*Delegates from Local 1-3567 pose for picture at the provincial Wage and Contract Conference held in Vancou-

ver on March 17-18.

B.C. negotiations

Continued from page one

This set of negotiations money is
definitely an issue. Brother Stoney
told delegates that the solid wood sec-
tor is 5 times as profitable this year as

it was in 1991, prior to the last set of
negotiations.

Stoney said that North America is
experiencing an “extreme crisis in
timber supply” due to pent up housing
demand in the United States and de-
creasing lumber production in all tim-
ber producing regions of the
continent.

IWA-CANADA’s Research Director
Doug Smyth gave the conference the
same message. He added that lumber
production in U.S. Pacific Northwest
has plummeted in recent years. Be-
tween 1992-94 it is estimated that this
region will see a decrease in produc-
tion of over 2.5 billion board feet. In
the U.S. South Smyth said the industry
has been over built in relation to avail-
able timber supply. In both U.S. re-
gions environmental pressures and
endangered species legislation is hav-
ing huge impacts on harvest levels.

Smyth said that in the U.S. in 1994,
1.2 million single family housing unit
starts will create upward pressures on
lumber prices. He estimated that there
will be a shortfall of over 1 billion
board feet of lumber in the market.

The research director said that in
spite of record U.S. prices during late
1993, B.C. lumber production in-
creased by just 240 million board feet,
including 171 million board feet in the
Interior. Eighty percent of Interior
output is alinned to the United States.

Smyth said that the industry is run-
ning out of timber. If it had not been
for imports of private wood from
Saskatchewan and Alberta, B.C. Inte-
rior lumber production would have

fallen last year.
ices continue to rise

ante ben said that prod
luc-
of ea hulding materia
increase future

offset about one billion board feet of
the lumber production shortfall.

In general the delegates were made
aware that although timber supply
shortages are causing lumber prices
to skyrocket, there will be increased
competition from substitute products
in the near future.

In addition to wage and benefit de-
mands, delegates gave the IWA provin-
cial negotiating committee a mandate
to go for a one year contract that
should include a number of improve-
ments. All together the wage and con-
tract conference had to deal with 42
programmatic resolutions distilled
from a collection of over 500 resolu-
tions from local unions across the
province. An additional 13 resolutions
were added to the negotiating agenda,
as they were brought forward by con-
vention delegates and added to the
programmatic resolutions.

Here is a list of some of the resolu-
tions that will be presented to employ-
ers:

TRADES REVISION - the union de-
mands an upward revision for all
trades categories.

TICKETED RATES - all ticketed
rates in logging and manufacturing
should be substantially increased.

ELECTRONIC TECHNICIANS - the
union demands a new supplement to
the agreement to deal with Electronic
technicians at an increased rate of
pay. The technicians should get a new
trade designation rate of pay.

LOGGING JOB DESCRIPTIONS - a
new joint industry/union committee
should be to review all jobs in the log-
ging sector and outline proper job de-
scriptions.

FIRST AID COVERAGE - the IWA
demands that there must be at least a
Level III First Aid attendant be pre-
sent in all forest industry operations.

DOWNSIZING OF EMPLOYMENT -
workers demand that all displaced

employees be re-trained and upgraded
for acceptable alternative types of em-
ployment.

WATER TRAVEL - the union de-
mands that employers pay travel time
for all travel to worksites and back,
regardless of where the marshalling
point is located.

WORKING FOREMEN - there is a
demand that foremen will be strictly
prohibited from doing work normally
performed by members of the bar-
gaining unit.

NON-UNION CONTRACTORS - the
union is determined to get a non-affili-
ation clause into all collective agree-
ments to prohibit the use of
uncertified contractors in the work-
place.

NON-UNION WORKERS - the union
demands that contract language that
states that all work performed within
an IWA certification shall be per-
formed by bargaining unit employees.

SAFETY IN THE CONTRACT - the
contract should include language to
ensure that workers have the right to
refuse unsafe work, certain accidents
must be reported to the WCB ‘s acci-
dent prevention department, safety
education and training must be paid
for by the employer, and safety re-
quirements must be included for crew
boats.

UNION EDUCATION FUND - the
IWA demands the establishment of a
union education fund to be paid for by
employer contributions of one cent
per employee per hour worked and
administered by the national union.

WARNING/DISCIPLINE LETTERS
-a clause must be included to provide
for the removal of all warning/disci-
pline letters after one year.

PREFERENTIAL HIRING - the IWA
demands that there be a preferential
hiring system put in place for laid off
workers from F.I.R. companies as
well as non-F.].R. companies. All com-
panies must provide preferential hir-
ing.

The forest industry negotiations
take place between the IWA’s provin-
cial negotiating committee which con-
sists of the B.C. based national
officers of the union and an officer
representative of each local union and
the forest industry's negotiators. On
the B.C. coast the industry is repre-
sented by F.I.R and its member com-
panies. In the province’s interior the
pace for contract settlement is usually
set by the IWA and the Council of
Northern Interior Forest Employee
Relations (C.O.N.LF.E.R.) in the north
and with the Interior Forest Labour
Relations Association (I.F.L.R.A.) in
the south.

NDP endorses
labour on
CORE issue

The effects of the Victoria rally on
March 21 were felt at the biennial con-
vention of the New Democratic Party
in Vancouver where party delegates
met only four days later. At the event
the IWA made its presence known as
the entire convention unanimously en-
dorsed an emergency resolution to
protect workers against the imple-
mentation of the Vancouver Island
CORE report’s recommendations.

On March 26 the convention de-
manded that “the Vancouver Island
Core report not be implemented un-
less the government, in consultation
with workers and affected communi-
ties, develops and acceptable jobs and
community strategy that secures for-
est jobs and the future of resource

Continued on page six

tion.

eIWA leader Gerry Stoney explains emergency resolution to NDP conven-

LUMBERWORKER/APRIL, 1994/3