Local 1-405 gives union presence in south eastern region of British Columbia nthe mountainous country of the East and West Kootenays and up into the Rocky Mountain ranges, the IWA is alive and well. Since 1944 our union, under the juris- diction of Local 1-405 has repre- sented the interests of forest industry workers in British Columbia’s south eastern interior. Today with its headquarters in the city of Cranbrook the local union con- tinues to represent approximately 2,000 workers in 19 different opera- tions.(See map opposite page). The local union first gained its strength during the 1940’s. However the communist led split in 1948 saw all certifications drop out of the local’s jurisdiction. It wasn’t until 1956 that Kootenay Forest Products came back into the IWA and other opera- tions followed it back to the union. Over the decades the union has held its ground as many smaller oper- ations amalgamated and merged or were taken over. By 1980 the union represented as many as 3,300 mem- bers. But the following recession and a wave of technological changes saw the membership drop down as low as 1,500 during the 1982-83 years. Today the local union’s largest employers are Slocan Forest Products, Evans Forest Products, Pope and Talbot and Crestbrook Forest Industries. All companies have some of the most efficient operations anywhere in B.C. * BARGAINING THROUGH. THE IFLRA Since the early 1960’s, Local 1-405 and other IWA southern interior locals (Local 1-417, Local 1-423) have negotiated standard agreements with the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association (IFLRA). Like their-union brothers and sisters on the B.C. coast and northern interior, Local 1-405 prefers a system of master joint bar- gaining sessions to achieve a level playing field in their collective agree- ments. Not all operations are IFLRA affiliates however. The largest IFLRA company is Crestbrook Forest Industries with nearly 600 workers in five operations. Pope and Talbot is also a member, employing 280 IWA members at its giant Castlegar mill that it bought from Westar in 1992. After the 1986 strike, 55% of the local unions members were bargain- ing outside the IFLRA in independent agreements. However, major employ- ers like Slocan and Evans, do adhere to the basic wage and benefits negoti- ated in IFLRA agreements. “I think master agreement bargain- ing is going to carry on at least for a number of years,” says Local 1-405 president Wayne Nowlin, who has held the presidency position since 1968. “The IFLRA gives us a stable structure to deal with issues before and after contract talks.” During contract talks in 1991 the IFLRA, however, was pressing the three southern interior locals to get out of provincial negotiations and go for an exclusive southern interior master agreement. This was turned down flatly by the union locals who wanted to maintain the principle of parity with the coast. MAJOR EMPLOYERS Slocan Forest Products is one of the larger employers with sawmill operations in Slocan, and Radium Hot Springs. Both are state-of-the-art dimension sawmills which employ 380 IWA members between them. Another important Evans Forest Products sawmill is Donald with 175 union workers and its high grade plywood plant in Golden (205 workers), both in the northern region of the local union. The singly most productive mill is the STBROOK CRES' : FOREST INDUSTRIES LTD. e Truck driver Tim Kirn gets aboard after cinching up the binders for Crestbrook Forest Industries near Creston, B.C. Pope and Talbot 3 line dimension Castlegar sawmill which produces over a million board feet of lumber a day. Atco Lumber in Fruitvale has two IWA certified operations with its sawmill and planer, and veneer plant. Crestbrook has three mills, in Canal Flats, Elko (each with 180-200 work- ers), and Cranbrook (150 workers). The local union also holds one of its two logging certifications at its Creston Woodlands Division in the ¢ Local 1-405 financial secretary Edith Skiber (1.) stops in for a chat with Kelly Sallis (m.) and Sandy Robinson, union employees at the Castlegar Savings and Credit Union in Castlegar. east Kootenays. Canal Flats and Elkco. are dimension sawmills with the Cranbrook mill handling the larger timber and is known as a “board mill”. All the Crestbrook operations sell their chips to the company’s giant pulp mill in Skookumchuk, about 20 kilometres north of Cranbrook. That mill is certified to the Pulp Paper and Woodworkers of Canada, Local 15. Relations between the two unions are good according to Brother Nowlin. The Skookumchuck Pulp Mill is undergoing an expansion which will increase its demand for wood chips. Brother Nowlin says that the IWA mills won’t be able to meet the chip demand. As a result Crestbrook will be going for better log utilization in the woods and will be importing chips from Alberta. LOCAL UNION STRUCTURE AND OFFICERS ‘The local union is governed by a 17 member executive board which meets quarterly. Its by-laws say that any operation with over 25 members must be entitled to at least one representa- tive on the executive. The local union’s president Wayne Nowlin has been in the IWA for more than 3 decades. Originally from Kootenay Forest Products in Nelson, Brother Nowlin is one of the IWA’s elder statesmen. He is a past secre- tary-treasurer of the Nelson, Trail and District Labour Council and spent twelve years as president of the East Kootenay and District Labour Council until 1987. Brother Nowlin, who plans to retire in 1994, has also served as a member of the former IWA regional executive board and now sits as a member of the union's national executive board. The local financial secretary is Edith Skiber, who is also a trustee of the national union. Originally from Castlegar Savings and Credit Union in Castlegar, Sister Skiber has held that position since 1980. She is expected to retire later this year. 2 10/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 1993