At the seminars the I.W.A.'s National Organizing Director Lyle Pona and labour lawyer Miriam Gropper (seated right)
co-instruct an introductory job steward class.

Camp Jubilee serves as ideal spot
for union job steward seminars

ike many other local unions

in W.A. CANADA, Vancou-

ver Local 1-217 holds annual

job steward seminars. This

year the local union decided
to hold the seminars at a place without
all of the distractions of the big city.

In early June nearly 50 local union
members went to Camp Jubilee in the
scenic Indian arm. The camp, which is
operated as a B.C. labour unity pro-
ject, offers an ideal setting for unions
and other organizations during times
of the year when it is not used for a
kid’s summer camp.

Originally founded in 1935, the
camp site has operated as a special
place where kids can go for a summer
break and have a safe place to discov-
er the great outdoors. After several
years of reconstructing the camp the
facilities were reopened in August of
last year when the first group of kids
went in. This year was the first full
summer when kids went in starting
through July and August.

The camp is vacant the rest of the
year, so Local 1-217 thought it would
be a good idea to use the facilities for
their job steward seminars. By doing
so, labour is helping maintain the
camp as it should be used more often.
The camp is situated only 15 minutes
by boat from the small community of
Deep Cove, about 20 km. from Van-
couver.

Camp Jubilee offers a great outdoor
experience for youngsters with safe
and secure facilities that can be en-
joyed in one of the Lower Mainland’s
most scenic areas.

The camp offers a full array of ac-
tivities including fishing, crabbing,
wind surfing, scuba diving, sea kayak-
ing, beach combing, sailing, water ski-
ing, inner tubing, and outdoor camp-
ing. There is also a rope course with
cable between trees other activities
such as hiking wildlife observation. In
the vicinity there are sea otters, deer,
raccoons, black bears, eagles and oth-
er birds.

“Camp Jubilee has some great facil-
ities for holding meetings,” says Gary
Kobayashi, president of Local 1-217.
“We had an officers’ meeting and de-
cided to try out the facilities for this
year’s job steward seminars and
everything worked out very well. I'd
recommend the facilities to other lo-
cals in the LW.A. and in other unions
as well.”

Brother Kobayashi says that by
holding the seminars in an isolated lo-
cation like Camp Jubilee the local is
spending a little bit more money that
it normally would but it is likely get-
ting more “bang for the buck.”

The local has sent questionnaires
out to the participants to see what
they think of the weekend sessions at
the camp. So far the feedback has
been positive.

Gordie McRae, first vice president
of Local 1-217 says that unions should
continue to support the Camp and can
do so by reserving its facilities to hold
conferences and events where union
members can congregate without the
distractions that are found in the city.

“By holding our seminar at the
camp; we had the complete, undivid-
ed attention of the participants for
two days,” says Brother McRae. “We
got more done in an atmosphere
where the Brothers and Sisters got a
chance to talk and mix more and find
out what is going on in each others’
operations. It was an excellent chance

e The tranquil outdoor setting lends
classes provided.

to build solidarity and increase com-
munication between members.”

“In our local we have people from a
tree nursery, a kitchen cabinet opera-
tion, remanufacturing, in addition to
the sawmills and logging operations.
We have quite a cross-section of peo-
ple.”

Two groups of workers were invited
for the seminars. There were classes
for new jobs stewards and a more ad-
vanced class for advanced stewards.

“These job stewards are the local
union’s eyes and ears,” adds Brother
McRae. “We have to see to it that they
are prepared to handle whatever
problems come up in their opera-
tions.”

The beginners course was instruct-
ed by National Organizing Director
Lyle Pona who also set up the partici-
pation of Sister Marie De Carre, a rep-
resentative with Hotel Restaurant
Culinary Employees and Bartenders
Local 40, who instructed the advanced
class. In addition, labour lawyer Miri-
am Gropper was in attendance and ro-

tated between classes, giving some
perspective on labour laws in
Columbia.

Classes began on a Friday morning
and concluded on a Saturday after-
noon.

Local union member Steve Dresch-
er, from Westcoast Cellufibre said he
has been to other job steward classes
in the past but feels the seminars at
Camp Jubilee were more effective be-
cause the atmosphere was more con-
ducive to learning. ®@

“Everybody is present and account
ed for and after the classes are fin-
ished all we have to do is talk with
each other. People look at their notes
after the classes. There’s no television
to watch so we sit around and com-
pare notes and get to know each other
more.”

The members were well fed too.
Dinner on the Friday night featured
roast beef for a modest price of $10.00
per member. Breakfast in the camp
goes for $6.00 and lunch is $7.00 per
head. An additional $15.00 per mem-
ber is charged for overnight accom-
modation in small bunk bed cabins
with washroom facilities.

The camp’s cook is Teresa Binka,
who does an excellent job in seeing
that the guests are fully fed. She is ihe®
wife of camp watchman and attendant
Bob Binka who is a Local 1-217 mem-
ber employed at the Tolko Industries
Inlet Cedar sawmill in North Vancou-
ver. The Binkas live in a house at the
camp with their two teenage sons.
Both work very hard to keep the
camp in good repair all year round.

Last year the provincial NDP gov-
ernment donated $350,000 dollars
from a B.C. 21 grant to complete the
camp. After several years of large
fundraising efforts by B.C. Federation
of Labour affiliates couple with corpo-
rate donations, the camp still lacked
funding to complete the kitchen facili-
ties until MLA Glen Clark, Minister of
Employment and Investment, provid-
ed the grant money.

During Local 1-217’s stay at Camp
Jubilee NDP MLA Dennis Streifel
from the Mission/Kent riding dropped
in to speak with the members. He
spoke on government initiative such
as the Forest Renewal B.C., the Em-
ployment Standards Act, and the For-
est Practices Code. Frank and open
discussion were had concerning those
topics and the results and ramifica-
tions of the recent election results in
Ontario were the NDP government of
Bob Rae was defeated.

For further information on
booking Camp Jubilee, phone
Nicole Bierens at Camp Jubilee
Administration (Telephone 432-
7529). You can also contact
Gordie McRae at I.W.A. CANADA
Local 1-217 (Telephone 874-0274)
Sor information.

aS : i a
itself to more meetings between the job stewards and more concentration on the

12/LUMBERWORKER/AUGUST, 1995