IWA delegates express
concern over reduced
annual allowable cuts

Just as the union is concerned about wholesale
withdrawals from the working forest, it is equally
preoccupied about reductions in annual allowable
cuts. At this year’s convention the IWA passed a res-
olution, instructing the officer's of the union to
“continue to bring pressure to bear, whenever and
wherever possible to reverse the trend of AAC re-
ductions.”

Darrel Wong, president of IWA Local 1-71, whose
local submitted the resolution told the convention
that his local has been hit hard by cut reductions in
the last couple of years. .

On the Sunshine Coast of B.C. Local 1-71 has tak-
en a 24% reduction. There has also been a 30% re-
duction in the mid-coast, a.19 percent reduction in
the Squamish-Pemberton area with another 19%
coming: out in 1995. In the Kingcome TSA, there is
an upcoming reduction of between 30-50%.

“The reductions just continue to grow and we
have got to do everything in our power to make
damn sure that there are no more reductions in the
annual allowable cut unless there is absolute proof

e IWA-CANADA Local 1-184 (Saskatchewan) President Dennis Bonville fields reporters’ questions
during National Convention.

° Sy Pederson

e Darrel Wong

Forest withdrawals

Continued from previous page

bases there not only to maintain the jobs that are in
the industry but we have to fight and scrap and
struggle to make sure that we increase the jobs that
are out there . . . to make sure that we provide con-
tinuity for IWA members and stability for communi-

ies...
ts Mitch Van Dale of Local 1-425 in the Cariboo-
Chilcotin region of the province said, “we've got
parks, we've got deferrals by: the Ministry of Envi-
ronment (and the) Ministry of Forests which
amount to up’ of 50 percent of our land base
in the Cariboo.” 5 ;

Local 1-425 has been heavily involved in the Com-
mission on Resources and Environment. Brother
Van Dale says some people of the CORE table don’t
‘care the least about forestry related jobs. :

“We've had it about up to here with lip services
from governments, federal and provincial,” said Van

Murray Cantelon of Loggers’ Local 1-71 said
we're going to hear about value-added and remanu-
and all this kind of thing, but none of that
if there isn’t a secure log supply.

“We need to tell our governments that they need
to budget so that the Ministry of Forests and the
Forest Service can do their job and have the respon-
sibility to get up on behalf of the loggers and tell the
public that, hey, this area is set aside for logging.”

From Vancouver Local 1-217 president Gary
Kobayashi said it is very important that workers in
the manufacturing sector understand the effect of
withdrawal of forests on their jobs.

“It's got to a point now where there isn’t a mill in
my local union that can run all year around with the
log supply that they have and any further (cut) re-
ductions obviously means they are going to become
part-time workers in the manufacturing section,”
said Brother Kobayashi. “We’ve lost thousands of
jobs to technology, to plant closures, and those of
us that are remaining are going to become part-time
eS if we don’t stop the erosion of the forst

ase.”

Delegate Ron Norgaard from the Logger’s Local
said the resolution makes sense.

“We're not saying bar the preservationists, bar the
public, bar the hunters, bar the fisherman, and the
naturalists. They’re welcome to our working
forests,” he said. “But the moment that they with-
draw any of that working forest from our inventory
to work in, who do they bar but the loggers? We
lose our jobs. It affects the mills and numerous oth-
er support industries.”

beyond a shadow of a doubt and it’s substantiated
by our own investigations that it’s the only way to
have a sustainable forest.” x

Brother Wong said to date the reports and re-
search that has been done in the cut reductions
have not confirmed that they are necessary. c:

Jack McLeman of Local 1-85, from MacBlo’s So-
mass Cedar mill in Port Alberni, said 30% of his
mill’s wood comes from Clayoquot Sound, and 55%
of the fibre supply comes from other areas “they
want to shut off around us.”

Dave Haggard president of the Port Alberni local,
said the union should be keeping up the pressure to
maintain cut levels through intensive silviculture
“which will put IWA members to work . . . (and) we
should be putting pressure on to make sure that
there’s more jobs and more cut in the forest indus-
try instead of less cut.”

Joe Gibson of Loggers’ Local 1-71 said it’s time to
make noise about the cuts. 5

“The environmentalists basically get a lot of what.
they want because they have the money backing.
(them) and they make the most noise. And boy do
they make a lot of noise. The 5,000 people that went
to the (Clayoquot ‘93) Rendezvous almost got no
coverage at all abut you get 180 to 100 environmen-
talists and it’s over every front page and television
camera in the goddamn country.”

Sy Pederson president of Local 1-363 on Vancou-
ver Island, said that members must be aware that
annual allowable cuts have little to do with sus-
tained yield.

“It (AAC) may be some semblance to sustained
yield, but it’s not,” said Pederson. “The policy is to
cut the amount of old growth in X amount of years.”

“The cutting of old growth in B.C. has nothing to
do or very little to do with the idea of sustained
yield. The sustained yield principle is that you're
cutting what your going to grow on the second
growth in perpetuity.”

Pederson warned of the future “fall-down” effect
which conservative estimates say will cause a 30%
cut reduction or more.

He also said that B.C. should be doin; aN
are doing in sweden where eh of the Ta is haa
on commerci: inning which is 7 i-
able for pulp mills. nemetclal es

‘We don't do any of that or Very little in our sec-

g the people to in-
volve themselves in getting som
currently just being ieee tou ae ne

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1993/7.