Clay Perry, a staff member and fixture at the IWA for nearly 25 years, has resigned to pursue an opportunity as an Associate with ie B.C. Commission on Resources and Environment (CORE). Since 1967 Brother Perry has served the union in a number of wide ranging capacities at the for- mer Regional Council No. 1 of the International Woodworkers of America, and then at the National Office of IWA-CANADA. He resigned from his post as Director of the union’s Environment and Land Use Department in April of this year to take the new appoint- ed position from CORE’s Chairman Stephen Owen. lay will be taking his years of experience in dealing with forest, environment and land use issues to CORE and will be joining the chair- man and approximately 11 other associate members who will be tack- ling one of the most serious issues facing the province -that of estab- lishing land-use strategies. CORE is mandated with produc- ing a general process for an overall land-use plan for the entire province in addition to establishing regional and local bodies to deal with the framework of land use planning. In that respect, some seri- ous decisions and recommendations to Cabinet will be made on what will be done with existing resources like the forest. CORE will also be addressing critical areas that are considered “hot spots’ with the envi- ronmental movement. One of the first challenges that Clay and his colleague will face is that of working on a regional land- use plan for Vancouver Island while making suggestions on what should happen to crucial areas such as Clayoquot Sound, the Walbran Valley, the Tahsish-Kwois, the Nahmint Valley and the Lower Tsitika Valley. At the same time Brother Perry says CORE will be keeping a careful eye on land claims negotiations ae the province’s Aboriginal peo- ple. He says that “life will go on” in Clay Perry leaves IWA-CANADA to take challenge with CORE the event of Aboriginal land claims negotiations. “The negotiations of Aboriginal title will take years and the devel- opment of comprehensive land-use planning will take years and you just can’t shut the world down while these processes occur,” says Perry. He says that CORE’s activity “must be complimentary” to Aboriginal title negotiations. To say the least, his new position is a new challenge for Brother Perry. He has skillfully handled many challenges over the years. Says former IWA-CANADA President Jack Munro: “Clay has served the organization as loyally and in just about in as many differ- ent ways as anyone I can think of. His talents and ability to reason have been an asset to working peo- ple as a whole.” In 1967 during the historical B.C. interior strike which saw IWA members out on the picket line for 74 months in order to gain contract parity with workers on the coast, Brother Perry was first hired out of university where he was doing graduate studies in philosophy. Hired by then regional president, Jack Moore and working under the guidance of Research Director, Grant MacNeil, Clay travelled throughout the province during the busy ’67 strike doing a number of tasks including public relations, leaflet writing and distribution and radio spots. In addition to the public relations aspect of the job, Clay also became responsible for writing briefs and submissions on behalf of the IWA and put on many educational semi- nars. After the ’67 battle, Clay became full time staff and replaced a retir- ing MacNeil as Research Director in the early 70’s. In the fall of 1972 Clay left the union for a period of time. He joined the new Dave Barrett NDP govern- ment as an Executive Assistant to then Minister of Health, Dennis Cocke. Subsequently he worked as special assistant to then Deputy a At a reception in March, former IWA president Jack Munro (r.) and oth- paid tribute to Clay. e Brother Perry is well known and well respected by labour, management and government. He was the IWA’s voice on many issues. Minister of Labour Jim Matkin. Following the NDP election loss in 1975, Clay resigned and went to work as a Researcher for the NDP Caucus in Victoria. A year later he moved back to Vancouver where he was hired as an official with the UBC Faculty Association. Ultimately Clay returned to the IWA in February of 1978 as the union’s Legislative Director. In the early 80’s he also doubled up as Editor of the Western Canadian Lumberworker, the predecessor of IWA-CANADA Lumberworker. During the mid 1980’s as pres- sure began to mount on the forest and the environment, Clay was re- shuffled to his position as Director of Environment and Land-Use Department. All throughout his many positions and postings, Clay has long been considered the IWA’s history buff. From his early teenage days as a forestry worker and activity in the IWA, the BCGEU and the Oil Workers’ Union, Clay developed a keen interest in early B.C. labour history. In the late 70’s Clay did some his- torical interviews with the IWA’s first founding president Harold Pritchett, 30 years after the October 1948 split of the union into “red” and “white” blocs. In time, Brother Perry hopes to consolidate that interview and other interviews and materials which he has gathered over the years to write an early history of organized wood- workers in B.C. - from the pre- World War I days of the Industrial Workers of the World, (the Wobblies) to the post (1948) split period in the IWA. As for the 48 “red bloc” and “white bloc” split, Clay says: “What remains to be done and what I hope to do is a book which tries to appraise the leadership of both sides in a fair way - in a way that does credit to the labour move- ment.” As for highlights during his tenure in the IWA, Clay says there have been numerous key events. The 4% month 1986 B.C. strike over contracting out tends to stand out, in Clay’s eyes, as a key for the labour movement. He says it was a first time recognition from an industry which recognized that work being done by the employer is in the jurisdiction of the union. He says that “we have always been capable of driving at least as hard a bargain as the industry can sustain.” On leaving in April, Brother Perry expressed gratitude to an organization which he says “has a breadth of generosity and toler- ance.” He says the IWA has given staff like himself, a lot more leeway Clay has served the organization as loyally and in just about as many different ways as anyone has — Jack Munro in terms of dealing with issues than exists in other organizations. He says the future for the IWA won't be easy. Annual allowable cut decreases over the short-term will have a large impact on the member- ship, he predicts. He hopes that the historical objec- tive of achieving one union in wood will be achieved in the near future. “One of the great tragedies of the Canadian labour movement is that there has never been a single domi- nant union in the forest industry across the country,” says Clay. LUMBERWORKERJUNE, 1992/19