Link FRBC to jobs say union speakers ° Dave Haggard Bill Routley One of the major issues for discussion this year is the issue of Forest Renewal B.C.(FRBC) and the fact that the jobs are just not coming as fast as they should. The delegates passed a resolution calling for the I.W.A. to lobby the B.C. government to require FRBC to implement a policy that no funding will be available for any FRBC project that does not include a clear plan to connect displaced or threatened forest workers to all employment opportunities. Bill Routley, President of Local 1-80, said there has to be a linkage program for workers and FRBC. to ensure that union members get what they are entitled to because it is they that are effected by Jand use decisions. “There’s all kinds of people that want to get their hands on that $400 million (of FRBC fund- ing). Communities want it, the Natives want it, but workers desperately need it because they are go- ing to lose their jobs and they have to be connect- ed to that employment.” Murray Cantelon of Local 1-71 said that in the Sunshine Coast area a $20 million FRBC proposal put together by the Sechelt Indian Band, the I.W.A. and Interfor is running up against government bu- reaucracy. “We were told by FRBC ‘it’s a heck of a good idea, but we can’t evaluate it, It’s too comprehen- sive. We've got to break it all apart into various components , send it to various ministries and they try to put it back together again.” Brother Cantelon says that the union deserves more representation on the FRBC Board. He also said that projects are going to the Ministry of Envi- ronment which are not employing union workers. Bob Freer, also from Local 1-71 said that on northern Vancouver Island the government is bringing in contract back hoes to do logging road activation. He said that these are jobs that older 1.W.A. members should be doing. “By the time the crunch hits and we start losing (jobs) and the impacts are being felt, these jobs are all going to be basically done and completed..” said Brother Freer. e DON’T HARRIS ME - the delegation from Thunder Bay, Ontario Local 2693 is emphatic in its opposition to the Conservative government of Mike Harris and wore it on their shirts to the National Convention. “Forest Renewal B.C. was set up primarily for displaced forest workers and there’s go to to a di- rect connection between that and our workers,” he added. Dave Haggard, President of Local 1-85, is the I.W.A.’s representative on the FRBC Board and says that Brother Routley, Gary Kobayashi, Presi- dent of Local 1-217 and Local 1-417 President Kevin Kelly have been doing a job sitting on com- mittees developing FRBC policy to are going to be guiding priciples of putting people back to work. “Unfortunately we also have some ministries out there that have the responsibility to do techni- cal review work, to do all the things that are re- quired under the laws of this province, and those people see it (FRBC) as their own personal bank account.” He said that FRBC is being hit for proposals from all directions and that it is an uphill battle to make the program work properly for workers. More employment needed from tenure holders The union believes that there must be more jobs created out of the timber cut in Canada. At this year’s Convention the I.W.A. called upon all provincial governments to introduce legislation that would force all timber license and tenure holders to produce value-added wood products. Gary Kobayashi of Local 1-217 said it is impor- tant that the companies cutting the timber be forced to add value. He said “this comes from our experience with the Small Business Enterprise Program where we saw the transfer of good paying union jobs to the non-union sector and to the low-paying sector.” Port Alberni Local 1-85’s Jack McLeman said we have to define value added. He said that compa- nies like MacMillan Bloedel define value-added as a simple breakdown mill. He said that MB wants to get off the real high end value added produc- tion, such as fingerjoint machines and resawing in order to let others do the work, preferably non- union. Dan Clements of Local 1-80 said the union must put an emphasis on value-added in the future as the industry is going to have a downturn. “The problem we’ve had in the past is every provincial and federal government we've had until recently has not paid any attention to value- added,” said Clements. He then said that major tenure holders prefer to buy value-added opera- tions rather than be involved with them all the way from the beginning. A local union operation, Plinks, which makes windows for Germany, was simply purchased by MB. They didn’t develop the business themselves. “As long as we are going to allow the govern- ment to allow the companies who we give the tim- ber to not use it for proper value-added, we are in trouble,” he added. Jim Parker of Local 1-217 said that the resolu- tion is important because it calls for the tenure holder to produce the value-added wood products. “What it really means is that the tenure holder has got to produce so many jobs per cubic meter,” he said. Parker added that it is important the the tenure holder doesn’t farm the work out to non-union companies. ¢ MEETING HEAD-ON WITH DELEGATES was B.C. Forests Minister Andrew Petter who heard several com- plaints of the lack of progress linking I.W.A. members to Forest Renewal job opportunities. 12/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1995