PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Joint bargaining process
should not be dismantled

by Gerry Stoney

)))) n the sometimes rocky world of labour
'_, relations, the B,C. Forest Industry fired a
| salvo at pulp and paper workers on Janu-
| | ary 19th when pulp companies said they
‘intend to dissolve joint bargaining in
1994. Understandably the two unions
that will be affected by such a move, namely
the Communication, Energy and Paperwork-
ers Union and the Pulp and Paperworkers of
Canada, are very upset and will resist any
such attempts of the industry to disassemble
industry wide bargaining.

The unilateral move by the companies will
only create instability in an industry which
doesn’t need any measure of instability right
now. Fourteen companies operating 19 pulp
mills employing some 12,000 employees are
saying that they want to divide and conquer
the unions.

Although many of the same companies say
that they have no current plans to dissolve
industry wide bargaining in the solid wood
sector, we are very concerned that it may hit
us eventually if the industry continues in its
attempts to pick the pulp unions apart.

The changes in labour relations tactics are
indicative of the corporate philosophy in the
forest industry. The large companies don’t see
eye to eye with each other anymore and
believe that enterprise bargaining will be
more effective.

This move by industry is a narrow self-serv-
ing change that is splitting employers and is

i |

sending some large
tap roots into the sys-
tem of collective bar-
gaining in the
province.

IWA-CANADA, like
our brothers and sis-
ters in the pulp
unions will resist any
such move by the
industry to break up
collective bargaining.
Industry’s argument
that they cannot
address local plant
issues in industry-
wide bargaining is a
week kneed reason
for trying to divide
the unions.

with refined ;
ing positions. In the
IWA we undergo
lengthy democratic
procedures to put the
best interests of our
members on the bar-
gaining table in a uni-
fied manner. There's
no reason why the
industry, with all its
high priced labour
relations help, can’t
do the same. They
should sort out their
problems — behind
closed doors and get
their act together,
and not try to pick
apart the joint bar-

If we in the IWA
had to negotiate collective agreements for
every single operation, there wouldn’t be
enough days on the calendar to do so. We
have literally hundreds of collective agree-
ments, both large and small, that set labour
relations standards in the forest industry. The
integrity of our collective agreements are well
known and have made this industry the most
competitive forest industry in the world,
while our workers are the most highly paid in
the world.

We are saying to the industry in a very
straightforward manner that they should not
try to dissolve industry wide bargaining. For
the stability of the industry and the province,
employers should not try to fire us up with
strong arm tactics. Those tactics are designed
to exhaust a union’s energy and resources.

During the collective bargaining process
both sides, industry and labour, sort out their
respective problems and come to the table

i gaining process.

In both the pulp and solid wood sectors
joint bargaining has been the norm since the
1940's and 1950's. Our union forefathers went
through some lengthy and sometimes violent
strikes to put workers wages and conditions
on a level plane. In the 1990's we will not let
the hard fought gain of unified joint bargain-
ing slip away from us.

Industry should not think of trying to divide
and conquer our union.

We hope that the industry will come to its
senses and back down on trying to dissolve
joint bargaining in the pulp sector. The pulp
unions are saying that the action will lead to
instability.

The forest industry should wake up. Con-
frontation and instability are not what it
needs and that’s exactly what will happen if
the industry tries to divide and conquer work-
ers and their communities.

Reman sector offers
hope for workers

by Dave Tones

ince the recession and economic depres-
sion began to hit the IWA, our membership
across the country has taken a beating.
We, as much as any other group of indus-
rial sector workers, have seen jobs
_~ reduced or eliminated.

Fortunately, the lumber industry is now in an
upturn due to increasing demand, and a shortfall
of quality logs in the United States. However, a
fundamental change in attitude is imperative. We
cannot rely heavily on the American business
cycle for our jobs. ¥

Even though we are seeing some economic
recovery for our members, it is doubtful that we
will see any great increase in the number of IWA
jobs in primary lumber manufacturing. In fact,
shortages of log supply and hi-technology milling
facilities across Canada will most certainly ensure
that our union will see more jobs lost in the years
ahead.

Therefore it is time for our union to take a good
look around at the forest products industry and
increase our efforts to organize workers particu-
larly in the value added and lumber remanufactur-
ing sectors.

These sectors will be one of our union’s few pri-
mary areas of growth in the forest industry in the
future. Along with new jobs that should be created
in the tree planting and silviculture sectors, the
secondary reman sector provides unions an addi-
tional opportunity to represent the interests of
working people.

In the jurisdiction of our local union, IWA-CANA-
DA Local 1-3567, there are thousands of workers in
the value added remanufacturing sectors that need
union representation. We are currently surveying
the potential that is out there to increase the scope
of our local union’s activities.

As a union we are concermed that the secondary
and lumber remanufacturing sector must continue
to grow and flourish in light of proposed reduc-
tions in annual allowable cuts that the industry is
faced with. It is important to create jobs and

wealth right here in Canada for Canadian workers.

Previous programs
such as the Small Busi-
ness Forest Enterprise
Program (SBFEP) intro-
duced by the B.C.
Socred government in
the 1980's did not create
the “meaningful” jobs it
was supposed to. In fact
I suggest a thorough,
independent audit of
this program would bear
this out.

The SBFEP operates
on a high bid policy for
standing timber forcing up the price of logs, pirat-
ing jobs away from traditional operations. And to
top this off, the jobs created by the SBFEP are low
wage, low benefit and non union! A shift to a sys-
tem that gives annual allowable cut credited for
the sale or use of lumber to the B.C. remanufactur-
ing sector would be

Quite often we point to the Japanese as being
the most competitive and successful traders in the
world. The Japanese are certainly not unregulated
free marketeers when it comes to their industrial

strategies.

The Japanese practice a form of “corporate
socialism”, where government takes entire indus-
tries and puts rules into motion which ensures
that their industries are among the most competi-
tive in the world and can thrive and survive in
changing economic conditions.

There must be a British Columbian and Canadi-
an Industrial Strategy to oversee the forest indus-
try as a whole. “We have the resource” that’s a
given. Now we need some leadership from govern-
ment.

The Canadian-U.S. free trade agreement and the
proposed North American free trade agreement
will make it extremely difficult for Canadians to
establish control over their own forest industry in
the future. Unfettered free trade will dictate that

we have to give foreign

more effective for mean-
ingful job creation.

In January our union
made a special submis-
sion to the B.C. Govern-
ment’s Select Standing
Committee on Forests,
Energy, Mines and
Petroleum Resources.
Given the opportunity

The reman and value-
added sectors will be one
-of our union’s areas of
growth in the future

capital the same access
to our resources that
domestic producers
have.

If these agreements
continue unopposed
then our can is going to
be kicked all over town.
A made in Canada
industrial strategy for

to discuss issues affect-

ing lumber remanufac-

turing operations in the B.C. wood products indus-

try, our union said that government, industry and

labour must link-up to create a new sectoral strategy.
The goals of this strategy would be multi-dimen-

sional and including the following:

(a) Research and development into new product

lines and markets.

(b) Business partnerships which provide remanu-

facturers and value.added producers stable access

to lumber.

(c) Training and skill development for workers

enabling them to participate in the Forest Indus-

tries necessary shift to higher value added prod-

ucts.

(d) A “Working Forest” which takes into consider-

ation social, economic and environmental impacts.
All of this adds up to jobs for Canadian workers.
We have an opportunity with an NDP govern-

ment in B.C. that may be more worker-friendly, to

initiate a planned, regulated approach to the

forests. The current laissez-faire, free market

approach has caused great job loss to B.C. and

Canada.

the forest industry will

be jeopardized. This
gives us all the more reason to create a broadly
mandated tri-partite strategy immediately.

We must act in the immediate future to formu-
late an industrial strategy which recognizes and
promotes sovereignty over our resources. Our tim-
ber resources are a treasure that we should not
squander in a no-holds barred world of free trade.

We must carefully manage our resources to pro-
tect the environment, and create meaningful jobs
and sustainable economic activity which will pay
for the many social services that Canadians expect
and deserve.

It is high time that politicians and the industry
stop wandering in.the dark. We need to make a
plan to know where we're headed and we need to
get that plan in place now.

Dave Tones is President of IWA-CANADA,
Local 1-8567 in New Westminster and the Fraser
Valley, B.C. and is a member of the union’s
National Executive Board.

|

eens
4/LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1993