Local 1-417 gives IWA solid presence in southern interior ne of IWA-CANADA’s most solid local unions has been and remains today in B.C.’s southern interior. With over 1,800 members to its credit, IWA-CANADA Local 1-417 is one of organized labour’s stalwarts in the sawmill, plywood and planing industry. It’s geographical boundaries cover a large area (see map next Page} that borders on five other local unions of the IWA. Today.Local 1- 417 represents workers in 18 certifi- cations. LOCAL UNION HISTORY Although the local union was granted its first certification in June of 1945 at Shuswap Lumber Company in Canoe, B.C., the new local struggled for a number of years until 1965 when Local 1-417 became its own completely indepen- dent local. In the 40’s and early 50’s three IWA interior locals (Local 1-417, Local 1-423, and Local 1-405) were experiencing problems in maintain- ing independently unified union structures. In 1953 an entity called the Interior Regional Officers (IRO) was formed in Kelowna to oversee activities in the three southern inte- rior locals and allow the locals a chance to form their own indepen- dent financial and service struc- tures. Local 1-417 had it’s first own local annual delegated meeting in Salmon Arm in April of 1959 where it organized for it’s eventual inde- pendence which finally came in 1965 when the IRO closed down. From 1952 to 1965 Brother John Kelly served as president and was succeeded by Bob Schlosser. The local union grew on a steady basis until it reached a membership high of over 3,000 in the late 1970’s and early 1980's. TODAYS LOCAL EXECUTIVE Local 1-417’s president today is Kevin Kelly who has held that posi- tion since 1983, when he succeeded Chris Johnson. Kelly had been the financial secretary since 1970 and worked as a log lift operator at the H.K. Lumber Plywood operation, now Federated Co-op, in Canoe 10 kilometres east of Salmon Arm. First vice-president is Doug Pock- ett, a former filer at the Weyer- haeuser operation in Kamloops. Carol Toth of the Weyerhaeuser operation in Vavenby is second vice- president. Albert Vanderlaan, a for- mer dryer operator at Federated Co-op Plywood in Canoe, is on staff as a business agent and holds the position of third vice-president in the local. Joe Davies, from Weyerhaeuser operation in Kamloops, is the local union long-time financial secretary and business agent. Other union officers include recording secretary Ed Robinson from Tolko Kamloops, conductor Les Lawless from Weyer- haeuser Kamloops and warden Kevin Fraser from Slocan Forest Products in Vavenby. The local has kept up its tradition of holding Local Annual Delegated meetings where an average of about 100 delegates show up to go over sub-local reports and debate local and national policy. Local 1-417’s Executive Board structures allows that any opera- tion that has 50 members or more is entitled to an additional board member if there is not a local union officer already elected from the operation. The local executive board, which consists of 18 mem- bers, meets four times a year between Annual Conventions. MAJOR CERTIFICATIONS The local union is very spread out with its northern most operations as Slocan Vavenby saw and planer e At Tolko’s Louis Creek sawmill filer Kirk Peebles puts touches on circu- lar saw. ESS SI a e At the Weyerhaeuser Kamloops sawmill, (1. to r.) Tosh Tahara, John T. Smith, and Rob McKenzie take a photo break near rail loading siding. mill about 360 km north of Kam- loops. It’s southern most mills are Aspen Planers, Weyerhaeuser and Tolko in Merritt. The eastern most operation is Evans Product’s cedar mill in Malakwa while it’s western most is Ainsworth veneer sawmill and plan- er in Lillooet. Most of the local union member- ship is certified to five forest prod- ucts companies. They are Weyer- haeuser Canada, Tolko Industries, Slocan Forest Products, Ainsworth Lumber and Federated Co-Opera- tives. There are a total of 325 mem- bers at Weyerhaeuser operations in Kamloops, Merritt, and Vavenby. Tolko employs 420 IWA members at its Louis Creek, Merritt and Kam- loops mills. Slocan’s in Vavenby and Valemount employ 210 members. Ainsworth’s Lillooet division employs 130 members while it’s Savona panel board division employs over 100 people under an IWA agreement. Federated Co-op has two mills side by side in the town of Canoe where 230 IWA- CANADA members are employed. Other certifications include Aspen Planers at Merritt, B.J. Car- ney log poles at Sicamous, Comp- wood Products in Kamloops, Evans Product’s cedar mill in Malakwa, the Heffley Reforestation Centre in Kamloops, Newnes Machinery in Salmon Arm and Riverside Forest Products in the Falkland area. Most of Local 1-417’s operations are, as of press time, operating on a 2 and 3 shift basis. Due to the strong prices paid for lumber and laminated products, the local work- force has been very steady says Brother Kelly. “It’s about the best now as it’s been in the last 5-6 years as far as employment levels for the 6/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1993 companies go,” says Kelly. As such the local union is up and running strong these days in spite of a costly court case involving Fed- erated Co-op which hit the local for $180,000 in 1991. In 1990 a two day wildcat strike which eventually affected Federated Co-op’s two oper- ations took place in protest over some major grievances. Subse- quently the company used the courts to garnishee union dues until its production losses were met. To this day labour relations in the The local union hold certifications to major forest companies such as Weyerhaeuser, Tolko, Slocan, Ainsworth and Federated Co-op operations are not the best they could be. : “When any employer takes you through the court system to solve a problem it is going to leave a labour relations problem,” says financial secretary Joe Davies. “Fed-Co-op was the only coma to ever take our local to court for Saneiel gain.” THE INDEPENDENTS AND IFLRA Like other B.C. locals in the IWA, Local 1-417 prefers to bargain cen-