SS a

ONLY EMPLOY
ALLOWED IN 7

MILESTONE ..
OOD PRODUCTS

==]
ng

~

INC:

Striker Caroline Juthas says the Milestone reman mill has a cesspool of chem-
icals that are potentially damaging to workers.

Health effects tied to

plant’s air gual

One of the workers whose health
has been effected by working in the re-
man plant at Milestone Forest Prod-
ucts is union member Caroline Juthas.
She is one of the first five people hired
by Milestone in 1992 and was the first
person to run the rotary press.

Today she is sick - sick from being
exposed to chemicals in the work-
place. She has been checked out by
doctors who say that she has devel-
oped lupus and has a low white blood
cell count. The lupus condition, she
was told, can be caused by chemicals.

Sister Juthas says the reman mill
has a cesspool of chemicals that are
potentially damaging to workers.

‘T want the air
cleaned up. Are peo-
ple going to have to

keep quitting because
they get sick?”
- Caroline Juthas

“They've got to get them (the chem-
icals) out of there,” she told the Lwm-
berworker. “They've been asked to get:
(the chemicals) out.

“We all asked politely and nicely...
but what can you do...” she asks.

She says that the outside workers
and workers in the sawmill portion
are very supportive of the workers in
the reman.

But she says that the employer
thinks that workers are faking their
sickness conditions when that is not
the case.

ty

“There's totally no respect for work-
ers,” Juthas says. “It’s demoralizing.”

When she started on the rotary
press in 1992 she was immediately ex-
posed to urea formaldehyde.

“We were given no gloves, (and) no
WHMIS training course at all,” she re-
calls. “I was told (by the employer)
that it is so safe, this glue. I could wash
all the rollers with my bare hands.”

But then after work she would go
home and burp up the taste of the
glue after laying down a while. She
then began to get sick and started a
bad cough.

Her doctor said that she should be
given a different job.

“They (the company) were angry
with me because I got sick and put me
on the kicker switch which is one of
the hardest jobs in there.”

She stuck it out on the kicker
switch and bid on another job after
the union organized the plant in 1994.

With enough seniority to bid on a
job in the planer mill, she moved. But
then she ran into more problem when
a compressor spewed out hydraulic
oils. The compressor shot noxious
oils and chemicals into pools on the
floor of the planer.

After reporting these problems in
the safety book the company
switched to another oil.

Sister Juthas says the air quality in
the reman plant must improve for
workers to go back. With 90° F tem-
peratures and 60% humidity, work in
there is unbearable.

“Tm not a person that takes advan-
tage of the system,” she says. “I've
worked hard for them.”

“I want the air cleaned up. Are peo-
ple going to have to keep quitting be-
cause they are sick?”

Queen Charlotte
tragedy

Continued from page six

deck as sea water was entering
through the bow ramp seal. When the
craft listed starboard the operator
opened up the throttle and the vessel
began to list more. Then the operator
threw the engine into neutral. The
starboard bow continued to go down
until a welding truck on board slid
ahead and fell overboard.

It is believed that the welding truck
caught a rope on the vessel and
flipped it over before the rope broke.
Brother York was found by divers and
could not be resuscitated.

The vessel’s operator was a heavy
duty mechanic who had operated it
for the last 4 years as a means of mov-
ing people and vehicles from one side
of the narrows.

Both men on board were tradesmen
that learned how to operate the vessel
by on-the-job experience. There was
no formal training provided by the
employer. Neither man saw an operat-
ing manual as there wasn’t one to be
found. All they could find was a
brochure setting out “standard” play-
loads, weights and general informa-
tion.

Over the years it was generally ac-
cepted that sea water could come on
board when the vessel was in transit.
At the bow ramp there was a flexible
gasket that was supposed to seal it.
But the investigation revealed that no-
body knew when the bow ramp seal
was last intact. In the winter of 91-92
the aluminum bow ramp was replaced
but the seal wasn’t.

The “Crown Forest 72-68” is rated
for a maximum load of 5 tons. If is to
be carrying passengers, then it is sup-
posed to be carrying no more than 3
tons.

In the case of this accident the
welding truck and all of its equipment
weighed about 5.8 tons. The gross
weight was not indicated on the vehi-
cle.

The NTSB investigation revealed
that there were previous reports
showing that water had accumulated
on the deck and that information of
this had been reported at safety com-
mittee meetings.

Both operators had taken a course
and had certification as “Master of a
Small Craft” but, according the the
NTSB report, they refused to endorse
the certification because they be-
lieved they received insufficient train-
ing.

The certification they received was
for a small crew boat which carried
passengers and not the landing vessel
that capsized.

At a coroner's inquest the company
tried to call the accident an isolated
incident. But the union showed that it
was not an isolated incident and that
it had been reported before and that
there had been problems of the vessel
listing side to side. In the past what
had saved the crew was the fact that
they were close enough to shore that.
they could run the craft up on the
beach.

The entire incident raises the issue
of the strict regulation the use of sea
vessels, either to transport fellow
workers or equipment.

Since the tragic accident the com-
pany holds monthly safety tours on
vessels to identify safety concerns.
Operational and management person-
nel have been made aware of poten-
tial condition that lead to instability of
vessels.

And in 1994, I.W.A. CANADA and
Forest Industrial Relations signed a
joint agreement to develop proce-
dures, establish equipment standards
and training for vessel operators.

° Uprighted sealander craft is inspected after fatal accident.

Milestone strike

Continued from page three

where clear lumber (pine, spruce and
fir) is remanned into such products as
clear laminates and finger joint stock
for window frames and door and oth-
er products.

Brother McGregor says the compa-
ny is of the mind-set that they don’t
have to pay a decent wage because
they are in the Okanagan Valley. The
valley is a region of high unemploy-
ment.

One manager even insulted the
women workers by saying that they
are lucky to not be working in dough-
nut shops.

Head rig operator Ted Finnigan, a
member of the plant committee and

an original employee at the operation,
says that “I think their (the
company’s) objective is to get rid of
the union. They are trying to intimi-
date us.”

Since the operation began with the
opening of the sawmill in February of
1992, Finnigan estimates that there
have been over 500 workers who have
come and gone. Today there are only
20 original employees.
ao of people will one out here,

ey'll get intimidated by management
and they'll quit,” says Finnigan. “You
can't find anything that pays you even
the wage you get here.”

The I.W.A. is attempting to put an
end to this unbridled intimidation and
discrimination and get the members
back to work with better wages and
working conditions.

(SR

18/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1995