Alberni workers Continued from page one thousand of that will be shipped out of the Albernis. And that is not acceptable to crews of union workers who have bent over backwards to successfully make the “A” mill an efficient money maker. On a routine basis, Somass “A” mill exceeds its production quota, which supports the nearby Hi-Val mill. Hi-Val opened in 1989 and is still getting some production flaws ironed out before it reaches its full potential. Meanwhile, “A” mill has been pulling all the weight. That’s why workers are so upset that MB is pulling the plug. For months the union has willingly co-operated with local management to make the operation, which was built in the 1930’s, more productive. In addition, some IWA members have volunteered to help MB sell their Somass products. Gary Thompson, a steam fitter at Somass and a member of the market- ing task force, says that MB’s multi- layered sales system is bureaucratic and inefficient. “We produce a good quality prod- uct for which there is a demand,” says Brother Thompson. Somass cedar products are sold throughout the midwest and Japan as well as locally. The mill produces high value finished cedar products. “We've been told by U.S. buyers that our product improvement has increased greatly in the past 18 months,” adds Thompson. “The men at Somass have worked hard with some management, and we're produc- ing a helluva product.” Another task force has worked on proposals that will make Somass a profit even at the depressed lumber value of December, 1990 to March, But MB is determined to shut the mill down. “We feel betrayed by MB,” says Brother McLeman, who feels that the company, if not stopped, will shut- down the Albernis’ solid wood opera- tions in two years. McLeman says he often thinks a lot about the days before Noranda, when MB used to be a respectable corporate citizen. General labourer Dan Skirrow shares that bitterness. Workers, who have fought for MB’s forest land base feel they’ve been betrayed “MB has to have some responsibil- ity for the people and the place that’s kept them going all these years,” says Brother Skirrow. “Our whole town is based on forestry and now MB is going to let us hang.” Somass plant chairman, Erwin Mani, said “there’s just no end to layoffs, and yet the company says it can never make a profit.” Brother Mani says that the local union has sought ways of improving labour relations and improving the use of fibre. “Our fear now is that if “A” mill goes down, Hi-Val won't be far behind,“ adds Mani. ”MB’s agenda is to shut “A” mill down, whether or not it makes a profit.“ MB has been careless with the workers of Port Alberni. In May of 1989 and June of 1990 the company supported IWA protest- ers who went to the parliament build- © A load of high grade western red cedar from MB’s Kennedy Lake Logging Division exits Port Alberni on its way to Northwest Bay on eastern Vancouver Island. MB is shipping over 430,000 cubic metres of timber out of the Albernis this year alone while the community faces devastating job losses. © Somass worker Gary Thompson (second from right) and other Port Alberni citizens talk to logging truck driver hauling wood out of the Albernis. The Union has formed a committee to coordinate efforts to stop MB's onslaught of layoffs and closures. ings in Victoria to fight on behalf of preserving MB's forest land base. That fight was also for jobs. In November of 1990 Somass employees attended a Nanaimo rally which called for the preservation of jobs while settling native land claims. MB played an encouraging role in all the union and community rallies. Finn Berntson, a forklift driver at Alply who worked there since 1965, said most workers feel they’ve been used by MB and now they’re telling the company to get out of town. Contract talks Continued from page one Employers are also seeking the right to unilaterally impose alternate shift schedules in mills and logging operations. The Union is saying no to this as shift scheduling flexibility was already negotiated into past contracts with the provision that the union locals and plant committees had to give approval. Employers are also looking to get workers to pay for increases in benefit plans such as medical, health and welfare, long-term disability, acciden- tal death and dismemberment, life insurance, and dental. On the coast employers are saying that their log costs are too high and that they need contract changes to bring them down. The Union counter- acted with the argument that it will not accept concessions and that man- agement must get its act together and not project the blame onto workers. When the Union met with Forest Industrial Relations (FIR) the bar- gaining agent for employers on the B.C. coast on May 6, talks were imme- diately de-railed as MacMillan Bloedel pulled its Port Alberni operations out of broad negotiations. The Union refused to talk further, and after a meeting with MB’s top brass, the company placed its Port Alberni operations back in the talks. Pressure from IWA locals helped ensure that the MB Alberni opera- tions were back in. In addition, at one point early in the talks, Weyerhaeuser and Fletcher Challenge were also wanting to keep their nursery operations out of broad contract talks, but the IWA said no, and they were also brought back to the table. While both sides got back together there have been some good scraps over contracting out language. The Union is concerned that parent com- panies will begin laying off their com- pany crews in favour of contract crews - as Canadian Pacific Forest Products did - and get away with it. In the Spring of this year the com- pany dumped its own Sooke Division loggers and kept on a crew of contract loggers to harvest the company’s allowable cut. The move has caused an upheaval in Duncan Local 1-80. and concerns in other local unions that industry may be poised to do the same thing in other areas. Another demand that Union nego- tiators are hammering away at is apprenticeship training. The IWA wants the industry to agree on a new ratio formula to train tradesmen in all regions of the province. At present the industry is largely hiring trades- men, with the exception of sawfilers, from other sectors of the economy and. not doing a thorough enough job of seeking. tradesmen from the forest industry workforce. The Union has also told the indus- try that it expects it to accept the establishment of joint forest-environ- ment committees into all logging and manufacturing operations. The TWA realizes that the public is critical of industry and that workers must have a greater say in the development of management plans. IWA - CANADA is telling the indus- try that it must agree to butt-out during Union organizing campaigns. Even though there are labour laws to prevent employee intimidation, en- forcement of those laws is a costly and timely procedure. In recent memory, employers such as MacMillan Bloedel, Weldwood and Fletcher Challenge have stuck their noses into IWA organ- izing drives and the Union is out to * get some contract language to stop this. The IWA is also getting the indus- try to look at incorporating health and safety language into the contract. The Union wants the industry to pro- vide proper Health and Safety Pro- grams, participate and create Indus- trial Health and Safety Committees, and carry out proper accident reports and investigations. Although the Workers’ Compensa- tion Board has regulations to provide for these programs, their enforcement is lax and inconsistent. In all, the IWA has explained over 30 demands to the employers, and it appears that most of them have fallen upon deaf ears. The big-issue at press time is fund- ing of the Pension Plan. Employers from the interior and the coast must agree on funding formulas to cover the obvious shortfalls that exist in the plan. The IWA has also met with repre- sentatives from Weldwood of Cana- da’s northern operations, Northwood. Pulp and Timber, and Canfor’s north- ern mills. The Union is faced with a list of employers’ demands which largely resemble those employer demands on the coast and interior. Talks with these employers are also moving slowly and are also hung up on pension plan funding. ‘2/LUMBERWORKER/ AUGUST, 1991