° At Cattermole Timber’s logging camp, union member and faller Ken Marlatt (1) discusses training program with Local

1-3567’s Barry King. ©

Local unionists say new training program
needs full commitment to achieve success

Just how successful the Fraser
Training Society is will depend on the
amount of participation by employers
and workers. Everyone has to work
together in a spirit of co-operation to
get the program off the ground.

At Cattermole Timbers' logging
camp in the Nahatlach Valley about 70
miles northwest of Hope, workers are
being made more aware of the pro-

's intentions and there's a lot of
work to be done.

Cattermole has been one of the key
participants in the early stages of the
program along with other unionized

employers including Canadian Forest
Products, Interfor, Lineham Logging
and Pretty's Timber.

Ken Marlatt is an IWA representa-
tive on the Fraser Training Society's
Board of Directors. Brother Marlatt,
who works as a faller in the Nahatlach
says that there has to be more aware-
ness of what the program is attempt-
ing to do.

Marlatt says if the course is run
properly then there should be some-
thing in it for most everybody who
wants skills upgrading. The key. to
skills upgrading, he says, is to learn

new skills in a safe and efficient way.

"The problem now is that many
times the employer will bring in work-
ers from outside when a job needs to
be filled instead of training our own
guys," says Marlatt. "For some jobs
there are not a lot of skilled workers
readily available."

"There has to be a sense of security
given to workers that they will be
properly trained in a safe way," adds
Marlatt. "Over the long run safety
training in the skills upgrading will
help productivity and workers will be
more adaptable."

To provide training opportunity
Brother Marlatt says that the compa-
ny has to give the workers the go
ahead to change jobs and be super-
vised while they are doing that job.

"For example, I can't give my fall-
er’s job to a landing bucker, and let
him fall, without someone there to
keep an eye on things," says Marlatt.
"The company has to create opportu-
nities for the training to take place."

Today there is very little training
going on in the industry. Workers
have to pick up skills the hard way.
Often workers don't have a good safe
background behind their skills they
have learned.

"Once you get the safety considera-
tions taken care of, things will be bet-
ter for everyone. The production will
be more efficient and will be getting
out a better product."

Brother Marlatt acknowledges that
the program will be a challenge.
There's a certain level of cynicism out
there that has to be dealt with.

"A lot of guys think this is a crock
because companies don't want to
train," he says. "For years they have
brought in workers off the street and
guys with good potential haven't had
the chance to move ahead."

A problem that will arise will be
that of seniority. What happens when
a junior person trains a senior person?
Does that person get bumped? There
has to be an agreement during the
training that a worker training anoth-
er worker won't then lose his job.

The majority of the training will be
on the job site as workers will be
teaching workers. However part of
the program will also be in the off-sea-
son.

For example, drivers' licenses, air
brake courses and first aid courses
can be learned during the shutdown
period. Some classroom training, (eg.
the proper functioning of accident in-
vestigation committees) can be
learned off the job as well.

All in all the skills upgrading pro-
gram in the logging sector is an ambi-
tious effort which will be ongoing in
nature.

For many workers the program will
be the first chance that they have ever
received formal training. Most loggers
learn by trial and error experiences.
This type of approach to worker train-
ing must eventually stop.

Skills upgrading needed
in today’s forest industry

by Phillip Legg
Assistant Research Director

What do the Japanese Genban mar-
ket, new aerial logging systems, opti-
mizing sawmill technology, intensive
silviculture and engineered wood pro-
ducts have in common? At first
glance, not much. But if you think
about it, they all are examples of how
the forest industry in Canada can ex-
pand and succeed in the future.
Whether it is value-added manufactur-
ing, high recovery sawmilling or inno-
vative log harvesting, the success of
the industry in the coming decade will
hinge on its ability to incorporate
these and other practises into its cur-
rent operations.

Accomplishing that will require a
re-tooling of mills, a re-shaping of
marketing and distribution channels,
but most of all it will involve a re-
training and of the current
industry workforce. Every change and
innovation will mean acquiring new
skills as well as re-vitalizing existing
ones.

When it comes to training, the prob-
lems and circumstances facing the
forest industry are not unique. The en-
tire Canadian economy is confronting
a similar pattern of change in which

increased training efforts will play a
critical role.

One of the main reasons for this in-
creased attention to training is the ag-
ing of Canada's workforce. The large
influx of young people into the labour
market which occurred during’the
1970's and 1980's will decrease dra-
matically over the next twenty years.

As a result, employers who had pre-
viously relied on "new entrants" as a
way to meet or supplement their
changing skill needs will, more and
more, have to re-train the existing
workforce to meet those needs. Add
to that the fact that the pace of tech-
nological change will continue to in-
crease in the coming years and it is
clear that those worksites where
training efforts are well established
and continuous will be better
equipped to keep pace with those
changes.

If training is a critical issue, what
has been the track record within the
Canadian economy as far as estab-
lished training practises? The answer
is not very encouraging. For a variety
of reasons, training has not had any
significant priority in Canada.

At a March 1991 labour-manage-
ment conference, the then federal

Continued on page twenty-three

© Local 1-184 member and saw filer Larry Hicks, works on saw during produc-
tion break at Saskatchewan Forest Products sawmill in Carrot River, Saskat-
chewan. All phases of the sawmill industry will require more training in the
future.

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1992/7