¢ At the press conference held in the I.W.A. national office boardroom were (1. to r.) P.P.W.C. President Gary Worth,
I.W.A. CANADA President Gerry Stoney and Brian Payne, Regional Vice President of the C.E.P. The three unions pre-

sented a united front against MB.

MB sparks unity

Continued from page one

id wood sector, realizing that the
same thing is happening to I.W.A.
workers as has happening to them.

MB has tried to downplay the signif-
icance of its deaccreditation but. all
three unions know that its strategy is
putting standard industry agreements
at risk.

The three unions held a press con-
ference on June 14 at the I.W.A. Na-
tional office, a full year before the ex-
piry of the Coast Master agreement
with F.LR.

“They (MB) told the LW.A. that they

are looking,for more freedom to-nego-»

tiate local agreements and that they
want the opportunity to share their
profits,” said Brother Stoney. “We told
them that if they want an opportunity
to share their profits they should just
give people cheques, that they'll take
them and it’s not a problem.”
“We have all sorts of local agree-
ments with the company all over the
place and we’re quite prepared to ne-

gotiate amendments to the current
ones or local agreements to deal with
local issues, if that is what they want,”
added Stoney.

Stoney said that the union is con-
cerned that if MB is successful and is
not deterred from deaccrediting, that
other employers will be encouraged
to do the same and ultimately destroy
association bargaining.

Association bargaining effects over
17,000 workers on the coast and an
additional 10,000 in the province’s in-
terior who are directly affected by
pattern settlements.

Stoney said that association bar-
gaining is a process that has been suc-
cessful for workers since the 1940's
and that it has produced collective

-agreements-that have not jbeen bet-

tered anywhere in the world.

“We don’t want to lose the process
that has given us a fairly stable atmos-
phere over the years,” he said. “We
have not had a lot of strikes or lock-
outs or lost time over those years.”

He also said that the decision to call
on the pulp unions to sit down and
put together a coordinated bargaining
strategy against MB is an example of

trade union solidarity when the I.W.A.
is under attack.

“We think that MacMillan Bloedel
has good reason to step back and take
another look at their decision to deac-
credit from F.LR.,” he added.

Brian Payne, Regional Vice Presi-
dent of the C.E.P., told the news con-
ference that union members in forest
industry communities across the
province have real reason for concern
for what-is happening with this latest
breakdown of a province wide collec-
tive bargaining relationship.

He said that MB was a leader in
breaking up the pulp and paper side
of the industry in 1994 and that it is
now leading the way to do the same in
the solid wood sector. i
« “Communities in’ this province rely
on.the industry,” said Brother Payne.
“It’s in the best interests of those com-
munities to have to stability that in-
dustry bargaining brings.”

He said the people should be con-
cerned about MB’s “attempts to po-
tentially destabilize a long-standing,
fairly stable relationship.”

On the pulp side, Payne said that
nothing short of an industry pattern

will be accepted in either of MB's Port
Alberni or Powell River operations.

“We will fight to make sure our
members, whether they're our mem-
bers or I.W.A. members or workers
across the province...aren't whip-
sawed by the breakdown of this long-
standing (and) rather civilized bar-
gaining process.”

Gary Worth, President of the
P.P.W.C., said that MB's move is hypo-
critical and that his union's experi-
ence has seen that companies work
closer when they are doing plant by
plant negotiations.

He says that companies at the local
plant level, do not show confidence
and have experience to bargain con-
tracts on their own.

“This has the potential to pit worker
against worker,” said Brother Worth,
“It has the potential to pit community
against community and that’s where I
think the province of British Colum-
bia has to take a position on this too.”

“If the workers in one community
take, for whatever reason, a lesser
agreement than what is the norm, the
companies will use that as a lever and
they will whipsaw (workers) to the
bottom.”

Added Worth: “We are in favour of a
common strategy with the I.W.A. on
this matter and we think that MB is
the culprit here...”

Brother Stoney said that MB deac-
creditation is a typical ham-fisted ap-
proach which is typical of the way the
company operates. He reminded the
media that in the 1980's it was MB
that lead the attack on contracting out
I.W.A. jobs and that it was the same
company who fought against legiti-
mate building trades unions in Port
Alberni in late 1994 and early 1995.

Stoney characterized MB as “the
bully on the block” which not only
pushes workers around but pushes its
competitors and the people of the
province around aswell.

The L.W.A. President said that if MB
stays the course that the union will
proceed to negotiate an agreement
with remaining F.I.R. companies, MB
will not get a cheaper deal.

Stoney said that MB is now getting
competitive profits but is out to post
the highest corporate profits in the
world.

NDP election

Continued from page one

years due to labour laws introduced
by the NDP,” says Brother Carroll. “A
Liberal government would make it
very tough for unions to organize and
our local would probably erode other-
wise.”

Local 1-424 was active in all seven
ridings in its jurisdiction. The NDP
won in three of them: Prince George-
Mt. Robson (Lois Boone), Prince
George. North (Paul Ramsay) and
Bulkley Valley Stikine (Bill
Goodacre).

Local 1-405 President Bob Matters
said the local union was in there
pulling for the NDP. The party won all
four seats in his local union’s jurisdic-
tion.

“We focussed on the employment
issues,” says Brother Matters. “Our
members were informed that both the

_ Liberals and Reform party were out to
change labour laws and get rid of anti-
scab laws and make it tough to orga-
nize.”

During the campaign the Liberals
said they would make changes to the
Labour Code without public consulta-
tion. Information obtained by the
Yukon Territories Building and Trade
Council, showed that the Liberals al-
ready had new labour legislation
drawn up before the election.

“We have to be pleased with the
NDP victory and hopefully the govern-
ment will earn the full support of our
membership during this term,” adds
Brother Stoney.

The NDP fought the election on the

side of working class famillies, stress-
ing a fair taxation policy and the pro-
tection of medicare and education.

Clark also campaigned on the fact
that B.C. has the lowest per capita
debt of any province in the country
and that it has no operating defecit.
He also pointed out that the province
has a proper debt management plan to
build new hospitals and infrastruc-
ture.

The NDP leader pointed out to Gor-
don Campbell’s vow to cut the provin-
cial budget which would induce a re-
cession and cause massive
unemployment while giving tax
breaks to banks and developers by
cutting the corporate capital tax and
school property taxes.

The Liberal opposition was also at-
tacked by the NDP for supporting two-
tiered U.S. style medicare which
caused Campbell to react, coming out
part way through the campaign with
plans to increase funding in the sector.

Campbell also made a major gaffe
when his election platform said it
would increase funding for education
and did not include any budgeting ap-
propriations for growth in post sec-
ondary education.

During the campaign, Clark vowed
to tie the province’s minimum wage to
the increases in inflation. That posi-
tion gained praise from anti-poverty
groups but was slammed by the Liber-
als and the business community.

The NDP has steadily increased the’

minimum wage since 1991 to its pre-
sent day rate of $7.00/hr. which is the
highest in Canada. Campbell attacked
that wage as a “big problem” for the
province.

| Investing In Our Future. }

bs Tomor

¢ NDP Premier Glen Clark led the party to a historic second consecutive term
in government in part by pledging to protect social services and workers’ rights.

Campbell also said that he wanted
to give non-union employers more
“flexibility” over hours worked and
other provisions in the province’s Em-
ployment Standards Act.

The Reform Party was painted by
the NDP as an extreme right-wing par-
ty in support of privitized health care,
the elimination of the corporate capi-

tal taxes and attacks on trade unions.

Four days before the election, five
Reform Party candidates went public
in saying that they had been ap-
proached by Liberals in order to join
in a coalition. Similiarly, Socred
leader Larry Gillanders said he was
approached by the Liberals to give up
his seat.

*2/LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1996