¢ Industrial mechanic Bert Dekonin; sure treatment. Prendiville Wood Preservers concentrates on Specialty products in Neepawa Manitoba plant The market for pressure treated and colour stained wood products is growing and in Neepawa, Manitoba a company which employs union workers has been able to grow with increased output of such products. At Prendiville Wood Preservers 17 IWA-CANADA Local 1-324 members are busy manufacturing treated lumber, piles, posts, poles, and pre- served wood foundation. “Back several years ago the plant @: up and down so much that we idn’t know if it was going to last,” says Local 1-324 President Jim An- derson. “Since the company really concentrated on more specialt; products work has been a lot stead- for” Tf you look around you'll see more stained white wood products that ig inspects lumber incisor machine which perforates wood prior to its pres- are being used for patio, fencing and lattice work on construction sites. In the last decade this line of products has really come into their own as replacement alternative to more costly and rarer cedar prod- ucts. The stained wood pieces have an even, dark tone that has a life time warranty and are approved by the Canadian Standards Associa- tion. Prendiville custom stains and preserves a line of “Cedartone” roducts for MacMillan Bloedel’s ailding supplies distribution out- lets. It also produces a line of “Sil- vertone” products which are catching on. They look good around white houses. The lumber pieces are put Dubreuil Brothers Continued from previous page the planer for heat. In addition a new silo is slated to be built to fuel two kilns. There are a number of changes that make the mill more efficient and has about a $20 million h list of improvements to make. of them will have to wait. The workers understand what the has to do to stay competitive and working hard to accommodate the p concerns. e union sub-local is a very close of workers. Over 90% of tare bilingual french and eng- ut is a great deal of unity in the ty,” says Brother Sequin. “This makes it easier for the union to talk to people and explain the IWA’s policies. Dubreuilville is an important part of our local union now.” Brother Gendron says that the membership is glad to be in the IWA. “If the company decided to take us on we would have had no money to strike before we faced the IWA,” he says. “Now with the IWA we have more support, more resources and more guidance on our collective agreement.” The union committee consists of sub-local president Angelo Gendron, vice-president Yvon Michaud, secre- tary Linda Belanger, secretary-treasur- er, sawmill steward Berthier Levesque, planer steward Paul Gagne, garage steward Silvain Beaupre, woodlands and mechanic steward Gerald Pelletier, and steward Ray Boucher. LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1993/15 through an incisor system that per- forates the kiln-dried lumber on all A sides. The incisors cut 8400 holes per square yard .to a depth of 3/8”. The system can process 80 - 100,000 board feet of lumber on a eight hour shift. The perforated lumber is then placed on a rail system and is loaded into a high pressure retort tank. The wood preservative, nor- mally a chromium oxide arsenic compound or copper oxide program, is pumped in under high pressure to the tune of 155 lbs. per square inch at 150-175°F. Depending on the species of wood and the grade of lumber, the load will sit in the retort tank from any- where from 2-4 hours. The company also heats hydro poles, plywood, and foundation lum- ber which may sit in the retort from 8-10 hours. When the lumber is taken out of the retort it then sits in a self con- tained area where it dries for 2-3 days. Then it goes for storage in the lumber yard. One of the IWA’s members indus- trial mechanic Bert Dekoning, has worked with others to design and build a lot of the equipment from scratch. As such the company has benefitted a great deal. “The workers in the plant have helped Prendivillee out a great deal. As a result the plant has become very competitive,” says Brother An- derson. Each year the plant puts out 7-8 million finished board feet of treat- ed lumber alone. The company has been a mill site since 1979. It has a retail outlet in Thompson, Manitoba, a head office in Winnipeg and a lattice assembly plant in Winnipeg (Ryan Forest Products). The Neepawa operation largely purchases lumber or does custom orders. Plant manager Rick Knech- tel says the company’s stained wood products (brown lumber) are mostly sold through Winnipeg and Ontario. It sells fence posts through the northern United States and as far south as Kansas. Average wage in the plant is over $10.00 per hour and top trades get over $14.00/hr. ° At the Prendiville shop is maintenance worker Rey Mack.