This year the union’s
Annual Constitutional
Convention hosted by
the prairie locals took
place in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan in
October where over 180
IWA-CANADA members
from six provinces were
present

PAGES 6-13

Fed resolution
supports B.C.
forest workers

This year's 38th Annual B.C. Feder-
ation of Labour proved a rallying
point for the province’s labour move-
\ ment which is supporting forest in-
dustry workers during a period of
rapid transition.

On November 29 an emergency res-
olution was introduced to the conven-
tion which calls upon the provincial
B.C. government to pay special heed
to forest workers who may eventually
lose their jobs after the provincial re-
view of its land use policies. The reso-
lution, which recognizes that the
forest industry is the backbone of
Vancouver Island and many B.C. com-
munities, says that reduction of tim-
ber harvesting will have severe
economic impacts and result in the
elimination of union jobs.

The Federation of Labour adopted
the motion that it supports meaning-
ful transitional compensation to union
workers in the forest industry and the
community where they live and work.

a,

© AT THE CONVENTION — in Saskatoon, National union Trustees Bob DeLeeuw of Local 1-207 and Edith Skiber of
Local 1-405 present Trustee Report to delegates. See inside for Convention highlights.

Forest practices code unveiled

At long last the B. C. provincial gov-
ernment is getting tougher with forest
companies who try to get away with
shoddy forestry practices. On Novem-
ber 9th Premier Mike Harcourt an-
nounced that the province is headed

for a legislative Forest Practices Code
@ iriver he released a discussion paper

pointing the road which the province
is taking.

‘The government says it will have a
new forest practices law in the spring
of next year. B.C. Premier Mike Har-
court said until now there has been no
one comprehensive set of rules that
governments could use to enforce
good forest practices.

The new provincial Code will con-
solidate and improve existing laws,
according to the government.

The Forest Practices Code will be
applied to all private and public lands
in the TFL (Tree Farm License) and
wood lot licenses which make up over
93% of the forest lands in the
province.

The government is allowing until
the end of this year for public com-
ments before it introduces legislation
He es tings yon

ong O1 a offi-
cials me told the IWA that Biodiver-
sity guidelines, which are new in this
Code will result in annual allowable
cut back reductions of about 3%. That
may almost certainly result in the loss
of IWA jobs if steps are not taken to
create new employment in the indus-

"Nine province is also at the same
reviewing cut levels across the
an eye to reduce AAC

levels in various regions of the
province. In 1992 the NDP government
introduced legislation to bring har-
vesting rates into line with true long
range sustained yield. 3

The proposed Code has drawn a
mixed reaction from IWA-CANADA.
The union has always supported a leg-
islated Forest Code.

“Our members have long pushed for
responsible logging practices in this
province,” said IWA-CANADA Presi-
dent Gerry Stoney. “We agree with
the intent of the Code; to ensure prop-
er management of public forests. But
Wwe want to make sure it means more
jobs for forestry workers, not less
jobs.”

Brother Stoney said that the union
has some specific proposals that can
lead to more employment in an im-
proved forest industry.

The government’s new enforcement
mechanisms to be in the legislation in-
clude the following.

e increases in court ordered fines
from $2000 to a maximum of $1 mil-
lion or more plus clean up costs.

the range of administrative penal-
ties will be increased.

¢ the Crown may remove the li-
cense holder's right to cut wood in ex-
treme cases,

° approval of future logging permits
may be based on company’s current
performances.

The government is also going to cut
down on the size of clearcuts and

will be prohibited if alter-
nate methods of harvesting can pro-

Continued on page two

The emergency resolution was
brought about by a recent dev-
elopment in the windup of land-use
negotiations under the province’s
Commission on Resources and Envi-
ronment (CORE). On November 23 the
CORE session for the Vancouver Is-
land region wound up.

Continued on page two

e IN NORTHERN ONTARIO — Local 1-2693 Business Agent Claude Se-
quin (middle) visits with Danny Valliere (1.) and union chairman An-
gelo Gendron at their Dubreuilville offices. In 1992 over 325 workers
at Dubreuil Brothers Ltd.’s sawmill and bush operations left their
employees’ association to join the local union. See story page 14.