1W.A. CANADAL LWA. SUPPORTS THE WOODS ONTARIO NDP’S In an 14 month HOWIE HAMPTON period, three At the New Democrat leadership convention in June, union delegates turned out in full support of new Ontario leader. TRAGEDY IN 1.W.A. members lost their lives at MB’s Kelsey Bay Division, sparking a call for investigations into safety procedures. FEATURE PAGES 8-9, 14 PAGE 12 — = Ss —< ¢ I.W.A. members in MacMillan Bloedel mills and logging operations will be targets of the company’s attempts to get a cheaper deal in 1997. Pictured are Local 217 members pulling lumber off of green chain at MB Canadian White Division in Vancouver. Union moves to consolidate MacBlo Operations prior to °97 bargaining nm response to MacMillan Bloedel’s deaccreditation from Forest Industrial Relations (FIR), the bargaining agent for forest industry companies on the B.C. coast, the I.W.A. has made its latest move to bring together all of its coastal MacMillan Bloedel operations before the onset of negoti- ations in 1997. On August 28 the union applied to the Labour Relations Board of B.C. to consolodate all of MB oper- ations into a single bargaining unit which will be represented by a newly formed “Council of I.W.A. Locals.” If the LRB application is successful, MB will have to sit at the bargaining table across from the Council of I.W.A. Locals, which consists of Lo- cals 1-71, 1-80, 1-85, 217, 363 and 1- 3567. All of this is being done to ensure that MB is not successful in its at- tempts to take on each I.W.A. opera- tion individually in next year’s con- tracts talks. In June the LRB granted MB its wish to deaccredit from FIR and successfully get out of associa- tion bargaining. All along it has been MB's intention to no Jonger be accredited and oblig- ated to decisions that are made by FIR in bargaining as an association. Before the deaccreditation, MB's 4,100 company and contractor em- ployees made up about 29% of the FIR membership. To justify its move away from asso- ciation ining, MB has made sev- eral weak arguments which the I.W.A. has countered. MB says it wants to improve the bargaining process but in reality it is looking to negotiate operation by op- eration in order that it can pit workers against each other as the company searches for a cheaper deal. The company claims that it needs this new form of decentralized “enter- prise bargaining” to deal more agres- sively with productivity and perfor- mance issues and increase account- ability on local issues in its sawmills and logging operations. The I.W.A. Continued on page two |.W.A. President decides not to seek re-election in fall On September 12, Gerry Stoney, Na- tional President of I.W.A. CANADA, announced that he has decided not to seek another term as President of the union. He will leave the post upon the installation of the national officers for the next term in January, 1997. Since he began working in the forest industry in 1959 at Canadian Forest Product’s Plywood and Hardboard Di- vision, the I.W.A. has been central to his working life. He became a shop steward in the early 1960s, then local safety director, plant chair and eventu- ally served 11 years as president of the 6,000 member New Westminster Local. In 1982 he was appointed Secretary- Treasurer of the then-Western Canadi- an Regional Council No. 1 and in 1988 elected National First-Vice President of the Union. Brother Stoney became National President in 1992 and was re-elected twice to that position. During his career with the I.W.A. he has also served in many other leading roles in the labour movement. He was president of the New Westminster and District Labour Council for 17 years and an Executive Officer and Execu- tive Council member of the B.C. Fed- eration of Labour for many years. He has been an Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress since 1992. He also served as Presi- dent of the B.C. New Democratic Par- ty from 1982 to 1988. “My decision not to seek re-election will give my union’s membership time to participate in an open search for a new President,” Stoney said. “In addition, over the past few years Ihave dealt with serious health prob- lems. These difficult challenges have increased my inclination to retire and spend more time with my wife Carol, my daughter Shelley, son Rick and my three grandchildren. “I take pride in the accomplish- ments of I.W.A. CANADA during my tenure, not the least of which was contributing significantly to the elec- tion in 1991 and re-election in 1996 of the New Democratic Party govern- ment in B.C. “I.W.A. CANADA is a wonderful or- ganization, with a proud history of fighting for the rights of workers in the forest industry, and it has a great future. It has been an honour for me to serve it at all levels, throughout my working life.” Repressive labour laws proposed in Manitoba One of the Canada’s largest labour law battles is now occurring in the province of Manitoba where the Con- servative government of Gary Filmon is taking action to radically weaken trade unions. On May 21 of this year the government introduced Bill 26 (The Labour Relations Amendment Act) which proposes to make life for unions a whole lot tougher. “If Ralph Klein’s Alberta can be called ‘Alabama North’ then our province wants to become ‘Louisiana North,” says I.W.A. CANADA Local 324 President Jim Anderson. “The labour law changes that the Filmon government is proposing are designed ie weaken all trade unions in Manito- a. When the provincial government legislature reconvenes early this month it will be trying to push through new laws which will disrupt internal union affairs and weaken the rights of unions to democratically set. their own policies. Among the changes advocated by Tory Labour Minister Vic Toews are the following. Certification procedures — Cur- rently there is automatic certification if 65% of workers sign a union check- off form. The government wants to take that away and pave the way for employer interference and intimida- tion by introducing a waiting period after certification application and a secret ballot. Final vote offer - The government wants to give itself and employers the right to force votes on contract pro- posals, thereby undermining a union negotiating committee’s ability to plan strategies. This will be an end-run around the union’s elected representa- tives. : Discipline for strike infractions — Under the proposed changes, em- ployers would have the right to fire union workers for legal infractions on the picket line. This form of subtle in- timidation will help keep workers away from picket duty. Workers can already be disciplined by labour courts for violations of existing laws. Political donations — The govern- ment plans to undercut the unions’ abilities to be politically active by lim- iting their democratic rights to fund political parties. Proposed are new laws which require unions to consult with each and every worker and pro- vide each individual with the opportu- nity to opt out of having dues money used for political action. If the unions don’t comply they will lose the ability to collect any dues from workers. Disclosure of union finances — The government also plans to force unions to disclose their internal finan- cial matters on a regular basis and put these records on file at the Labour Re- lations Board. Although the Conserva- tives are saying this will provide infor- mation for individual members, that data will be more likely used by the government and employers to detect the financial status of unions. Continued on page two