FREE TRADE CLAIMS YET ANOTHER VICTIM IN ONTARIO Gluer operator Doug Jeffers and over 50 other IWA Local 1-1000 members are the latest workers to permanently lose their jobs as ‘Free Trade’ takes its toll on the furniture industry. Burks Falls has been hit hard by the closure of Thompson- Heyland furniture component mill. PaGE 13 BC. contract talks hit the slow grind Although IWA - CANADA opened up broad contract negotiations with employers in May, it still looks like there’s a long ways to go before a collective agreement will be reached. Talks have turned to a slow grind as employers are infighting over the future funding of the IWA-Forest Industry Pension Plan. Employers from the northern and southern inte- riors of the province want to fund the plan on a regional basis while coast employers want to maintain the sta- tus quo. In any event, IWA-CANADA is demanding substantial improvements to the plan. Among the improvements being sought are increased benefit levels, improvements to break-in- service rules, decreasing the pension’s liability, a shorter vesting period, and increases in existing pensions. Union negotiators are also pressing for improved cao jprotacuicn during layoffs and eligibility for joint an survivor options, The Union has also laid out its demands and carefully explained them to the employers. “So far we've done a good job of resenting a very reasonable set of lemands,” said IWA - CANADA presi- dent Jack Munro, chairman of the negotiating committee with the coast, southern and northern interior re- gions. “Now, if the employers can get their act together, we can get on with the job.” The Union is also butting heads with employers who have presented some demands that don’t sit well with the IWA. Across the board, employers are seeking a 3-year deal with no cost increases in the first year. IWA - CANADA is going for a 1-year deal with pension improvements, wage increase and other various demands. Continued on page two Save our jobs! Somass closure sparks demand for withdrawal of MB’s timber PORT ALBERNI, : its search for profits MacMillan B.C. Bloedel is playing fast and loose with this Vancouver Island com- munity and is completing its plans to eliminate over 700 IWA jobs in the current recession. MB, which runs this one company town, announced in early May the permanent closure of its Somass “A” cedar mill which will throw another 110 people into unem- ployment lines. The working people of Port Alberni have said that enough damage has been done, and IWA- CANADA Local 1-85 has demanded the withdrawal of MB's Tree Farm Licence. That means that MB should get out of the Alberni valley if they are unable to maintain employment levels. On April 30 MB permanently closed its 350-man plywood plant there. Less than two weeks later the Somass closure was announced for an August 16 date, and workers are wor- ried that there is no end in site. As a result of the decision by MB, in June the local union has formed a Committee to Prevent Job Loss which is confronting the MB company’s actions. The Committee has drawn wide support from other unions and community groups. The CPU Local 592 supports the withdrawal of TFL 44 from MacMil- lan Bloedel. According to CPU mem- ber Andy Green, the pulp and paper workers are facing up to 450 jobs losses themselves if a planned series IWA Local 1-2995 members have joined with other unions in a bid to save the mill town from certain ruin as mill owners prepare to pull out — see page 3. of cuts and downsizing goes ahead. At the same time that it is axing hundreds of jobs, the company is exporting timber out of the valley by truck and by the barge loads as laid off workers vent their anger. A town hall meeting held on July 23 drew over 700 people from the com- munity to discuss the future of Port Alberni. Officials from the Ministry of Forests and MacMillan Bloedel refused to attend and answer ques- tions. On June 19 about 120 woodworkers protested at MB’s headquarters in downtown Port Alberni which evoked a hostile reaction from the company along with threats of suspensions. Local 1-85 president, Ear] Foxcroft, says MB should not be allowed to ship wood out of the Alberni valley and should be forced by government to process the timber for the local communities benefit. Brother Foxcroft also says that MB is more interested in taking its Port Alberni profits and investing in the United States. Ina recent issue of Canadian Busi- ness magazine MB’s president and chief executive office, Bob Findlay, says any large investments in the future will not be made in BC. or in Canada. MacMillan Bloedel, which, accord- ing to Findlay, currently has almost a quarter of its assets in the US., is expanding, its operations south of the ine. The corporation, which is controlled by Noranda, has been making a steady. exodus from the Albernis since the early 80’s. In the early 80’s, [WA -CANADA claims that 1,800 direct and indirect forestry jobs were lost. Local 1-85’s 1st vice-president, Dave Haggard, says that the 430,000 cubic metres that MB is shipping out is enough of a number to maintain employment levels in milling opera- tions. Jack McLeman, union secretary at Somass, says that the “A” mill closure announcement was another example of insensitive corporate decision mak- ing. Brother McLeman, along with his fellow unionists, have been work- ing to create awareness of what MB and Noranda are pulling off right now. “We've had enough of MB,” says McLeman. “We want the TFL to be held by the community or by some company who will work with us.” The job loss committee has been leafleting logging truck drivers who are going in and out of the valley. Estimates are that MB’s TFL is worth $40 billion. The company’s annual allowable cut is 2.6 million cubic metres. Four hundred and thirty Continued on page two