At the Evans mill in Golden, B.C. Local 1-405 member Al Newell marks up a load of fir plywood. Plant closed on Oct. 16. Union calls for government assistance in saving jobs at Evans Plywood plant A crisis in a B.C. Interior milltown has the I.W.A. calling for assistance from the provincial government, after the Evans Forest Products plywood mill shut down indefinately on Octo- ber 16. At stake are 250 jobs in the for- est dependent community of Golden. The union is calling for government intervention to take whatever steps are necessary to help save the opera- tion. Logging contractors are out mil- lions of dollars as Evans has been un- able to pay them for several months. The company is claiming that log costs are too high. Now the govern- ment is reviewing the factors behind stumpage assessment. Although the government has made some last minute efforts to assist with the situa- tion, partly by allowing Evans to defer stumpage payments, the company is still unable to pay its contractors. Local 1-405 President Bob Matters says that the community can not af- ford to lose any more jobs and that top government officials and bureau- crats must pull out all the stops to save the mill. Early this year, another Evans mill in the nearby community of Donald closed down, laying off the last of 160 L.W.A. employees. That dimension mill first laid off an entire shift in June of last year, and operated on one shift until February of this year when it went down for good. Timber supply problems caused the Donald closure as two independent studies indicated that there was not enough timber in the region to oper- ate Evans’ three mills in Malakwa (about 200 km. east of Golden), the Donald mill and the plywood opera- tion in Golden. There is not enough cedar to feed both the Malakwa and Donald opera- tions, and even though the Donald mill cuts both cedar and whitewood species. The situation at the Golden ply- wood mill is different, however, as there is enough wood to feed it. Fi- nancial and regulatory pressures have made it difficult for the mill to contin- ue. “This is no longer an issue of whether or not Evans is a sound com- pany,” says Brother Matters. “With the closure of the Donald sawmill in Feb- ruary and now the plywood plant, the community is losing over 400 union jobs and about 200 logging contrac- tors. “We are seeing the slow, painful death of a typical B.C. community, built and sustained by the resource in- dustry, and it is simply not acceptable for this to occur,” adds Matters. On October 21, I.W.A. CANADA Na- tional President called on the B.C. government to take steps to avert an economic crisis in Golden. “This situation is incredibly frustrat- ing and completely unacceptable,” said Stoney. “The mill in Golden is ef- ficient, makes a variety of products that have a positive future, and is situ- ated in an area where the forest re- source can easily support that kind of production. However, all of this will have little meaning if we can’t find a sensible resolution to the current clo- sure very quickly.” Brother Stoney said that “we are looking to the provincial government to get things back on track.” “We think the economic conse- quences of the crisis in Golden will only exaggerate the already tough sit- uation that is occuring in other areas of the province. We are seeing reduc- tions in peoples’ workyears and the loss of good paying jobs,” said Stoney. “This situation in Golden is avoidable in our view, but only if the senior lev- els of government are prepared to work quickly on this problem.” In early October the government of- fered the company a $7 million loan to help finance the addition of an LVL production facility in the operation. That loan was contingent on the com- pany’s continued operation of the ply- wood plant. Pacific Forest Products joins MB in deaccreditation from FIR by Scott Lunny National Representative On October 25, 1996, .W.A. CANA- DA Local Unions 1-80 and 1-85 re- ceived official notification that the ap- plication by Pacific Forest Products Limited (PFP) to deaccredit from For- est Industrial Relations Limited (FIR) was granted by the B.C. Labour Rela- tions Board. PEP is following the lead of MacMil- lan Bloedel by breaking ranks with the rest of the industry and getting out of association bargaining. MB's appli- cation for deaccreditation was grant- ed by the LRB in August of this year. Bill Routley, President of Local 1-80 was not surprised by the move. “They (Pacific) have tried this before and we heard the rumours they would try again,” he said. In 1994, PFP also made an application to deaccredit, but withdrew it due to opposition from the LW.A. “Quite frankly, Pacific is one of the worst companies our Local Union has to deal with and its typical that they would do this kind of thing.” Like MB, the company is trying to downplay the significance of the move, hiding behind a new “associate member status” in FIR. A letter writ- ten by one PFP manager reads: “Pacif- ie Forest has decided to renew its commitment to Industry Bargaining.” But those comments do not sit well with Local 1-85 President Dave Hag- gard. “Reading that kind of B.S. makes me really mad,” fumed Brother Hag- gard. “By deaccrediting, both MB and Pacific are cancelling their legal oblig- ations to abide by decisions of FIR-that’s some commitment.” “They simply don’t have the guts to admit what they are really trying to do,” he added. “We all know they want a cheaper deal and they think taking the I.W.A. on operation-by-op- eration is the way to get it.” The Pacific Forest Products appli- cation came on the last day before the cut-off. In BC, companies can only withdraw from an accredited employ- ers’ association if they apply more than nine months before the expiry of the collective agreement. I.W.A. CANADA President Gerry Stoney says that PFPs decision to deaccredit is a disappointment, espe- cially after all the work the Provincial Negotiating Committee put into get- ting a protocol agreement with FIR earlier this year. The protocol for 1997 negotiations, which covers all I.W.A.-certified oper- ations of companies “accredited” to FIR, prevents selective strikes or lock- outs while providing a mechanism to deal with local issues. “We put our best foot forward to get a protocol agreement in hopes that the rest of the companies would stay in FIR,” added Stoney. “Pacific was part of those negotiations, but I guess they were not satisfied.” No other companies have made ap- plication to deaccredit, but with both MB and Pacific maintaining they have “associate member status” in FIR, the e Left to right are rigging slinger Tod Croteau and chokerman Dan Herlihy, Lo- cal 1-80 members at Pacific Forest Products Mesachee Lake Division. make-up of negotiations in 1997 will definitely be different than in the past. “We've taken action to counter MB's move and now we have to de- cide how to deal with Pacific, but that doesn’t change our position,” said Brother Stoney. “If a company is not accredited to FIR, they will not be at the main bar- gaining table-the .W.A. will not allow it. The sooner these companies realize that, the better. “Associate member or not, no com- pany will get a cheaper deal than the rest of the industry in 1997 negotia- tions,” added Stoney. In response to MB’s deaccredita- tion, I.W.A. CANADA Local Unions 1- 71, 1-80, 1-85, 217, 1-3567 and 363 formed a bargaining council and ap- plied to the Labour Relations Board for a province-wide certification cov- Continued on page fifteen SSS ee ee TT eT IT] LUMBERWORKER/NQVEMBER 1996/3