NODC mills now into negotiations Negotiations for collective agree- ments are underway in the sawmill in- dustry in Northern Ontario and IWA-CANADA is doing the best it can to get settlements. Both Local 1-2693 (Thunder Bay) and 1-2995 (Kapuskasing) are coordi- nating their bargaining approaches under the auspices of the Northern Ontario District Council (NODC), an amalgam body of both local unions. So far there has been a wage pat- tern set at Malette United Sawmill in Hearst, Ontario where 110 Local 1- 2995 members ratified a three year collective agreement that will expire at the end of August, 1995. Employees received a $750 signing bonus in the first year, a 3% in the sec- ond year, and 34% in the third. Negotiations began in the summer and eventually local union negotiators had to go to conciliation before the deal was struck. Local 1-2995 president Norm Rivard says his local targeted Malette be- cause the company is a tough bargain- er. To back up the negotiating com- mittee, workers in Hearst voted over 90% to strike if the committee couldn’t get an adequate deal. Other increases in the contract at Malette include increases in shift dif- ferential payments, an increase in safety boot allowance and increases in the life insurance and the long term disability plan. In Local 1-2693 local union presi- dent Wilf McIntyre is helping negoti- ate agreements with 3 sawmills, where companies are making de- mands for fundamental changes which the union is resisting. The mills are Mackenzie Forest Products in Hudson (150 workers), retary Marcel Lacroix (1.) visits with Alex Maziak and Jacques Thibeault. Atikokan Forest Products in Atikokan (165) and the Domtar White River op- eration (140 workers). The local union is negotiation the agreements jointly in Hudson and Atikokan with the same employer group who has demanded that the union participate in 7 day mill opera- tion. Similarly in White River, Domtar has demanded a six day work week. In all cases the IWA has said no deal. There will be no change to the five day work week. “We won't even look at their mixed up schedules,” says Brother McIntyre. “They want to shove these schedules across the table at us but we refuse.” The union feels the importance of a 5 day work week is paramount for these three communities. The whole tradition of family life could be put in limbo and the work year will be con- densed if continued production sched- ules are put in place. ¢ At Malette sawmill in Timmins where talks are underway is 8” slasher opera- tor Pat Auclair. “Besides that we don’t believe there is an adequate wood supply out there to work 12 months in any of these op- erations, so why would we agree to work ourselves out of a job,” says Brother McIntyre. The union is digging in for a scrap if necessary. As of press time it has called for government conciliation to help facilitate the bypass and a strike vote may be necessary. Brother McIntyre says Buchanan’s negotiating stance is particularly hard to believe, since it already has a 6 day work schedule option in place at a Thunder Bay operation (Northern Wood Preservers). The workers, which are certified to the Canadian Paperworkers Union, simply refuse to participate in the implementation of a six day shift. McIntyre says the struggle against Domtar is serious as the company is dead set to change the work schedule. Two years ago the IWA struck the ba ¢ At the filing room of McChesney Lumber Division of E.B. Eddy Forest Products in Timmins, Local 1-2995 financial see- White River operation for four months in a nasty dispute over the issue of discipline of workers for picket line activity. The union won out in the end. Brother McIntyre said that once the companies drop their unreasonable demands, the real negotiations can be- gin to achieve the NODC wage pattern and concentrate on real local issues. All IWA sawmills in Ontario are aim- ing for the NODC wage pattern and have their own specific issues to deal with. “We want to stick to the pattern and stay on the same playing fields,” says Brother McIntyre. “We're not treating any one company different than the other. In Local 1-2995 the IWA is going into negotiations with McChesney Lumber (Timmins), Malette (Timmins), Nor- mick (Cochrane and Kirkland Lake), Isabel Brothers (Oppasatika), Lecours (Hearst) and Olov Havelshoot (Hore- payne). Local 1-2693 picks up new plant in employee merger DUBREUILVILLE ONTARIO -- IWA- CANADA Local 1-2693 (Thunder Bay) picked up 325 new members here in late October as workers at a sawmill owned by Buchanan Forest Products decided they should merge their em- ployee association with the union. Two years ago the mill changed ownership hands as a giant U.S. con- glomerate called James River Mara- thon bought out the-operation from the Dubreil family who owned and op- erated the mill for decades. The sawmill workers belonged to an employee bargaining association which had good relations with the Dubreil family until the takeover two years ago. So this year they decided to merge with the IWA. "The workers saw that they were now dealing with an employer with a different mentality from what they were used to in the past," says Local 1-2693 president Wilf McIntyre. "Be- fore the workers negotiated with the Dubreil family on a fairly straight for- ward basis." But since the takeover by Buchanan workers have had to face a slick nego- tiated lawyer who has tried to do a job on them and has, to some extent, succeeded. In 1990, the company stripped the collective agreement of contract lan- guage covering seniority and contract- ing out protection. "The company has decided to take a whack at the workers and it has back- fired on them," says Brother McIntyre. "Now the crew is faced with griev- ances that they hadn't really had much to do with before." The new union members want the IWA to represent them on grievances, arbitrations and other meat and pota- to issues. And they want the security of belonging to a larger organization. The millworkers had belonged to the staff association since the early 1970's. Brother McIntyre says he expects a tough road to hoe with the employer as negotiations for a contract begin in the new year. Eventually the IWA wants to bar- gain strong contract language which exists in other IWA operations in Northern Ontario. The operation is a dimension saw- mill which produces softwood lum- ber. It also handles poplar hardwoods, taking out the peeler logs for MacMil- lan Bloedel's plywood plant at Nip- igon. The rest of the log is chipped for pulping at the James River Marathon mill or Kimberley-Clark in Terrace Bay. Dubreilville is about 220 miles east of Thunder Bay. Currently IWA-CANA- DA Local 1-2693 represents about 800 of the Buchanan group's 1,200 bush and millworkers across the northwest of the province. 8/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1992 _