e At conference were (r. to 1.) National President

417 President Kevin Kelly and pension consultant Joan Vernon.

Union holds first-ever National
Officers and Staff conference

On September 8 and 9, 120 union
representatives from across Canada
gathered at the first-ever I.W.A.
CANADA Officers and Staff Confer-
ence. It was held at the Delta Rich-
mond Hotel in Richmond.

National President Gerry Stoney

greeted the delegates and said that the
conference was to be used as a com-
Iunication vehicle and meeting place

for officers and staff from various lo-
cals. He encouraged the participants
to become familiar with issues in oth-
er local unions and make contacts for
future reference.

Brother Stoney said that, possibly
in the future, there would be other

such conferences if the demand will
be there and that delegates should
send their opinions about the format.
to the national office.

The opening speaker was National
Research Director Doug Smyth who
gave delegates on overview of lumber
markets in the United States and
looming timber supply problems in
that country and their effect on mar-
ket conditions (see article page eight).

Smyth also spoke on the Canada-
U.S. Lumber trade agreement and said
that it would have no impact on the
US. market in 1996.

The following speaker was Ken
Georgetti, President of the B.C. Feder-

ADelia Pacific

| Resort & Conference Contre ay

Gerry Stoney, First V.P. Neil Menard, Second V.P. Fred Miron, Local 1-

ation of Labour, who greeted dele-
gates on behalf of the provincial
labour movement. Georgetti spoke
about the relationship of the labour
movement and the New Democratic
Party and stressed the need for unions
to work constructively within the par-
ty and not against it, even when it
makes mistakes. He made it clear that
there are no other political alterna-
tives for working people.

Brother Georgetti said that in the

May 1996 B.C. election, 83% of the
labour movement’s membership voted
NDP. He also reminded the delegates
that, during its 1991-96 term of gov-
ernment, the NDP introduced progres-

sive labour laws which included anti-
scab legislation and automatic certifi-
cation procedures. The NDP also ex-
tended workers compensation laws to
farm workers for the first time and
new protection for domestic workers
which didn’t exist before.

Other guest speakers included
Leslie Turnbull of Viewpoints Re-
search who spoke about the results of
an B.C. Federation of Labour/I.W.A.
CANADA poll conducted before the
provincial election.

Ms. Turnbull spoke about the use of
polling in detecting how union mem-
bers perceive their union on various
issues. A poll of 500 randomly select-
ed members was conducted (see story
by Kim Pollock page seven).

Also addressing the conference was
B.C. Fed Communications Director
Bill Tieleman who told delegates that
unions should develop communica-
tions strategies for union members,
potential members and for the general
public at the local, provincial and na-
tional levels.

He also addressed the importance
of communication with the media,
government, and employers. Tieleman
then spoke about the emergence of
the internet as a communications de-
vice which is cost effective and be-
coming used by increasing numbers
of union members.

There was a presentation on the
duty to accommodate injured work-
ers, conducted by First National Vice
President Neil Menard and Fourth Na-
tional Vice President Harvey Arcand.
A special presentation was given by
Stan Lanyon, ex-chairman of the B.C.
Labour Relations Board. (see story be-
low).

On the second day of the confer-
ence delegates were given an
overview of the history of the I.W.A.
Officer/Staff pension plan by pension
consultant Joan Vernon.

The topics spoken about included
membership and vesting in the plan,
death benefit coverage, retirement
qualification criteria, and benefit levels.

Ms. Vernon said that there are cur-
rently 104 active members in the plan,
as of the end of 1995. She also said
there is a current solvency deficiency
of about $207,000 which must be paid
to keep the plan fully solvent in accor-
dance with government regulations.
About $186,000 is paid into the plan
every year by I.W.A. members.

Importance of return to work
policy stressed at conference

One of the most important topics
for discussion in union circles in re-
cent times came up again at the Na-
tional I.W.A. Officers and Staff Con-
ference in early September. It is the
fact that unions and employers have a
duty to accommodate disabled work-
ers back into becoming productive
members of the workforce.

Things are changing fast and unions
have to get with it. That’s why the
LW.A. is gearing up to adopt a nation-
al return to work policy which will be
introduced at the upcoming Annual
Convention in Vancouver in early No-
vember.

At the Officers and Staff Confer-
ence I.W.A. CANADA National First
Vice President Neil Menard, National
Fourth Vice President Harvey Arcand
and Stan Lanyon, ex-Chairman of the
B.C. Labour Relations Board, spoke
on different concerns related to the
reintegration of disabled workers and
the duty to accommodate.

“The bottom line really is that it
(the duty to accommodate) is a health
and safety issue,” said Brother
Menard. “We should be doing every-
thing in our power to see that workers
who need to be accommodated are’
taken into consideration.”

He mentioned that most of the
workers who are injured are those
that have been around the industry for
several years and do hold seniority.

“Seniority... guess that is the word

makes us the most nervous,” said
Menard. “And sometimes we’re pretty
greedy about protecting seniority and
Trespect that.”

“This (the duty to accommodate) is
one particular program where we
need some common sense where we
make sure that we put together realis-
tic programs that work.”

Menard said that the I.W.A. is ina
process of looking at the duty to ac-
commodate programs that are out
there and coming up with a unified
national policy. He acknowledged that
the union has experienced problems
in the past where programs have
“plown apart” when senior workers
have bumped disabled workers.

Brother Menard reminded the dele-
gates that the duty to accommodate
can not create “undue hardship” for
existing members in an operation but
that injured workers, whether their in-
juries be related to the job or not,
have special priority over other unin-
jured workers.

He then mentioned the day-long
seminar at this year’s National Safety
Conference held in Saskatoon and the
key role that it has helped in assisting
the union in its process of developing
a workable policy on the issue.

Harvey Arcand said that, as a result
of the workshops at the Saskatoon
conference, it became evident to
everybody that the negotiation of re-
turn-to-work programs and the duty

ean Officers and Staff Conference was attended by 120 unionists from across
anada.

to accommodate are linked closely to-
gether.

“You can’t ignore one and do the
other,” said Arcand. He then said the
whole area of reintegration programs
can become a “minefield.”

“When the union’s (legal) liabilities
extend to (how) we can not formulate
discriminatory work procedures, even
by accident, and we can’t interfere
with an employer that initiates a pro-
gram, that is a minefield of propor-
tions that is impossible to contem-
plate,” he said.

Brother Arcand said that, since

1991, there have been serious courses

of action taking place in the court sys-

tem and that the fragmented I.W.A.

policies that exist in local unions are

not unified enough to deal with the

new realities of the duty to accommo-
late.

“Up until the National Safety Con-
ference I didn’t think that there was
anybody in the I.W.A., with the possi-
ble exception of the occasional per-
son around, that had any idea of what
the union was doing generally in this
regard,” he remarked.

Continued on page seven

TY
6/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1996