LocAk 700 CAWADA 1s ON STRIKE ¢ LW.A. CANADA Local 700 members strike outside plant gates at ALCARB Industries. Second from right is Local 700 President Ron Diotte. Hamilton and District Labour Council pitch in to assist [.W.A. in strike against contracting out A 36 day strike by five I.W.A. CANA- DA Local 700 members gained the strong support of the Hamilton and District Labour Council (HDLC). On October 17, union members at the AL- CARB Resources processing plant in Hamilton went out on the line in op- position to the employer's attempts to effectively break the I.W.A. by con- tracting out work normally performed by bargaining unit members. That strike ended on November 22 with a collective agreement guaran- teeing no layoffs of bargaining unit members or subcontracting work. The agreement will see wage increases of 8% over five years. The company appeared steadfast in its attempts to change contracting out language in the collective agreement in order to allow it to farm out work to outside firms as it sees fit. At the heart of the strike was ALCARB’s de- mand to eliminate two positions of quality assurance inspectors, thereby doing away with two of the five I.W.A. jobs in the operation. The HDLC reacted in solidarity with LW.A. members as the strike was por- trayed as a similar battle to the recent strike against General Motors, when the giant corporation tried to out- source work normally done by mem- bers of the Canadian Auto Workers. “The union members at ALCARB make up a very small bargaining unit and the support of the Hamilton and District Labour Council made us even more determined to hold the line against this ruthless employer,” says Local 700 President Ron Diotte. “We are very thankful for the support shown by our Sisters and Brothers in the labour movement.” The union received support from HDLC affiliates including the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Lo- cal 241, the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Local 42 and the United Steelworkers of America Local 1005. The plant is situated in an indus- trial park near the dividing line be- tween Hamilton and Burlington. HDLC members bolstered the LW.A.’s picket line and gave both moral and financial support to work- ers. Normally the labour council doesn’t get involved in a strike until at least six weeks after it starts, but the ALCARB strike captured the strength of union solidarity after its second week. The plant processes raw carbon material from the non-union Dofasco steel mill in Hamilton. Brother Diotte says that more pressure could have been put on ALCARB if Dofasco is a union operation. “The company said that it wanted to contract out work and not cause ‘per- manent layoffs,’” says Diotte. “That would leave too much uncertainty. Some of our members would then not be working a full work week and would be laid-off 2-3 days a week, which is completely unacceptable.” The collective agreement is not rich by any standard. The lowest wage in the plant is only $8.73/hr. for a pel- letizer operator while the top quality assurance job pays $10.76/hr. A regu- lar work week is 42-1/2 hrs. and the employer currently has a great deal of flexibility in scheduling the shifts. The plant operates 24 hours a day, five days a week. Workers have to slug 55 Ib. bags of carbon by-products during their shifts. Brother Diotte says the company has been anti-union all along, since it was first organized in June of 1992 by then Local 700 President Tony Jannuc- cl. Diotte says that during parts of the strike, a manager and supervisor were operating behind the picket lines and that trucks went in and out of the plant. In Ontario there are no anti-scab = laws as they were eliminated by the anti-union Conservative government of Mike Harris. “At the time we didn’t think the company would actually try to scab out the operation,” says Diotte. “But we had no doubt that the Harris gov- ernment, through the Ontario Labour Relations Board, could have made that possible.” Diotte sits on the union negotiating committee with plant chairman Jason Woodhouse and committee member Stan McLean. The I.W.A.’s opening contract demands included a $1.50/hr. across-the-board increase, a $10 in- crease in the annual work boot al- lowance and revised contract lan- guage on vacations. In addition to contracting out work, the company first offered only a 4% wage increase over four years, an ex- tension of the probationary period from 10 to 12 weeks, the elimination of a ten minute wash-up period and an extension of the regular work week to 44 hours. The union beat back any of those attempts for concessions. A mediator appointed to help solve the dispute was unsuccessful before the workers went on strike. “Our members are hard workers who deserved better treatment,” adds Brother Diotte. “They do their work and they go home with few com- plaints. Why ALCARB acted like it did makes us believe that they were sim- ply trying to smash the union.” a fie ne [es © Outside the Weldwood operation in Williams Lake with I.W.A. flag are union member Bill Derbyshire and production manager Rob Bickford. Local 1-425 raises first flag The following article, which ap- peared in the October-November is- sue of The Burner, is reprinted with the permission of Williams Lake Lo- cal 1-425. BY ERNIE ENGEMOEN “Hey, take a picture of the new, LW.A. flag at Weldwood for The Burn- er,” yelled Local 1-425 Financial Sec- retary Wade Fisher. “Good idea! Weldwood is proud of their LW.A. workers and we’re happy to be there,” seconded 1-425 President Brian Symmes. “How hard could it be?” thought I. Go out with one of the executives and round up a worker. Find a mill manager type. Click a cou- ple of pictures. Piece of cake! Well, when the executive member in ques- tion is the overly-busy Brother Terry Tate, things get out of hand. And get out of hand, they did! Tate had arranged for Brother Pearson Arm- strong to meet him at the Weldwood flag pole. Pearson showed up and waited, and waited, and waited. No 20/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1996 H 5 B iB 5 2 2 2 Tate! Our Second Vice-President Chairman of Public Relations for the Cariboo Communities Coalition had been called out for a meeting. After which he became distracted by some other earth-shattering issue of the day. The ever-busy Tate forgot the flag, forgot the waiting photogra- pher and forgot Brother Armstrong! With much apologizing, Tate re- scheduled the photo shoot for the next day. Now Brother Pearson had burned once’ and was wary. He wisely declined to stand around being ig- nored for a second day. No big prob- lem. We'll pose a Weldwood execu- tive, Tate and the first warm body that walks by. And out to the mill we drove. Lo and behold! The glorious green and yellow of the IWA flag had been replaced with the red and white flag of the folks from the Land of the Ris- ing Sun! Not only that, but a contin- gent of visiting Japanese dignitaries were due to arrive any minute and we couldn’t take down their flag. At least not without risking great insult and possibly an international incident. Or worse yet. We could’ve ended up get- ting Brother Tate Kung Fu-ed in a spot where the sun don’t shine. Arrgh! Back to town without the picture. Next day, photographer gives up on the much-too-busy Tate. Grabs tried and true Brother Bill Derbyshire from the office. “Derby” reluctantly agrees to attend the photo opportunity under threat of embarrassment in The Burn- er. You see, by now we were well-past deadline and the photographer/copy editor was getting desperate. Threats had to be used when begging failed. Pulling into Weldwood’s yard, we saw it. A bright yellow and green pennant with the I.W.A. logo and name proudly flying in the wind. Brother Derbyshire lowered the flag. Weldwood’s produc- tion manager, R.A. (Rob) Bickford, R.P.F. came out and shared in the pic- ture taking. “The other managers and myself thought it was a good idea. Weldwood and the I.W.A. labour work well to- gether, why not fly their flag?” said Rob Bickford. The whole affair kinda brought a tear to my eye. Or was that just caused by standing in the rain, wondering what had happened to Ter- ry Tate? United of the Lower Mainland The way to help the most.