Union activity resurfaces in Quebec with two
operations serviced by |.W.A. Local 1000

Posing for a photo outside the gates of the Produits Forestieres plant in Fort
Coulonge, Quebec is Plant Chairman and loader operator Daniel Dagenais (1.)
with Local 1000 Financial Secretary and town resident Mike McCarter. The
union is proud to have its logo on display at the gates.

I.W.A. CANADA members in most
parts of the country will probably be
surprised that the union has a pres-
ence in the province of Quebec. Nor-
mally the membership does not hear
a lot of union news out of Quebec
but that could change in the years
ahead.

Since 1992 the I.W.A. has been op-
erating in the province after an ab-
sence of nearly eight years. Today
two operations exist in Quebec under
the official charter of Local 400. That
charter was basically inactive since
the mid-1980’s when the Quebec
membership of the I.W.A. either
defected to other unions or decerti-
fied.

All of that happened following an
election which saw a favoured French
Canadian vice presidential candidate,
Jean Marie Bedard defeated during an
election by Ontario’s Bill Pointon, a
longstanding officer of the union.

A lot of water has passed under the
bridge since the election, which oc-

curred as the I.W.A. in Canada was.

headed towards independence from
the International Woodworkers of
_ America.

The union’s name has changed to
become the Industrial, Wood and Al-
lied Workers of Canada (I.W.A. CANA-
DA) with a membership of nearly
45,000 workers in six provinces, in-
cluding Quebec.

Second National Vice President
Fred Miron, who works out of the
union’s national office in Toronto says
that the union is trying to move back
into Quebec and that there have been
various contacts made with groups of
workers. He says that the process of
organizing will continue to be a slow
one.

The union is very fortunate to have
a bilingual organizer in Brother Rene
Brixhe who was involved in bringing
in the two present-day operations into
the LW.A.

Those operations are Mercedes
Textiles, a fire hose plant in Kirkland,
and Produits Forestieres, a small

10/LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1996

hardwood and softwood mill in Ft.
Coulonge. Mercedes has about 27
members and is expanding and Pro-
duits Forestieres has about 50 work-
ers.

Brother Miron says that the union
has made an arrangement with I.W.A.
Local 1000 to service both operations
until the organization has enough
members in Quebec to support an in-
dependent Local union.

Membership dues from the Quebec
certifications go to Local 1000, and
per capita is paid to the national
union. In exchange, the operations are
fully serviced by Local 1000 and each
plant has a member sitting on Local
1000's Executive Board.

Local 1000 President Joe da Costa
says that two operations are “part of
the family.” He adds that the local
union is not actively organizing in
Quebec at this time but hopes that, in
the long-term, that may change.

He points out to the fact that, in
Quebec, the labour movement is very
involved in politics with the Parti Que-
becois, which stands for the
province's separation from the rest of
Canada.

Brother da Costa also points out
that, although the I.W.A. may be large-
ly perceived as an anglo union, it is
fully bilingual in the east and north-
east of Ontario.

“The plan is to keep our eyes open
for developments in Quebec,” says
Brother Miron. “We will expand into
the province, but it’s really a matter of
when and how.”

Miron sees that the political turmoil
caused by the separatist movement in
Quebec as a problem for expansion.

“I don’t think we are going to make
real large inroads into Quebec until
the people of the province finally de-
cide whether or not they are in or out
of Canada,” he says. “Many workers
just do not know what their destiny in
that regards will be.”

Brother Brixhe is a skilled organiz-
er well-versed in the labour laws of
Quebec. Local 1000's financial secre-
tary Mike McCarter actually. lives in
Fort Coulonge, just over the Ottawa
River on the Quebec side. Add in the
fact that Local 1000 is planning to ser-
vice both Mercedes Textiles and Pro-
duits Forestiers on a part-time basis
with the assistance of Yvon Rochon, a
bilingual business agent from the
Amoco Fabric and Fiber plant in
Hawkesbury, Ontario, also on the Ot-
tawa River, and you have a very capa-
ble I.W.A. presence to service Quebec
workers.

Brother McCarter says that the
Quebec operations are treated like
any other Local 1000 certifications
both in terms of dues coming in and
services going out.

“For Local 1000, we are hoping that
Local 400 will grow in numbers so it
will eventually be able to look after it-
self,” says McCarter, who has serviced
the operations to date. “Right now it
makes good business sense for us to
service them and it has also been ben-
eficial to our local union.”

MERCEDES TEXTILES
First into the I.W.A. was Mercedes

° At the lunch table behind the Mercedes Textiles are (clockwise left to right sitting) Local 1000 members Margaret

Textiles in 1992. The company used to
have a plant the was certified to Local
1000 in Hawkesbury. It shut down in
the 1980’s and moved to Kirkland
which is a suburb of Montreal.

Today the company leases space in
an industrial park in Kirkland where it
employs 27 workers on a three shift a
day, five day a week basis.

The company produces high quality
fire hose for sale in a global market-
place, with customers in Canada, the
United States, Puerto Rico, Europe
and Asia. It presently has nine looms
in production and plans to put in
more in the near future.

It produces all kinds of hoses -
everything from 2” to 5” stock and
may go up to 6” in future expansion.
The hoses are manufactured with
rubber liners which can take pressure
from 300 p.s.i. to. almost 2000 p.s.i.

The hoses are used in everything
from fighting forest fires to city fires
to the hoses used in apartment: build-
ings.

The plant chairman is Graham Dev-
eraux, who is in his eighth year at the
operation.

He says that the union has been key
in solving many problems in a plant
where there has always been a high
rate of turnover.

“Everything seems to be going bet-
ter than it was a few years ago,” he
told the Lumberworker. “But we have
our ups and downs on both sides.”

“Tt (the operation) was going down-

~ hill before certification (with the

LW.A.),” he adds. “After we joined the
union it took a while for everybody to
get used to the idea of a union being
in, but apart from that it is getting bet-
ter as it goes.”

There are not many unions in the
Kirkland area, as opposed to Greater
Montreal where there is a stronger
labour presence.

The I.W.A. is now in its second con-
tract. In the first three year agree-
ment, workers got a significant boost
in pay. Prior to a second three year
contract most workers were getting
paid $11.00/hour for doing a number
of combination jobs.

Today the base rate is $9.50/hour
for hose folders and general labour-
ers. There are also more job cate-
gories that now specify rates for other
jobs like visual inspectors, table

Continued on page eleven

Roderick, Plant Chairman Graham Devereaux, Chantal Dube, Guylaine Dube, and Jose Reis. Standing left to right are
Walid Abdel Malek, Debbie Attanasoff, Local 1000 representative Mike McCarter, Daniel Lord, David O'Hara, Caroline
Crevier, and local union representative Yvon Rochon.

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