Bushworkers

Sight off

Malette scabs

Striking woodworkers in Hearst,
Ontario were out on the cold picket
line over 6 months to get a collective
agreement with Malette United
Woodland Division. On March 13,
after a 33 hour marathon bargaining
session, union negotiators from IWA-
CANADA, Local 1-2995 and the
employer reached a new contract
which will expire at the end of August,
1994,

Sawmill workers at Malette’s Wood-
lands Division hit the bricks on Sep-
tember 9, 1991 in opposition to the
company’s wholesale efforts to ruin
the union bargaining unit.

To put pressure on the striking
bush workers, Malette shut down its
150 man sawmill on January 17, claim-
ing there were not enough logs to run
the mill efficiently.

After shutting the mill down, the
company tried to contract out the
hauling of logs to the mill yard in
Hearst with some scabs they brought
up from the Toronto area.

The striking loggers flared up when
this happened and put an end to the
scabbing.

“Malette tried to use the mill shut-
down and scabs as a tactic to divide
the crew,” says Local 1-2995 president
Norman Rivard. “It was a real bitter
strike, we just don’t see that many
companies who have enough con-
tempt for their workers that they will
scab the operation.”

Brother: Rivard says that picket
line at Malette was the strongest he’s
seen to date, with 100% support from
all union members.

When the mill shutdown the IWA
laid illegal lockout charges in front of
the OLRB. The charges were eventu-
ally dropped after the sides reached a
collective agreement on March 13.

e All throughout northern Ontario, logging companies have been pressuring their regular employees to take over bush machinery
as owner/operators.

The settlement protects the union
bargaining unit and does not permit
the introduction of owner/operators
until after April, 1993. Owner/
operators which will be in the union,
can only be introduced after that date
by means of attrition of company
employees.

One feller-buncher, one delimber,
one loader, and 2.skidders (run by
owner/operators) may.eventually be
introduced due to attrition of the
present workers.

Originally, Malette wanted to con-
tract all cut and skid operations out of
the union and wanted to be free to sell
off feller bunchers and stroke delimb-
ers to company employees.

For Brother Rivard the moves to
contract out to owner/operators is
reminiscent of previous attempts by
Malette to deunionized bushworkers.

In the late 70’s Malette Lumber
introduced non-union owner opera-
tors to their bush operations near
Timmins at a time when the union
had over 100 members on the senior-
ity list.

Gradually, as owner operators were
introduced, there was a drastic reduc-
tion in the number of company
employees to the point where today
there are less than 20 jobs in the
union.

At the same time Malette has been
playing off the contractors against

the company employees in order to
keep pay rates down as part of its
labour relations strategy.

As part of the deal the bushworkers
will receive 85¢/hr, 5%, 51% in the
final years of the contract.

Two similar strikes involving IWA
bushworkers near Hearst took place
at Lecours Lumber Woodlands Divi-
sion and Levesque Plywood Ltd. ~
Woodland Division.

Sixty-five workers went out at
Lecours from September 23 Decem-
ber 18 and 15 workers at Levesque
strtele from October 21 to February

At both operations, the contentious
issue of non-union owner operators
was fought against.

Workers agree to restructure furniture plant

HANOVER, ONTARIO - Workers at
the former Sklar-Peppler Furniture
plant here are breathing a sigh of
temporary relief as 107 of 200 IWA
-CANADA workers are back on the job
following the plant’s closure in Octo-
ber 1991.

For several months IWA-CANADA
Local 1-500 has been lobbying to keep
the plant open and has successfully
reached an interim agreement with
the Ontario Development Corpora-
tion and Sklar-Peppler.

In mid-January the three parties
agreed to a financial restructuring of
the plant and the establishment of a
new company called Hanover Case
Goods which will operate for a break-
even trial period of 6 months.

On January 16, laid-off workers
voted 124-44 to give the new business
plan a shot and try to save the plant.

The Ontario Development Corpora-
tion, a provincial crown entity, is tak-
ing 70% equity in the new plan, while
Sklar-Peppler winds up with 20% and
the employees 10%.

For a 6 month trial period starting
February 17, the plant, under Hano-
ver Case Goods, continues to produce
furniture goods. As part of the agree-
ment, Sklar-Peppler a U.S. furniture
manufacturer based in Ecru, Missis-
sippi, will buy $15 million of goods in
the first year.

The plant will now produce about 7
lines of furniture down from 15 lines,

which will include some small units
such as end tables and coffee tables.

“We're optimistic that the plant can
make a go of it,” says Local Union
president Bruce Weber. “Along with
Hanover Kitchens, the old Sklar oper-
ation is the life blood of the commu-
nity so were going to give it our best.”

Under Sklar-Peppler the plant was
on a steady decline and had been
rocked by the declining tariffs in the
free trade agreement.

According to Sklar’s own CEO Rob-
ert Tweedy, the company was adverse-
ly affected by the increases in U.S.
imports and the high Canadian dollar.

Local 1-500 Business Agent Dennis
Byers says that the free trade deal has
been a real killer for the local union. In
the past 2 years the local has lost 6
units in free trade related plant
closures.

“Usually the companies like to put
some of the blame on the Union,” says
Byers. “But we never heard anything
like that this time.”

As part of the new arrangement the
workers have agreed to hold onto old
language in the collective agreement
with Sklar-Peppler, along with some
relaxation in the base rate in exchange
for the 10% position in the new
company.

The employer will also pay 25¢
an hour per employee up to a maxi-
mum of $10 a week into a fund for a6
month period. At the end of the 6
month trial period the workers will be

able to use this money to buy more
equity from the ODC, and in any event
have the first option of gaining more
control of the company.

OF nee

high Canadian dollar.

Eventually the ODC wants to pull
out, thus the workers will be given
first opportunity to buy more shares
in the plant.

e Canada's furniture industry has been blasted by increases in U.S. imports and the

14/LUMBERWORKER/APRIL, 1992