Weyerhaeuser Drayton Valley =723

members important part of
IWA Alberta local union

Out in Alberta one of the important
areas for the IWA is in Drayton Valley.
Since 1990, IWA-CANADA Local 1-207
has represented the interests of nearly
200 workers at Weyerhaeuser Cana-
da’s oriented strandboard (OSB),
sawmill and planer operation.

The community of Drayton Valley,
with a population of about 5,000, is
situated about 145 kilometres west of
Edmonton. It is located on the top
part of the Drayton Valley, as the
North Saskatchewan River comes out.

In the 1960’s the community was a
hub of activity because of a boom in
the oil industry. Today it still has a
sign up which reads “Oil capital of the
world.”

Prior to joining the IWA, the work-
ers at the Weyerhaeuser plants were
members of an employee association,
when the operations were owned by
Pelican Lumber. In May of 1989 Peli-
can was bought out by Weyerhaeuser.

Eventually the workers found out.
that an association was not adequate
to represent their interests.

“The association executive saw that
their organization just couldn't do the
job for the workers,” say Bob
DeLeeuw, financial secretary of Local
1-207. “They just didn’t have the re-
sources or the finances to do so.”

The association, known as the Stur-
diwood Employee Association,
approached Local 1-207 for represen-
tation and the union called in National
Organizer Lyle Pona to organize the
workers.

“In the more that four years that
they have been a part of our local
union, the workers at Weyerhaeuser
have been a solid part of the base of
Support for the union in the province,”
says Brother Deleeuw. “We have done
our best to work with the committees
and members to improve their wages
and working conditions.”

The operations are built right next
to each other. The OSB plant, which
began construction in 1985, started
production in February of 1987. The
Sawmill began production a year and
a half later,

The OSB plant is a modern, effi-
cient operation which produces a
wide variety of products. It operates
at a startling capacity of over 1 million
square board feet (%” thickness aver-
age) per day. It also operates 363 days
a year, 24 hours a day, only closing
down for Christmas and Boxing Days.

The work is scheduled on 12 hour
shifts, 4 days on and 4 days off on ro-
tating shifts.

The end products coming off the
finishing end can be used for a variety
of uses, such as flooring, wall sheating
and roof sheating. They also make a
web stock for wooden J-beams and a
grade of stock for furniture produc-
tion.

The plant also runs a value-added
tongue and groove stock which it has
developed that is lower in density
than regular plywood but has better
performance properties.

In a tour of the plant in June of
1993, production manager Wally Trofi-
menkoff told the Lwmberworker that
the mill’s competitive advantages are
its 8 foot line, its press capacity, and
the ability to produce value-added
products. Its press sheets are 8’ by 24’
in size. This can produce six 4’ by 8”
sheets at a time. The company also
can custom cut the OSB to special or-
der.

Another efficiency advantage that
the plant has is that it produces its
own heat requirements from the burn-
ing of hog fuels. The heat generated is
used in the hot press, log ponds, and
the plant buildings in general.

Trofimenkoff said the company has
worked hard to improve its capacity
to dry the aspen wood chips used in
the OSB. Since 1991, the drying capac-
ity has been improved by over 25%.

The union and the company have
been working together to improve oc-
cupational health and safety condi-
tions in all of the Drayton Valley
operations. One major concern for the
union has been the use of toxic isocy-
nate and resins used in the production
of the OSB. Many workers have been
effected by toxic fumes from the
chemicals.

e At the OSB plant in Drayton Valley is sawline operator Erick Erickson.

There is one master seniority list
between the OSB plant and the
sawmill/planer operation. However,
since certification with the IWA,
seperate lists have been developed for
job postings at the different opera-
tions.

There are about 110 members em-
ployed at the sawmill and planer, who
also work 4 and 4 on 11 hour shifts in
the sawmill and 10 hour shifts on the
planer.

The mill handles tree length logs
which are brought in by highway haul
truck. It handles logs down to a 4 inch
top on a two line chip and saw sys-
tem.

Production of dimension lumber
goes from 2 by 4’s to 2 by 10’s and
some production of 1 inch boards.
The preferred lengths are 16 feet but
they may go up to 20 feet if there isn’t
too much wane in the wood.

On an 11 hour shift the crew aver-
ages about 235,000 finished board
feet, althought it often puts out higher

amounts. The company has set bonus
targets of upwards of 390,000 board
feet.

That’s too high to obtain.

“There is virtually no bonus system
when the target is set too high,” says
Brother Deleeuw. “The members have
to remember that they must not sacri-
fice safety for the sake of production.”

“The crew has worked hard in co-
operating with the company to look
for solutions to preventing down time
in the operation,” adds DeLeeuw.
“They get frustrated if they make sug-
gestions that are not listened to which
may often be the case.”

Members of the sub-local union
committee at the OSB plant are Phil
Crittenden, Ben Grenier, Lori Canada,
and Wolfe Hilleke. The committee at
the sawmill/planer are Gerald Lien,
Neil Kulchisky, and Patrick Collins.

The union members on the occupa-
tional health and safety committees
are Bernie Rushton and Neil
Kulchisky.

¢ At the dimension sawmill in Local 1-207 member Andrew Maine, who works as
infeed operator.

LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1994/7