EDITORIAL

New ‘social contract’
needed in B.C. woods

hen British Columbia Premier Glen

Clark spoke about creating new

jobs in the forest industry at the

I.W.A.’s National Convention in ear-

ly November (see story page

eleven), he said some very unique

The Premier said over the next

five years, the government will be working with indus-
try, labour and others to create 21,000 new jobs by the
year 2000. That is an ambitious task the NDP is trying to
pull off with its new “Jobs and Timber Accord.”

Most importantly, the Premier said the government
will throw all of its resources behind the accord. Clark
added every move will be made within the government’s
policy making apparatus and that every possible initia-
tive will be taken “with every fibre of our being” to
make it all happen.

The major vehicle to make this happen is the multi-
stakeholder Forest Sector Strategy Committee - the
same committee that brought us Forest Renewal B.C.

Clark said to I.W.A. delegates that government sets
targets for how many trees are to be cut each year and
how much park land the province is going to create - so
why not set some targets for job creation?

Said Clark: “It’s about time we started setting targets
for jobs, to say to forest companies that if you want ac-
cess the trees that the people of British Columbia own,
then you have an obligation to meet these jobs targets
as well.”

The Premier spoke of creating a new “Social Con-
tract” in the forest industry. In the future, he said, gov-
ernment may evaluate the selling of public timber based
on the number of decent paying jobs that companies
can create, and not on the amount of revenue to govern-
ment.

Added the Premier: “So we need to start changing the
rules. The government has to be more socially responsi-
ble than they have been in the past. We have to start
putting strings attached to public timber, and we have

to make sure that we don’t have a bias in the system to-
wards more revenue, that’s as a short-run bias, but a
bias that generates more jobs so people can pay more
taxes, so that you can work and your families can sup-
port each other and communities are healthy, and gov-
ernment will get more money in the long run in any
event.”

No doubt, those are words that industry does not
want to hear. Job creation is exactly what forest compa-
nies are not all about. They are into eliminating jobs
when given a free hand.

However when they are attacked by preservationists
or have cut reductions foisted upon them by govern-
ment policies, they are the first to scream about jobs
and communities.

As unionists we know that pressure has to be put on
employers to create new value added products in new
markets and get more jobs out of less wood.

At the Forest Sector Strategy Committee's Jobs and
‘Timber Accord sub-committee, the I.W.A. will be talking
about future employment options to create those 21,000
jobs.

Glen Clark and the New Democrats are right when
they say that a new “Social Contract” is needed in the
forest industry. That must be made in the context of the
1990's and the next century. The public must get more
value from the timber that it owns and the only way to
do that is to look hard for profitable strategies that cre-
ate new jobs (in harvesting, reforestation, silviculture,
and manufacturing).

At the end of the day, said Clark, the way we're going
to solve problems, is with more jobs. We agree.

LUINBERWORKER

Official publication of I.W.A. CANADA

MAN GERRY STONEY . President
NORMAN GARCIA NEIL MENARD . . Ist Vice-President
Editor FRED MIRON ... 2nd Vice-President
WARREN ULLEY  . 3rd Vice-President,
5th Floor, HARVEY ARCAND .. 4th Vice-President

1285 W. Pender Street ‘TERRY SMITH . . Secretary-Treasurer

Vancouver, B.C.
V6E 4B2

BROADWAY 4 PRINTERS LTD.

CREATION
RECORD IS

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OIRIGE 16

Federal Liberals embrace ‘free trade’ philosophy as
they sign bilateral accord with Chilean government

Recent polls indicate that
the federal Liberal Party has
almost 50% of popular sup-
port in Canada. So when
Canadian Prime Minister Jean
Chretien and Chilean Presi-
dent Eduardo Frei signed a
“negotiators text” of a bilater-
al free trade agreement on
November 18, there was little
attention paid.

In 1988 the Liberals were
staunch opponents of free
trade agreements under then
leader John Turner. Then,
during the 1993 federal elec-
tion, Jean Chretien said he
would renegotiate the upcom-
ing North American Free
Trade agreement between
Canada, the United States and
Mexico, if there were not
agreements on what actually
constitutes subsidies and the
definition of dumping rules.
There weren’t any changes
and Chretien did nothing to
renegotiate the agreement.

Canada is now the western
hemisphere’s leading propo-
nent of “free trade” and the
federal Liberals have recently
embraced Chile as a potential
new partner in the NAFTA.

A month prior to the sign-
ing of the agreement, Canadi-
an Trade Minister Art Eggel-
ton boasted that: “We don’t
need the U.S. to pursue an op-
portunity to phase out tariffs
with a country. We’re just do-
ing what’s in our best inter-
ests and will let the Ameri-
cans join in when they can.”

Prime Minister Chretien
sees himself as the new mes-
siah of free trade as U.S. Pres-
ident Bill Clinton had not re-
ceived authority to negotiate
such an agreement prior to
the U.S. presidential election
on November 8. Congress re-
voked “fast-track” negotiating
privileges from the President.

Chretien says that Canada
“will keep pushing the U.S.”
to accept Chile as a new NAF-
TA partner.

The Prime Minister gloated
at the November 18 signing
ceremony.

“The fact that we may be in
a more advantageous position
than the U.S. means of course

that we'll take advantage of
it,” said Chretien.

Two way trade in 1995 be-
tween. Canada_and Chile
amounted to over $650 mil-
lion. The vast majority of that
has come in the mining (as
they divest in Canada, Canadi-
an mining companies have in-
vested or will invest over $7
billion in Chile by the end of
this year) and pulp and paper
sectors in which Canadian
multinationals can operate in
Chile under conditions where
they can exploit Chilean
workers in direct competition
with Canadian workers.

Perhaps that is what Chre-
tien considers an “advanta-
geous position.” Weak and
non-enforced labour and envi-
ronmental standards ensure
that multinationals will enjoy
cost competitive advantages

Prime Minister
Jean Chretien
now considers

himself
the messiah
of Free Trade

in a country where a ruthless
military leader, operating on
behalf of a class of conserva-
tive business elites, has ap-
pointed a Senate that can veto
decisions by an elected Presi-
dent.

From 1978 to 1990, General
Augusto Pinochet ruled Chile
in a reign of terror following
the overthrow of a democrati-
cally elected government of
socialist leader Salvador Al-
lende. During his 17 year
reign, Pinochet tortured, mur-
dered and exiled thousands of
trade unionists, members of
opposition and other innocent
Chileans. He brutally put
down strikes and suspended
the rights of unions. Rem-
nants of Pinochet's rule over
labour dominate the scene to-

day.

The Christian Democrat
party of Eduardo Frei rules
on behalf of a right wing busi-
ness elite that has pushed for
the trade agreement with
Canada. According to a recent
report from the United Na-
tions Economic Council for
Latin America, little progress
has been made in eliminating
poverty in Chile since the “re-
turn of democracy” to the
country in 1990.

For Chilean Forest workers
the average wage, for a 50
hour work week, is a mere
$176.00 U.S. per month! Many
Chileans are forced to work
up to 65 hours a week or
more, just to make ends meet.
Legally, workers have to put
in over 214 hours per month
to achieve overtime rates of
pay. And then the law is not
enforced.

Only about 10,000 of the
120,000 forest workers in the
country are unionized, mostly
in the manufacturing sector.

The main union for Chilean
forest workers, the National
Confederation of Forest
Workers, exists under repres-
sive conditions. The union is
hampered from organizing by
anti-worker laws and is un-
able to achieve free collective
bargaining. Although Chilean
Jaws say a union can organize
an enterprise with 25 or more
workers, workers are routine-
ly fired without protection
when they try to promote or
join unions.

Working conditions, espe-
cially in logging operations,
are primitive by comparison
to Canadian standards. Log-
gers in the south of the coun-
try live in dwellings made of
brush and work without pro-
tective equipment, as in other
parts of Chile.

Through the Canadian
Labour Congress the I.W.A.
has brought the conditions of
Chilean forest workers to the
attention of Canadian govern-
ment. The union has protest-
ed against low sanitary condi-
tions that workers must work
in and the lack of safety and
benefit programs afforded to
Chilean workers.

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER 1996/5