¢ In the planer section of the mill is an all women crew of (I. to r.) Anny Bouffard, Henriette Gagne, Irene Bouchard, France Michaud, and Doris Desgagnes. Local 1-2693 boosts its membership with united workers at Dubreuil Brothers ne of the good things that has \ happened to IWA-CANADA / over the past couple of years / has been the addition of over ~..” 325 new union members in northern Ontario. In late October of last year, IWA Local 1-2693 successful- ly certified workers at Dubreuil Brothers Ltd. sawmill and logging op- eration. Since that time things have been better for workers and the local union. Local 1-2693 picked up a solid workforce of united workers and the new union members now have the re- sources of the IWA behind them. Prior to going to the IWA, the workers operated under a collective agreement which they negotiated themselves. Since 1975, when the mill- workers and bushworkers founded their own employees association called L’Association des Employees de Dubreuil Bro. Ltd., they had been on their own and had done relatively well. Over the years the IWA and its pre- decessors (the Lumber and Sawmill Workers’ Union) kept up contacts with the workers as their employee association committees changed dur- ing elections. In 1989 Buchanan Forest Products and James River Corporation took over from the Dubreuil family, which operated the mill in the town which has the name Dubreuilville. After the takeover by some of Buchanan's peo- ple, things got a little out of hand for the workers and they turned to the IWA for representation. “Buchanan has been a notoriously anti-union employer in its milling and bush operations,” says Local 1-2693 president Wilf McIntyre. “We in the lo- cal union understand perfectly why the workers at Dubreuilville wanted to join the IWA. They need a union to keep the company in line.” According to sub-local chairman Angelo Gendron, a truck driver for the company, workers got along relatively well with the Dubreuil Brothers around the mill before Buchanan came around. Prior to the days when the workers found their association, it was difficult for the union to even get access to the town. Dubreuilville is about 220 miles east of Thunder Bay. There is only one road into the town which is about a 20 mile drive from the Trans-Canada Highway #17. In the 1960's the town was privately owned and so was the access road, so the union couldn't even get access to the workers in order to talk about their concerns on the union. Prior to 1960 Local 1-2693’s own or- ganizer, Danny Labelle, who originat- ed from the Sudbury area, was arrested and thrown into jail for tres- passing on private property at Dubreuilville. Subsequently the union fought the company’s actions and the result was a change in the Labour Re- lations Act so that trade union could apply to the provincial labour board for access to private property where live-in operations were in place. Basically the Dubreuil Brothers ran the town - its stores, and all its other businesses. Workers could get goods and services deducted from their cheques. All in all it was a classic ex- ample of a company town. Today it is still a company town of about 1,500 people who almost com- pletely depend on the mill and bush operations. However gone are the days when the company owned the town lock, stock and barrel. Today there is a greater diversity of private ownership. Now that the IWA is on the scene, the workers have been able to settle outstanding grievances. Before, the company used to carry many griev- ances to arbitration, which was costly for the employees’ association before it joined the union. Brother Gendron says, “They are showing some movement to settling some of the problems we have had. We want to work together with the 14/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1993 company in a peaceful manner, then people will be more happy and pro- ductive.” Claude Sequin, Local 1-2693's busi- ness agent for the operation, says that “there is no doubt that the employer made them (the workers) join the union... they pulled all kinds of stunts with the workers.” a Zier contract after a one day which the issues of ¢ lost of those problems have ele and the mill is peaceably in production. The mill is strictly a producer of di- mension lumber of which about 80% is shipped south to the United States. In 1993 the mill is producing 620,000 bd.ft. on two shifts a day. installation of new saws has made the production of 2 x 4’s and 2 x 6's much more efficient, At times when markets dictate the mill goes to straight 2 x 4 stud production. One problem that the mill may face in the future is timber supply, Says company controller Gerry Boucher. That total is cut on a Forest Man- agement Agreement between the com- pany and the Ontario government. However it falls short of the mill's pre- sent wood requirements and the com- pany is buying wood from private sources to maintain production levels. James River Marathon is a min- ority shareholder in the opera- tion and sends chips to its pape mill in Marathon Ontario about miles west of Dubreuilville. Some James River’s wood from the Mani- touge area goes to Dubreuilville in re- turn for chips. é In addition the mill custom chips poplar hardwood logs for Kimberley- Clark’s pulp mill in Terrace Bay. Tree length poplar comes in from the Wawa and White River areas and gets chipped at the Dubreuilville mill. One problem that the mill faces is that its lack of kiln-drying capacity is low and it is shipping out too much green lumber. Mr. Boucher says that if the compa- ny’s kiln dries the lumber, it adds val- ue of $60 - 70/1000 bd.ft. To increase its efficiency the mill is expanding its kiln capacity and is looking to take greater care in sepa- rating the species it handles. For instance the balsam cut in the area has a higher moisture content than spruce or jack pine. Since it is wetter and harder to dry the balsam must be sorted from those two species. A new kiln that the company is building will use wood shavings from Continued on next page 3. aw ¢ On the first bandsaw in the Dubreuil mill is operator Geaton Charette,