ESIDENT’S MESSAGE

New anti-scab laws
are long overdue

By Gerry Stoney

t long last workers in British Colum-
bia and Ontario have protection
' 4 against other people stealing their
- jobs from them. Both provincial gov-
—J ‘ernments have enacted new legisla-
tion that bans the use of scabs during strikes.

We in IWA-CANADA welcome those actions
and hope that every other provincial govern-
ment will adopt similar rules. Up until Ontario
and B.C. made the changes, only Quebec had
anti-scab laws.

Employers have historically used scabs to
smash strikes and break up organized labour
since before the days when unions even had
legal recognition. They have in many in-
stances to this day, used strike breaking scabs
to undermine the collective security of work-
ing people.

Many critics of the new legislative change
say that anti-scab laws tip the scale in favour
of the labour movement. Nothing could be
further from the truth.

Without protection against scabbing a com-
pany is completely free to operate during a
strike situation, ignoring its employees on the
picket line. This can only lead to a sense of
betrayal that employees feel as they see their
jobs stolen from them. And there are few
things that are as provocative as stealing
someone's job from them.

So if a company can fully operate during a
strike, what fairness is there? The purpose of
a strike is to put economic pressure on an em-
ployer. Without the right to effectively strike,
then the scales of balance are tipped entirely

on the employers’
sides.

Traditionally em-
ployers have used
the courts and the
police to enforce in-
junctions against
picketers, in order
to clear the way for
scabs. But if a strike
is prolonged or an
employer's lock-out
is sustained the
courts and the cops
never come to the
aid of workers who
are outside the plant
gate. The system
just doesn’t care
about workers.

/ Z

Anti-scab leg
tion will put an enc
to these ugly scen
for good. The em
ployer has no moral
right and we soon |
hope legal right, to
use scabs to unde!
mine the solidarity
of working people.

Witness what hap-
pened at the Giant
Yellowknife mine
this past September
when 9 people were
killed in a mine ex:
plosion and there
has been repeated
incidences of vio-
lence between pick-

t
7
4 Pe. eters and scabs.

Labour laws with--
out anti-scab provisions are simply anti-work-
er and don’t recognize that strikes are often
the only effective measure that organized
workers have to use against their employer to
reach a settlement.

Our members have been on strike against
the Zeidler veneer plant in Slave Lake, Alberta
and plywood plant in Edmonton for over 6
and 4 years respectively. During those years
they have watched helplessly as scabs have
crossed their picket line to steal their jobs.
The company kept on operating under the
protection of the courts and the RCMP and
continues to use scabs to undermine the
union.

In late 1988 and early 1989, the IWA was in-
volved in a strike against Leyland Industries
in Pitt Meadows, B.C., when the employer
scabbed its plastic container plant for over 8
months while workers were seeking a first
contract. The strike finally came to an end af-
ter the IWA organized a massive support rally

in defiance of an injunction limiting the num-
ber of picketers allowed at the plant gate.

Although some tried to blame the death on
the union at strike, there is absolutely no evi- |
dence to support that fact. Had there been

anti-scab laws in place it is doubtful that
these ugly and provocative scenes would have

ever come about.
Anti-scab laws work to build better labour

relations as well. Such is the case in Quebec

where, since they were introduced in 1977,

Anti-scab laws have helped the province to

record low numbers in terms of labour dis-
utes.

s If it can work in Quebec, it can work in On-

tario and B.C.

Employers and government should all real-

ize that for improved labour relations, strike

breaking must be prohibited.

The governments in all provinces should

have the courage to do the right thing. The

right thing to do is include the outright ban-

ning of scabs from any job site.

People who take striking workers’ jobs

away from them are not “replacement work-

ers.” They are job thieves.

It’s time for industry
to return co-operation

by Bill Routley

I aN uring the past decade our union has

nN \ been trying its best in working with in-

| dustry and various government bodies to

} find common ground solutions to prob-

rf lems that effect us and our communities.

—~ We have been especially active on count-

less committees that deal with forestry and land
use issues.

In British Columbia and across Canada IWA
members are respected for their pragmatic and re-
alistic methods of dealing with concrete issues.
Most often our sincere efforts to lessen confronta-
tion and find answers to problems are well re-
ceived. However, in many instances some
companies have a two faced approach to the con-
sultative processes that they try to purport.

In order for the IWA, the industry and the public
to move ahead we have to solve some problems of
the past.

For example to this day, the legitimate right of
the union to exist is still being challenged by some
major employers out there. In British Columbia we
are constantly fighting a rearguard action from
companies who try to systematically undermine
the security of our bargaining units by contracting
out and contracting in work that is ours.

Companies like Fletcher Challenge, Canadian
Pacific Forest Products and MacMillan Bloedel are
constantly trying to chisel away at long standing
agreements in the logging sectors and contract out
our jobs. Because they are challenging our right as
aunion to work on the land, it’s getting more diffi-
cult to cooperate with them in areas outside of the
collective agreement.

So long as these problems exist it’s almost im-
possible in my mind to envision a day where we
can have more trust in the industry and that the in-
dustry is willing to listen to our needs in good
faith.

Not all employers, including major employers,
are challenging our right to exist. Some companies
treat their employees with real dignity and there
are some examples around where employers are
allowing us to participate more in decision-mak-

ing. Personally I wel-
come those initiatives,
such as the joint envi-
ronmental initiative be-
tween the IWA and Inter-
for.
It is Interfor’s inten-
tion to allow workers
full and equal participa-
tion in the planning of
all phases of forest oper-
) ations whether it be
roadbuilding, harvesting,
L or silvicultural planning.
This is a positive move that recognizes the legit
macy of the IWA. Unfortunately Interfor operates
several non-union logging camps and a non-union
sawmill in the province's interior.
We still have dinosaurs in the forest industry
who believe that unions are redundant and in fact
I can think of compa-

role to play in their business and in the communi-

During the introduction of new technology the
company took workers into account and put in a
finger-joint line and laminated beam section to
create jobs, not unemployment! Rather than throw
their union workers out on the street the company
worked with members of the Swedish Wood In-
dustry. Workers’ Union to create employment op-
portunities.

In Sweden, corporations and unions work to-
gether in defending the nation’s social security
structure and that includes the maintenance of
employment levels. In Canada we are a far cry
from where the Swedes are at.

In the IWA we are being continually asked by the
industry to help fight for the preservation of the
land base to preserve the industry’s rate of cut.
Out of necessity we have joined the industry to

prevent withdrawals from the working forest.
We do so in a great

nies that are presently
on the course of de-
unionizing the union
logging sector on the
B.C. coast. I can fore-
see a return to some
large confrontations in
the future unless these
moves are stopped.
The industry as a
whole has to come to

There are still some
dinosaurs in the
industry who are

constantly trying to

undermine our union

deal of good faith. But
almost every time we
turn around the indus-
try is doing its damnest
to eliminate our jobs
and has no plan to cre-
ate additional jobs.
This has to change.
When I look at the
vast tracts of forest
lands in this province I

a consensus that the
IWA is here to stay, and is a legitimate partner in
maintaining the forest economy. Together we have
to look at creating employment opportunites, and
putting a halt to the devestating job losses that are
threatening to flatten our communities.

Just earlier this year as the B.C. Ministry of
Forests reduced Fletcher Challenge Canada’s an-
nual allowable cut by 29% on southern Vancouver
Island the company slashed its logging crew by
over 50% without even batting an eyelash. These
kinds of actions don’t give us any reason to believe
that a company like Fletcher Challenge is con-
cerned about the employment of our members.

There is a better way though. When I travelled
to Sweden in 1989, I saw with my own eyes that
the industry there accepts Labour as a true part-
ner. This especially became apparent to me when I
toured a sawmill in Langshytte. When Langshytte-
Travary introduced new Link mill technology in
1985 it looked for new ways to maintain employ-
ment. It looked at the people that work for them
not as just a commodity or a tool of industry but

as people who have an important and legitimate

wonder why they are
not being intensively managed. There is a tremen-
dous potential for job creation by putting intensive
silviculture programs into place. As far as a high
value-added industry goes, our high quality old
growth timber has enormous potential to create
more profits and jobs right-here in Canada. We
shouldn't be shipping it out in raw or semi-pro-
cessed forms without doing the most to it in our |
country, thereby putting our people to work.

In my eyes the IWA should continue to partici-
pate with the industry and with governments who
will honestly listen to us. Industry has to stop its
attack on our bargaining units and has to stop
eliminating jobs without any alternative strategies
in place.

And because industry operates almost entirely
on public lands, the government should work with
us to ensure that there is fair play on both sides.

Bill Routley is president of Duncan Local 1-80.
on Vancouver Island and a member of IWA-CANA-
DA's National Executive Board.

Lyre yeep semseeee ee EEE

4/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1992