More news of shutdowns hit the IWA in early November when Local 1- 500 was informed that MacMillan Bathurst Inc. is going to permanently close the doors at its St. Thomas, On- tario corrugated packaging plant. The announcement which was made on November 4, says that the company will shutdown the operation for good at the end of January 1994. That announcement was a shocker for union members at the plant who made the operation MBI second most productive one in Ontario, says Broth- er Verne Warren, sub-local chairman. Although workers were aware that a closure somewhere may have been on the way, they didn’t expect to get hit. “They say there is too much produc- tion capacity now in the province of Ontario,” says Brother Warren. “So we Unexpected shutdown hits MBI St. Thomas plant were expecting something but you still expect it to be somewhere else.” IWA-CANADA's national second vice- president Fred Miron says the union is disappointed that the shutdown an- nouncement was made through the lo- cal media and that the union was told just prior to the announcement. The plant, which began operating in 1966, has been in the union for over 20 years. For the most-part labour re- lations have been good. Since the shutdown announcement the company has been up front with the union and has offered relocation of some 39 workers for its corrugated division in Guelph, Ontario, certified to the Independent Paperworkers Union. Some of these workers have been relocated already under relocation al- lowances negotiated by the IWA. Each e IWA-CANADA National Third V.P. Warren Ulley said workers must have transition funding before the union signs any CORE agreement. Core talks Continued from page three What it really comes down to is that industry and government have to take some responsibility for the forests and the people that make it all possi- ble. Industry cannot just use them as a source of short-term profit; govern- ment cannot simply allow the increas- ing demands of a small band of environmentalists to wipe out the province's main source of opportunity and wealth. We can look at the higher prices, es- calating value of the resource and high returns to companies as either a problem or an opportunity. It’s a problem if all the increased wealth simply goes to forest compa- nies and they turn it over to their shareholders. Then workers and their communities are worse off than be- fore, because they've lost jobs and gained nothing. It's an opportunity if governments, industries and communities make sure some of that wealth is channelled back into the industry and the forests. To get there, companies and gov- ernment will have to change gears. They will have to take a longer-term view of the industry. _ Pressure is mounting for a provin- cial government strategy to ensure continued forest sector employment. Introducing the resolution, IWA- CANADA president Gerry Stoney told fellow unionists that “we want jobs created that are meaningful, sustain- able, that provide the good union wages that are there now in the forest industry. That’s all we're asking for - before you eliminate one more job in the for- est industry of B.C., you make sure there’s a safety net there.” Stoney’s plea seems not to have fall- en on deaf ears. Besides a standing ovation from delegates, he also re- ceived an assurance from Premier Mike Harcourt that the province will create jobs and plan ways to reduce the impacts of land-use decisions. “I’m prepared to sit down, Gerry, with your workers and other workers in the forest industry and work out... ways that we can create jobs, ways that we can stabilize forest workers’ families and their communities and ways that we can create not just jobs, but an adjustment strategy,” the New Democrat Premier promised in his speech to delegates. Meanwhile IWA-CANADA represen- tatives will continue to push for limits to job loss and transition commit- ments at CORE tables in Cariboo and the Kootenays. “We have to keep up the pressure,” said Ulley, who also sits at the East and West Kootenay CORE tables. Kim Pollock is the Director of the union’s Environment and Land-use Department. ¢ The corrugated industry has been saying it has too much productive overcapacity. worker can get up to a maximum of $3,500.00 in allowances from the com- pany, provided they remain at the Guelph plant for 6 months or more. In addition to normal severance packages under the collective agree- ment, the union has also negotiated an additional $500 for those with 10- 20 years seniority and an additional $750.00 for those with 20 plus years. The union also negotiated an exten- sion on benefit coverage for all em- ployees to last to the end of April ‘94. Brother Miron says that the sever- ance package isn’t as good as the union would like. “There’s a big difference between negotiating something when the com- pany is reducing a work force and when they go to permanent closure,” says Miron. “In a closure situation the company is in a better position.” Nonetheless the IWA and MBI are working together to see that the tran- sition up to and after the closure goes smooth as possible. “Now the company is being ex- tremely cooperative and are being very professional about the closure,” says Brother Warren. A Job Adjustment Committee has been established which consists of four union reps, four company reps, a chairperson and a delivery agent. The committee which is set up though i@ Ontario Training Adjustment Board, completed a needs analysis for the workers and will assist them in what- ever way it can as far as training and career counselling goes. Sitting on the committee for the IWA are Frank Buczkowski, Rob Kilmer, Gary Done and Helen Wilson. Bruce Weber, president of IWA-CANA- DA, Local 1-500 is also assisting the committee. In the past few years Brother Weber has sat on other com- mittees of a similar nature and func- tion. Just what the eventual shakeout of all MBI’s corrugated divisions will be remains to be seen. The IWA is keep- ing its eyes and ears open through the Inter-Union Corrugated Council, a co- operative backing of unions certified to the corrugated sector. Tom Lowe, one of IWA-CANADA’s national service representatives in southern Ontario, says “there is a gen- eral feeling out there in the workforce that there could be at least one more hit (closure) in MBI. We are taking all information seriously and transmit- ting it to all groups in the council,” he says, In Ontario the IWA is also certified to MBI plants in Etobicoke, Whitby, and Pembroke. IWA-CANADA leads province in successful organizing drives® The Labour Relations Board reports that new union certifications are up 141 percent so far this year over 1992. But the LRB’s statistics also show that unfair labour practice complaints are up 118 percent over last year. There were 357 certification appli- cations granted by the LRB in the first nine months of 1993, while during the same period in 1992 only 148 certifica- tions were processed. Ken Georgetti, B.C. Federation of Labour President, says there are two reasons for the increase in certifica- tions — the new provincial Labour Code and workers’ need for job secu- rity, created by high unemployment and economic instability. “The new Labour Code has made the rules for workers who choose to join a union,” Georgetti said. “Under the old Social Credit Bill 19 rules, em- ployers found it much easier to stop union drives by fear tactics, intimida- tion and other methods.” “Now workers are getting a fair shake at joining a union and as a re- sult, certifications are going up.” “Secondly, when there is a high lev- el of unemployment and general un- certainty about our economy, workers need a union to ensure they will have some job protection in the event of workplace changes,” he said. The average new bargaining unit size was 25 employees. Of the 327 cer- tifications, 40 percent were of units of 10 or less workers, 25 percent were for workplaces of 11 to 20 workers and 12 percent for workplaces with 21 to 30 workers. IWA-CANADA led all unions in the number of new certifications, with 37 new certifications granted, followed by the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) with 29, the Iron Workers with 25, the Hospital Employees’ Union with 24 and the Teamsters with 23. Georgetti also noted that 11 ap} cations for orders regarding “replace- ment workers” — more commonly called scabs — were processed in 1993, despite claims by the business community that strikebreaking was rare in B.C. “We can already see why labour said an anti-scab law was needed in B.C.,” Georgetti said. “I am extremely proud that the B.C. New Democrat government enacted this legislation to protect workers from scabbing.” - B.C. FEDERATION OF LABOUR 16/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1993