CONVENTION!
HIGHLIGHTS

Stoney hammers Mulroney |
government in opening
address to delegates

TWA-CANADA President Gerry Stoney took special
occasion, at the union's National Convention on Oc-
tober 26th to hammer the Mulroney government for
its ruthless administration of government, free
trade agreements and betrayal of the Canadian peo-
ple. One hundred and seventy delegates from nine-
teen IWA union locals were present in Vancouver
on October 26, 1992 to hear Brother Stoney's open-
ing address.

"We have over 1.6 million Canadian workers un-
employed today in Canada," said Brother Stoney.
"And as deplorable as that number is, it only tells
part of the story. Another 300,000 Canadian people

have just stopped looking for work, so they are not

~__ sounted in these official numbers. Add to that the

“number of those who are forced to work part-time
and you very quickly total about 2.5 million Canadi-
ans who in some way, shape or form have become
casualties of our economic times."

"No matter which way you look at it a lot of these
Canadians don't have a job to return to, even if
things did get back to normal; their sawmills, their
plywood plants, their auto assembly operations,
their steel mills, their food processing plants have
all been permanently changed for the worse by the
recession."

Brother Stoney also said that poverty within the
ranks of Canadians has doubled over the last 10
years.

"That is not a phenomenon restricted to some far
away region that we may hear much about. The
working poor in our country are part of every re-
gion, every province, every town, big or small.

Stoney told the delegates that unemployed mill-
workers and loggers are unimportant to the Mul-
roney government and are "faceless and nameless

in the Tory analysis."

"This country just didn't fall into recession. It was
pushed and pushed by a federal government that
not only doesn't care about who gets hurt, but more
to the point, doesn't have a clue about how to get
the economy and its people back on their collective
feet."

The speaker said the federal government's inflat-
ed, warped, interest rates policies of the last five
years inflated the Canadian dollar to 88¢ U.S. and
shut down the export economy.

"Although the dollar has retreated now, that five
year jolt to 88¢ was enough to shut down sawmills,
plywood plants, corrugated and box plants, furni-
ture and reman mills, steel mills and auto assembly

plants all permanently. Not layoffs, permanent clo-
sures!"

"The dollar's rise also created a stampede to relo-
cate plants in the United States. In southern Ontario
corporate Canada was shuffling off to Buffalo. Out
west it was Ferndale Washington, (and) Bellingham
and Emersen (Washington) that became a home
away from home for the likes of Canfor, Terminal
Forest Products, Sauder Industries and others ......
That was our work that went across the line, our
jobs, our livelihoods, our future. And it was the fed-
eral Tories who were helping to load the truck, pay
for the gas and drive businesses down south."

Brother Stoney then pointed out the loss of Cana-
dian jobs to the Free Trade Agenda.

"It was no coincidence that our dollar moved up
once the Canada/U.S. Free Trade Agreement was
signed. It had to because that was what the U.S.
wanted; it wanted to have a blanket measure to pro-
tect U.S. industry. A higher Canadian dollar provid-
ed that blanket."

Stoney said the Free Trade Agreement has per-
manently neutralized Canada's ability to define or

restrict the type of investment decisions that for-
eign capital can make in our country. He said Cana-
dians can no longer demand that a Foreign
Investment Review Agency screen acquisitions and
mergers by multinationals.

"We (Canadians) can't even ask the question.
‘Does this merger provide a net benefit to Canadi-
ans?’ If we did, we would be in violation of the Free
Trade Agreement ... Canadians can no longer place
restrictions on the degree of control that foreign
multinationals may have in important national re-
source sectors like energy or petroleum products. If
we did, we would be in violation of the Free Trade
Agreement."

The recent promotion of the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as the centre piece
of our economic recovery in Canada drew particu-
lar rath from Brother Stoney. The union president
said that the IWA and others are ready to fight
against the NAFTA.

"The Canadian trade union movement is not
about to sit idly by and see decades of achieve-
ments in areas like wages and hours of work, work-
place health and safety, fringe benefits and general
standard of living... we are not going to see these
things diluted or neutralized by a government trade
deal that puts investment before people."

Stoney said that international trade is essential
but that the NAFTA and the FTA with the United
States have nothing to do with fairness and equality.

"They (NAFTA and the FTA) have everything to do
with a set of right-wing corporate values that have
no allegiance to communities or countries, no alle-
giance to social safety nets and no allegiance to
high wages or high skills."

¢ Neil Menard, first V.P.

° Fred Miron, second V.P.

e Warren Ulley, third V.P.

National Officers elected by acclamation

Nominations for the positions of National Offi-
cers went through uncontested once again this year
as all incumbent and newly appointed officers won
by acclamation. .

TW, |ADA president Gerry Stoney, who suc-
ete, retired Jack Munro, accepted his posi-
tion as of the National Union following
‘nominations by Local 1-3567 president Dave Tones.

Brother Stoney, who has served as First Vice-
President and Secretary-Treasurer of the national
office, originates from the former New Westminster
Local 1-357.

Accepting the nomination for First National Vice-
President was incumbent officer Neil Menard who
is going into his third term in that position. Dennis
Bonville, president of Saskatchewan Local 1-184,

¢ Harvey Arcand, fourth V.P.

¢ Terry Smith, sec.-treas.

made the nomination. Brother Menard, who origi-
nates from Saskatchewan, is the National union of-
ficer responsible for occupational health and safety,
organizing, and employee and family assistance pro-
grams in addition to numerous other duties.

Fred Miron, former long time president of Thun-
der Bay Local 1-2693, was acclaimed as the union's
National Second Vice-President after receiving a
nomination from Local 1-2693 president Wilf McIn-
tyre. This will be Brother Miron's second term as an
officer of IWA-CANADA. He is stationed at the IWA

Continued on next page

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1992/9