e Randall Rice, I.A.M.

Fight to keep labour
laws says American

guest speaker

For the second straight year Brother Randall
Rice, President of the International Association of
Machinists’ (I.A.M.) Woodworkers District 2 in
Memphis, Tennessee addressed the I.W.A.’s Na-
tional Convention.

In 1994 the three regions of the former I.W.A-
U.S. merged with the IAM to form autonomous Jur-
Sidictions within the larger organization. I.W.A.
ee and the I.A.M. have kept in contact dur-
and after the merger. Sie

Like most of the states in the U.S. South, Missis-
 Sippi is a right-to-work state which forbids com-

pulsory union membership, even when a majority

of the members in a certification want to join a

Union.
Brother Rice told the delegates about some of
_ the experiences that his union has had in the
southern States of Virginia and Georgia. :

‘The union has represented workers at an artifi-
» cial christmas tree and decorations plant in Nor-
folk, Virginia, since 1957. Today the base ae is
ie an hour with a top rate of about

i : -August this year the union only repre-
ao Coe the 765 employees in the pueraen.
These le who live in some of the aw-
Spires: ea places that I'm afraid to go into,

‘said. “And part of our inner city problem is
to-work. We organized that place a long time

md barely got a majority.
We couldn't negotiate a closed shop because
wouldn't let us. So because we barely got a

matin f

Local 1-85’s Larry Rewakowsky.

majority we barely got a contract. Because we
barely got a contract the people there still didn’t
sign up. And it feeds on and on and on.”

“Can you imagine trying to go in and strike an
operation where people don’t know where they’re
going to get the next bite to eat? And at $4.25 an
hour they’re scared to death they may lose it be-
cause it’s all they've got.

Rice said in the United States the laws say work-
ers can’t be fired for going on strike but that the
employer can permanently replace them.

“J have a hard time understanding the difference
but that’s the way it is,” he said. “So we're going to
have to use some alternative methods. We're going
to continue to sign them up and we're going to
build some strength if we’re going to have a con-
tract there that thoses folks can at least take a lit-
tle bit of pride in before we’re through.”

This past summer the I.A.M. sent in 100 people
for a week in trying to sign up members.

Now the union has four organizers working full
time and over 300 people have signed up. Similar
efforts have brought in over 1000 new members in
the last year, despite difficult conditions.

His message about right-to-work laws was clear.

° Calling out the resolutions for the Resolutions Committee were Local 1000’s Mike McCarter (left) and

2= = ¥

He said if you take an I.W.A. jurisdiction like Local
1-424 in Prince George with about 5,500 members,
right-to-work laws would bring an immediate loss
of 1,100 to 1,600 members.

Rice spoke of another plant in Bainbridge Geor-
gia, in another right-to-work state where the rate is
about $6.00/hr. Like the plant in Virginia, there is
no insurance and pension plan in place where the
union has signed up about 265 members.

He said that in the U.S. unions win about 49% of
certification ballots. Because there are no laws for
first contract arbitration, less that half of new cer-
tifications ever get collective agreements.

“You've got damn good (labour) laws,” said
Rice. “Be proud of them and keep them.”

He said that unionists in the industry are linked
in both countries.

“Your industry here in Canada in wood products
is dependent upon selling wood in the U.S. In or-
der to get good wood sold in the U.S., people in
the U.S. have to be able to afford it...” he said. “The
laws that govern and control the wages that those
people make in the U.S. affect whether they can
afford to buy your wood or not effects you.”

Resolutions get nod

C.O.R.E. PROCESS - the provincial government
will be petitioned to discontinue using the Com-
mission on Resources and Environment process
that was used in the Kootenays, the Cariboo and
on Vancouver Island.

NON-UNION CONTRACTORS - the I.W.A. reaf-
firms its policy that any company or person having
a direct business dealing with an I.W.A. certified
operation be legitimately unionized.

EMPLOYEE AND FAMILY ASSISTANCE PRO-
GRAMS - the union will endeavour to have all em-
ployers globally fund EFAP’s.

WOMEN’S EDUCATION SEMINAR - a resolu-
tion calling for a two day seminar on issues con-
cerning women in the I.W.A., to be attended to by
women, was forwarded to the National Executive
Board for further consideration.

HOE FORWARDING - the union will lobby the
B.C. government to do an environmental impact
study on the practice of hoe forwarding. The gov-
ernment must ensure that labour, intensive and
environmentally friendly methods replace hoes.

LONG-LINE AND HIGH LEAD HARVESTING -
the Ministry of Forests in B.C. will be pressured to
have long-line logging or conventional high-lead
logging as an alternative to grapple yarding.

» Sergeant-of-Arms Committee members ensured, once again, that the convention ran smoothly.

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1995/15