¢ In the future I.W.A. Local 1-324 members at the Repap sawmill in The Pas will handle all logs before they go to either
the sawmill or nearby pulp mill. Photo taken in 1992.

Pension increases lead the list of contract
improvements at Repap’s Manitoba operations

Pension plan improvements headed
the list of union demands during this
year’s contract negotiations with
Repap Enterprises in Manitoba. In
early November over 300 workers em-
ployed in company operations voted
92.7% in favour of a three year con-

tract which will expire on August 31,
1998.

Highlighting the wage and benefit
package are exceptional pension im-
provements which will boost retire-
ment benefits by more than $40.00 per
month per year of service, to $80.00
per month by 1997. These improve-
ments negotiated by Manitoba Local
1-324 will make the pension plan one
of the best in the I.W.A.

To get the improvements the union
negotiated wage increases of 3%, 3%
and 3% in the three year: contract in
addition to a cash payment of
$1,500.00 in the first year. Of those

Employee
contributions will
boost future service
pension benefits for
mill and bush
workers

wage improvements the union has
agreed that employees will make con-
tributions of 66 cents per hour
worked in the first year, 54 cents an
hour in the second and 27 cents an
hour in the third.

The overall employer/employee
contribution rate will be increased to
about $3.47/hr. for all service worked
by the end of the contract. Of that
about $2.00/hr. is paid by Repap. The
employer will kick in an additional 44
cents an hour into the pension plan
for every hour worked in the first and
second year of the contract. That
money will be used to pay down the
unfunded liability.

Those employee contributions,
which are tax deductible, will in-
crease the pension to $40.00 per
month per year of service worked as
of September of this year. Then in
1996 the rate goes up to $70.00 per

month per year of future service
worked only and on to an $80.00 rate
by September, 1987 for future service
only.

Jim Anderson, President of Local 1-
324 said the negotiating committee,
headed by I.W.A. Canada, First Vice-
President, Neil Menard and Local
Union members Terry Derhousoff,
Doug Northcott, Sean Veitch and Lau-
rent St. Aubin (Fluffy), put pension
improvements at the top of the list as
the demand was heard loud and clear
from the members.

“We decided to be as innovative as
we could to do what the membership
directed us to do,” says Brother An-
derson. “Many members are very con-
cerned that we have to get our pen-
sion plan into shape, boost retirement
benefits significantly and get the
plan’s unfunded liability taken care
of.”

When that unfunded liability is
erased, the employee contributions
will cease and go back directly into
the pockets of the members.

“We're very happy with the overall
agreement because it will solve a lot
of problems for us,” says Anderson.

Brother Menard says that it was a
tough set of negotiations and that the
negotiating committee received solid
support from the membership.

“We made up a lot of ground in
these sets of negotiations and made
some breakthroughs for the pension
plan,” says Menard.

In other benefit improvements
weekly indemnity has been increased
to $555.00 per week in 1995 and will
go up to $570.00 next year and $585.00
by September of 1997.

Long term disability benefits have
been increased to a maximum pay-
ment of $1,900.00/month as of Sep-
tember 1, 1995. Effective at the same
time will be Long Term Disability cov-
erage improvements for those work-
ers who have been collecting the ben-
efits for at least 10 years.

The Union got improvements in op-
tical care to $175.00 for every 24
months. There are also increases in
safety footwear allowance. Mill work-
ers now get $110.00 per year and the
Company pays 50% of the bill for
boots twice a year in bush operations.

Three years ago the Union was
locked into a battle over Repap efforts
to contract out jobs in the wood and
the mill. The Union beat back those
attempts. In this contract all union

jobs are protected and if Repap brings
any other contractor on it claims, that
contractor must pay at least 75% of
the rates listed in the union agree-
ment.

Brother Anderson says this is the
best the union could do to assure
higher wages for non-union contrac-
tors. He also says that it will strength-
en the union’s position when it comes
to organizing the contractors in the fu-
ture as those contractors will plainly

see that they are getting paid less for
the same work.

The I.W.A. represents over 75 com-
pany employees who work in three
Woodlands Divisions in Cranberry,
Thompson, and Wabowden. Nearly
100 contract bush workers are scat-
tered through various contractors
(Moose Lake Logging, McKinnon,
Turner, Cormorant, and Cyril Perry)
in the Jungle Lake and Grand Rapids
areas of the province.

In addition the union represents

In the past year there
have been about 10
jobs created for
ILW.A. members

about 40 truckers running double haul
and single haul loads throughout
Repap’s Forest Management Licence.

The union recently concluded bar-
gaining on behalf of the Northern
Wood Haulers Association, which is
an amalgam of contract haulers em-
ployed by Repap.

In The Pas, Local 1-324 represents
about 155 mill workers at its dimen-
sion sawmill.

In the past year there have been
around ten jobs created on the mill
site and ground as Repap is now
bringing in all of the raw logs used in
both the sawmill and the neighbour-
ing kraft pulp mill.

Last year a log merchandiser deck
and chipper was installed which is run
by I.W.A. members. The logs are as-
sessed and but up for their maximum
value in the sawmill, all rejected mate-
rial is chipped and trucked to the pulp
mill.

Brother Anderson says the compa-
ny plans on installing 1 - 3 replace-
ment saw lines over the next couple
of years. Repap is looking at putting in
new higher speed chipper canters.

¢ The Repap bush operations were of major importance in negotiations where
the union is trying to stop contracting out.

8/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1995