HELI-LOGGING TRAINING LIFTS OFF WITH FRBC FUNDING AND SUPPORT One of the positive’ things that Forest Re- newal B.C. is doing is helping to prepare con- ventional loggers for a future in heli-logging. PAGE 11 e NEW NATIONAL PRESIDENT DAVE HAGGARD ceft) accepted the gavel from outgoing president Gerry Stoney at union's National Executive Board meeting on January 30, becoming the seventh leader in the history of the I.W.A. in Canada. Haggard takes over as National President following decisive victory in union vote he I.W.A. has a new leader at the helm. On January 30 Brother Dave Haggard was installed as president of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada at a meeting of the union’s National Executive Board. Haggard became the seventh I.W.A. leader in Canada, following a two month election campaign. He was nominated for the presidency at the union’s Tenth Constitutional Conven- tion which was held in Vancouver in early November of last year. After all the ballots from 21 I.W.A. locals were added up, the union’s Na- tional Tabulating Committee indicat- ed that Brother Haggard, now a for- mer president of Port Alberni Local 1-85 won the national presidency with 16,209 votes versus 8,654 votes cast for B.C. Loggers’ Local 1-71 President Darrel Wong. In the only other contested election for a position of national officer, for- mer New Westminster, B.C. Local 1- 3567 President Dave Tones won the national third vice presidency of the union, defeating incumbent National Third Vice President Warren Ulley. Brother Tones received 13,500 votes versus the 10,717 votes cast for Broth- er Ulley. All national officers, including First Vice President Neil Menard, Second Vice President Fred Miron, Fourth Vice President Harvey Arcand and Secretary Treasurer Terry Smith, were sworn into office by outgoing National President Gerry Stoney on January 30 (see photo page two). Brother Stoney stepped down as president and is now working as Com- missioner with the Royal Commission on the Workers Compensation Board in British Columbia. Brother Haggard won a clear and convincing victory with majority sup- port in 13 of 21 local unions. He en- joys major support from local 1-424 in Northern B.C. where he received 2,949 votes and in Local 1-8567 where he received 2,855 votes. Other strong areas of support included Haggard’s home Local 1-85 in Port Alberni, Dun- can Local 1-80, and Locals 1000 and 1- 2995 in Ontario. Haggard conducted his first Nation- al Executive Board meeting on Janu- ary 30 and 31 after Brother Stoney passed him the president’s gavel. “I want to thank all of the local union officers, committee members and I.W.A. members across Canada who supported me during the elec- tion,” said Brother Hi in an in- terview with the Lumberworker. “1 also want to congratulate Brother Wong for a hard-fought campaign in which all parties stuck to the issues.” Haggard said that he looks forward to working with all I.W.A. locals in building a stronger more unified na- tional union. (See feature interview page 10). Born in Barriere B.C., Haggard moved to Vancouver Island and got a job at MacMillan Bloedel’s Franklin River. In 1975 he became chairman in what was then a camp of 900 workers. By 1985, he became chairman at Franklin River and joined the local ex- ecutive board in the same year. In 1991 Haggard, a welder by trade, succeeded long-time Local 1-85 Presi- dent Earl Foxcroft and became an member of the I.W.A. CANADA Na- tional Executive Board. He is 46 years old, is married, and is the father of an 18 year old son and a 18 year old daughter. Brother Haggard is a strong sup- porter of the NDP and vows to main- tain the tradition of working within the party to make it stronger. “It is still the only party that sup- ports working people,” he said. “Al- though we can get frustrated as hell with them at times, the NDP is the only party that has cared about our union, the trade union movement and working people in general.” One of the areas he is working on is Continued on page two Demands set for contract talks in B.C. The resolutions are passed for the union’s priorities.in this year’s master agreement bargaining talks with the forest industry in British Columbia. On February 27 and 28, the union held its provincial wage and contract con- ference in Vancouver to finalize the demands that will be presented to in- dustry in order to get a renewed and improved collective agreement. The I.W.A. Provincial Negotiating Committee and over 100 I.W.A. CANA- DA delegates from eleven local unions discussed, debated, and passed a list of demands that will be presented to Forest Industrial Relations on May 5. The 1997 set of negotiations in the solid wood sector will likely prove to be a tough one and there’s a new union leader at the helm. Former Port Alberni Local 1-85 president and now I.W.A. National President Dave Hag- gard is the chairman of the Provincial Negotiating Committee which is charged with delivering the member- ship's demands to employers and get- ting the best collective agreement possible. The I.W.A. traditionally has targeted FIR, the employer association on the B.C. Coast in order to achieve a pat- tern agreement which is then replicat- ed, in large part, in the province’s northern and southern interior re- gions. In the north the union bargains with the Council of Northern Interior For- est Employment Relations while the Interior Forest Labour Relations Asso- ciation conducts master agreement bargaining in the south. The FIR side of the bargaining table will be a lot smaller this year as MacMillan Bloedel decided last Au- gust to deaccredit from the employer association. The giant forest company intends to split up its 12 manufactur- ing plants and 6 logging operations into individual units and bargain them separately. The I.W.A. has resisted this move and has formed the Council of I.W.A. Locals, consisting of the six coast lo- cal unions, to bargain with MacMillan Bloedel as one unit. Currently the union and company are fighting it out at the Labour Relations Board (see story page 20). Brother Haggard told the delegates that MacMillan Bloedel hasn’t got the intelligence to sit down with workers and put together programs to solve in- dustry problems and that it has picked a fight with the 1.W.A. that is unneces- sary. He acknowledged that the industry is crying foul against the NDP govern- ment and is asking for handouts on an increasing basis. The industry claims its logging and forestry related costs are too high. “I don’t think that’s our problem,” he said. “We are prepared to sit down Continued on page two ASS SSS SSS SS ED