°On the patch line at Weldwood's plywood mill is Local 1-2693 member
Donna Michaud.

Workers assist Weldwood
with new product but face
contracting out of work

In northern Ontario IWA-CANADA
members have worked hard to help
Weldwood Canada develop a new ply-
wood product. At the company’s
Longlac, Ontario Plywood and Wafer-
weld divisions over 350 Local 1-2693
members are employed. They have
worked together to introduce a new
product called LMC that integrates
waferboard, poplar veneer, and hard-
wood overlay veneers.

The company gives credit to the co-
operation between the two plants.
Workers have laboured harmoniously
to get the new product on the market
and improve the company’s standing.
So far the market’s response has been
good and the production a LMC takes.
up about 20% of the plywood plant’s
time.

The plywood and Waferweld plants
operate side by side. The plywood is
the older of the two, having operated
since the 1960's. Today the operations
are integrated as is the production of
the LMC product. 7

Weldwood’s Human Resources
Manager Tom Jantunen says that be-
cause the waferboard plant is the last
of its kind in North America, the com-
pany has had to look for other com-
posite value-added products.

The product is a competitively
priced, strong and lightweight com-
posite material that can be used for
furniture making cabinetry, and door
making. It is very useful in areas
where veneer core plywood is not re-
quired. The product has a great ability
to withstand warping and takes a nail
or screw with no problem.

During the development of the
product, workers from both plants in-
teracted to ensure that the quality of
the LMC board would be ensured. The

waferboard core is specially engi-
neered to go between the poplar core.

The waferboard is sent over from
the Waferweld plant to the plywood
plant where it is laid-up with 1/8”

poplar and the hardwood veneer re-
quired. The veneers used include
birch, oak, mahogany, cedar, maple,
red ash, knotty pine, and sherry. The
thickest LMC produced is a 3/4” stock
of which 7/16” consists of waferboard.

After the lay-up the board is washed
down with a mild acid to eliminate

Weldwood has
scheduled various
Jobs with the
purpose of leaving
out union workers

stain marks. Since the product is such
anew one, there will be a certain peri-
od of adjustment before a full market
develops. The LMC product has been
a good solution to the company’s
problems.

Mr. Jantunen says that “we knew
we couldn’t continue in this market if
we didn’t find something as an alter-
native.”

The product was developed locally
with the help and ideas of the work-
ers.

“We didn’t have outside help or any
‘so-called’ experts help us develop the
product,” says Mr. Jantunen. “It’s the
people on the floor that helped do the
research.”

The bulk of the production in the
Waferweld plant will still be the
waferboard. That market, however, is
fading as oriented strand board pro-
duction in North America has sky-
rocketed. Fortunately for the Longlac
plant the market for nearly all build-
ing materials is strong right now. In

1992 the demand for particle board
sheathing grew following Hurricane
Andrew and, in 1993, the demand rose
again following the disastrous Missis-
sippi floods.

“The waferboard market is still our
bread and butter,” He says. “We still
realize its importance.”

In the future the production of LMC
will be very important to the plant as
well as the development of other new
products.

“We don’t expect to be the only
ones on the (LMC) market but we
hope that we will be the ones that are
identified with it,” adds the Human
Resources Manager.

The plywood mill lays up both
poplar and spruce sheathing on a reg-
ular basis. About 80% of the plant’s
production of plywood is poplar and
the rest is spruce. Spruce costs more
per cord that poplar.

Since most of the plant’s plywood
production is geared for poplar, the
workers are trained to keep an eye
out for quality. The size and quality of
peeler logs have deteriorated quite a
bit over the past 5-10 years. Nowadays
the plywood core consists mostly of
spliced pieces of poplar core which
are welded together on a Hashimoto
veneer welder.

Poplar veneer is rejected if there is
too much bark, the splits are too long,
or the veneer pieces are too rough.
The workers are always on the look-
out for perfect veneer pieces or pieces
that can be patched a minimal number
of times and placed next to the hard-
wood veneers. Weldwood gets its fin-
ishing veneers from eastern Ontario
(North Bay region) and the province
of Quebec. It also sources some ve-
neers from the United States. The
plant’s lathe runs at about 300 ft./min.,
feeding the sorters and two dryer sys-
tems.

Next door at the Waferweld plant
production is steady. In October of
last year workers voted to accept a
three year contract after a consider-
able battle over the issue of contract-
ing out.

The contract will see a wage in-
crease of 7.5% spread out over the
three years. Some new benefits were
included in the conract, including a
new vision care program and extend-
ed health care program, increases in
the pension plan, and money for work
boots.

Despite helping the company out in
the development of the new LMG

product the workers in
board plant have been
the company’s past

out various jobs to nic

issue has been a very ugly situation in
the past and that there are high hopes
that thoses problems are going to be
age a

in negotiations the company agreed
to smooth over the waters by giving
the work to members in the bargain-
ing unit before any contracting out is
even considered. A new mill manager
has made a difference and things are
going better with regular meetings to
discuss issues.

“The company has seemed to want
to bring in all kinds of contractors to
come in and do our work,” says Broth-
er Ranger, who is also a member of
the local union’s Executive Board.
“When they bring in these contractors
our guys are not given the opportunity
to work.”

The local union is infuriated at the
use of non-union “jobbers” in or near
any of its operations.
Ken Paquette, Local 1-2693's busi-
ness agent for the area says there are
few issues as important as contracting
out.

“Our members have bent over back-
wards in both Weldwood operations
to make the company competitive and
profitable,” he says. “We deserve to
have the work done by our members.”

In recent times Weldwood has used
contractors for work on the plant’s
roof, peeler bins, and conveyor sys-
tems.

Brother Ranger said the company’s
commitment in training and upgrading
the workforce has been poor. He says
that Weldwood has always looked at
outside contractors for new projects.

“The company says they don’t have
enough bargaining unit workers to do
the additional work,” says Brother Pa-
quette. “One of the reasons for that is
the way they schedule the work. They
try to do everything possible to leave
our members out of the picture.”

Some of the contractors have of-

fered to pay union dues but the IWA
has said no without exceptions.
“Our members are proud of the
work we do and we do not want to
make room for these contractors,”
says Ranger. “Contractors are in here
to make a quick buck and often do
sub-standard work as a result.

eManny Ranger points to a contractor's tool shed. The union wants con-
tractors out of the operation.

14/LUMBERWORKER/APRIL, 1994