° Offbearing spruce veneer of Cantree are Local 1-3567 members (I. to r.) Satnam Sihota, Rose Fossett, and Jim Nelson. Coast plywood and veneer operations continue to survive in modern times n the coast of British Columbia, plywood used to be big time. At one time during the early 1970's there were eight plywood mills in the low- er mainland of the province employing over 4000 members. Those workers, who were members of IWA Locals 1-357 and 1-217 worked at a time when the market had few competitors and an ample supply of large size peeler logs. Over twenty years later, there still remains a coastal plywood industry, but a radically different one. Gone are the giant plants which employed hundreds and hundreds of workers. Left are only a few plants which are fighting over an ever decreasing log supply and substitute products. The plywood sheathing industry faces competition from oriented strand- board and waferboard and the higher quality plywood faces competition from some particle board products finished with veneers. Today the IWA has only three plywood related operations in the lower main- land that are unionized. They are the Cantree plywood and CIPA Industries op- eration both situated on Annacis Island near New Westminster and are certified to Local 1-3567. The remaining operation, certified to Local 1-217, is the West- coast plywood plant in south Vancouver. The Lumberworker recently had an opportunity to visit both Local 1-3567 op- erations and find out why these particular plants have been able to hang on. One, Cantree Plywood, has made it through the last recession without closing, while the other, CIPA picked up operation after a 1991 closure when the plant was owned by Fletcher Challenge Canada. CANTREE PLYWOOD One of the true survivors of the downturns that hit the plywood indus- try has been the Cantree Plywood plant. For nearly 20 years the opera- tion has hung in there through the re- cessions and has developed into a very efficient operation. It employs over 120 union members today. Unlike most plywood plants which have green ends and peel their own logs, the Cantree operation gets its ve- neer stock shipped in. Due to its man- agement structure and the dwindling peeler log supply on the coast, the plant gets almost all of its veneer shipped in from the province’s interi- or region. Since 1983 the plant has received its veneer from interior mills. Today Cantree’s co-owners - Riverside Forest Products and Slocan Forest Products, send their own veneer to Cantree. Riverside ships from it Lumby ply- wood operation and Slocan sends its veneer down from as far as Ft. Nelson in northern B.C. Most of the interior wood species consist of spruce, fir, and hemlock and there is also some in- terior fir available on occasion. In addition to producing high quali- ty sheathing, the plant produces a spe- cial tongue and groove grade and, in the last 6 months, has begun to mar- ket and new type of panel called “COFI FLOOR.” The new products which have deeper grooves, can be easily put together by one worker dur- ing construction. Cantree has been marketing the product in the U.K., Sweden, and oth- er European countries. It has also shipped some of the product to Korea and Japan. The company’s quest for new mar- kets has risen as the quality and quan- tity of production has arisen as well. That hasn’t happened without a con- siderable amount of effort on the union’s part. “This place has come a long way,” says Ron Paradis, plant chairman and Local 1-3567 Executive Board mem- ber. “The crew has worked to make the plant a viable operation. We hope the company recognizes that.” In previous times the mill experi- enced a lot of difficulties with too many D grade panels, wood loss, and delamination. “Quality is way up and the wood loss is way down,” says Brother Par- adis. “If the crew wasn’t as supportive as they have been, in improving quali- ty, we probably wouldn’t have sur- vived until today.” Plant manager Al Mellander said that quality improvements have come because of the result of good work on the part of the crew. “We give a lot of credit to employ- ees who have made adjustments of handling different types of wood in the plant,” Mr. Mellander told the Lumberworker. About 85% of the plant’s production is in spruce, pine, and fir, while hem- lock makes up the other 15%. The 14/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1994 hemlock has a higher moisture con- tent and takes more glue, thus it is a slower wood to dry. It is harder to handle and splits more often than the other species. Cantree gets most of its veneer from its parent companies, but Mr. Mellander said that its is going more and more into the open market and is seeing a greater move into hemlock and fir. As far as technological change goes, Cantree has also upgraded some of its capacity to increase efficiency. It has put a new burner in its #1 dry- er which dries 4’ by 8’ sheets. As a re- sult there has been much less redry going through. The drying cycle is just now over 15 minutes to reach a 15% moisture content. There have also been modifications on the lay-up line where the #1 sheet station used to have problems with too many curled sheets of veneer. The core is fed down a V-belt to the core layer where it then lays the core on sheets. There are five glue booths that spray the veneer along the way. There are two presses which each have a 26 sheet capacity, producing the 4’ by 8’ sheets with thicknesses varying from 3/8” to 3/4”, There are various grades including select face up, construction sheathing, D grade and delaminate. In recent years the company has also upgraded its sander, tongue and groove machine, and grading line. On the lay-up line there were some modi- fications done to help thaw out veneer that was sticking together during win- ter months. In addition to working out the plant’s technical problems there has been some work in other areas that Today the union has three unionized ply- wood or veneer plants in the B.C. Lower Mainland. At one time it had over 4000 members in plywood alone affect workers. The plant has a func- tioning ergonomics committee. That committee worked together to build a proper bench behind a strapping rack. This reduced the number of steps the worker has to take, which lessened the chances of an accident with a loader. The union would like to see further safety improvements made in the workplace. Those changes necessary include the reduction of dust and noise levels in various areas of the plant. The crew also wants to be paid the full wage rate of the coast master col- lective agreement. Now that Cantree is well in the black, workers want a little payback for the sacrifices that they have made in the past, says Gordon Emery, plant committee member. “We've made the plant run better and we’d like to be rewarded on our paycheques,” says Brother Emery. “That's the message that we've got from the crew.” “It’s a damn good crew,” says Brother Paradis. “As a committee we're absolutely proud of all our members in the plant.” Next issue: CIPA INDUSTRIES ¢ Checking out the plywood press at the Annacis Island operation is Kelly Moore. a