Steel and Adjustment
Program.

Professor Strand says his Task
Force is examining jobs having a life
long learning process where the indus-
try sector can do a lot of the training.

Strand sees that the workplace has
undergone permanent structural
change which will carry on into the
next decade, therefore there is a need
to deal with the structurally unem-
ployed.

The type of training that Strand
says workers will need are “specific”
(industry skills which are not trans-
ferable) and general (ie. literary skills).
skills).

Mr. Heath said that the Canadian
Electrical and Electronic industry has
had a trust fund going which is admin-
istered by industry and 3 unions
(Communication and Electrical Work-
ers, International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, and the United
Steelworkers of America).

Heath said the trust fund has
increased the number of trained work-
ers, as well as increased the industry’s
consciousness of the need for training.

He said the program is voluntary in
nature, is sector designed and oper-
ated, and focuses on higher skill levels
although it has the ability to deal
with lower skilled training as well.

Frank Ball, Executive Director of
the Canadian Steel Trade and Em-
ployment Congress said workers are
benefiting from a constructive rela-
tionship between the Steelworker’s
Union and Employer.

The steel industry has graduated
more than 600,000 apprentices in its
training program across the country.

The second day of the conference

saw a prominent panel address timber
supply issues in the province.

John Cuthbert, Chief Forester of
BC. said that the province's annual
allowable cut is based on broad deci-
sions from several areas of concern.
He said the planning process is
responsive to social and biological
factors.

According to Cuthbert, local re-
quirements and provincial objectives
are meant to determine annual allow-
able cut. He said the ministry is
involving the public during the plan-
ning process on an increasing basis.

Society and elected representatives
will make decisions on how forests are
used in the future said Cuthbert. He
predicted a smaller land base for the
lumber industry in the future and
said that the planning process should
provide industry with quality timber
in the future.

Forest Consultant Doug Williams
told the conference that economic
forces are the key factor in determin-
ing annual allowable cut.

He said that with today’s changing
social values, AAC’s are considered
too high and not sustainable. Wil-
liams said that although the rate of
harvest has been linked to the growth
rates of new forests since 1947, in 1991
sustained yield is still not well defined.

Williams added that log production

rates, wood and utilization of wood
Has can eee eee

ter leck, a private
consultant, said that the pees
ay use strive 2 Regs what the
end products of forest management
will i in the future.

Affleck said that forests require at
least a 200 year planning horizon so
that forest crops can consist of vari-
ous rotation ages. He says that indus-
try can increase its harvest with inten-
sive silviculture but future crops will
not provide a “sustained yield” as
their values and economic returns will
be diminished.

The conference's last speaker Gerry
Birch, a forestry consultant and a
former Vice-President of British
Columbia Forest Products, told the
audience that conditions domestically
for timber supply are much better
than they are in most countries.

He said that the industry must
have a degree of certainty over what
timber will be available 20 years from
now in order to make proper planning
decisions. That means, according to
Birch, that current outdated inven-
tory information must be updated.

He also said the industry must
maintain its competitive edge to take
advantage of the inevitable downturn
in lumber production in the U.S.
Pacific Northwest.

Co-operative discussion groups
search for workable solutions

As part of the Western Wood Prod-
uct Forum’s first annual conference, a
series of workshops were held after
the panel presentations on each topic.
Six’ workshop groups, consisting of
roughly equal member of industry
and IWA - CANADA delegates, deliber-
ated over the issues of Value Added/
Remanufacturing, Training and Lab-
our Adjustment and Timber Supply,
before workshop representatives re-
ported back to the conference.

The workshop atmosphere offered
IWA members a good opportunity to

¢ Local 1-405 president Wayne Knowlin.

interact with and sound out leading
industry representatives on these
important issues.

Most workshops agreed that to
develop a value added future, forest
companies must have a global out-
look in their marketing strategy along
with a secure supply of fibre. The
workshops also suggested that a great
deal of research and development of
products is necessary and that the
market research leadership must be
taken by industry.

“We have to provide the right prod-
uct to satisfy the customer,” said
IWA -CANADA National first vice=
president Gerry Stoney. “There’s no
sense in sending them a 2 x 4 if what
they are looking for is a square.”

The Forum also heard that smaller
wood products companies may not

have the ability to-research and mar-
ket and that government assistance
may be required for them.

Brother Stoney said that certain
goalposts must be established and
not ever-changing, such as tenure sys-
tems and tariff structures.

On behalf of a workshop group
Stoney said: “We have to take advan-
tage of a resource that isn’t available
anywhere else in the world which is
old growth.”

“We agree that industry and labour
and government must agree to become
more flexible and ready to change in
the reman/value added sector of the
industry.”

Wayne Nowlin, president of Local
1-405, said on behalf of a workshop
group that industry must have disci-
pline to not over flood within markets
once they are created.

He also said that there are concerns
that the primary industry is not a
reliable supplier of raw material to
secondary industry.

With regards to training and lab-
our adjustments, Trevor James of
Fletcher Challenge said an industry
wide approach for apprenticeship
training may be desirable and that
literacy training is an aspect that is
overlooked.

One workshop group said that the
WWPF can help in a policy role pro-
viding advise to government by devel-
oping formals for training and educa-

ion.

Gary Kobayashi, president of Local
1-217 said the cyclical nature of the
lumber industry doesn’t lend it to
long term commitment for training
and that the value added sector
depends on a well trained work force.
He said that the WWPF should lobby
for training and adjustment programs
similar to those in the steel and elec-
tronics industry in Canada.

_ Tom Kirk, an employer representa-
tive from Crestbrook Forest Indus-
tries in Cranbrook, said that a con-
stant upgrading of skills is necessary
and that industry requires an analy-
sis of the skill levels of employees.

He also said that industry, govern-
ment, and labour must develop labour
adjustment and training funds to hel
those effected by downsizing aad
layoffs.

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6/LUMBERWORKER/MAY, 1991

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