“Smee

e At the official opening of the Learning Centre were (I. to r.) then Local 1-3567 President Dave Tones (now National

Third V.P.), plant chairman Peter Hayes, first-aid attendant Cam Watson, an instructor from the Open Learning Insti-

tute, and Business Agent Lyle Olson.

Learning centre starts operations on
Canfor mill site in New Westminster

ILW.A. CANADA Local 1-3567 mem-
bers working at the Canadian Forest
Products Panel and Fibre plant in New
Westminster have been getting a leg up
on their Brothers and Sisters in other
plants since mid-November of last year
when a new Learning Centre opened
operations with an on-site facility.

An official opening ceremony, held

a week before Christmas gave the
Lumberworker a chance to check
things out and see how the whole pro-
gram was put together. Included in
those present were the sub-local com-
mittee, officers from Local 1-3567 and
then National Union President Gerry
Stoney (now retired).

Sub-local plant chairman Peter
Hayes said the learning centre actual-
ly sprung out of a grievance that hap-
pened a year and a half earlier when a
55 year old employee went for a post-
ed job but could not qualify for it be-
cause he lacked some math skills.

During the grievance procedure the
union and the company looked at
each other and realized that many
workers required some upgrading and
that an on-site learning centre would
be a good way of achieving that.

After many more meetings and
planning sessions, the new learning
centre began operations as a result of
cooperation between the company,
the union, the Open Learning Agency
of B.C., the Ministry of Labour, Skills,
Education and Training and Forest
Renewal B.C.

About $155,000 worth of funding for
computer hardware, software and
other equipment and renovations have
gone into the centre, mostly paid for
by FRBC funding through the min-
istry.

“On the union side we realize that
we have been in need of portable
skills that will lead to greater job se-
curity,” said Brother Hayes. “Our
members have asked for access to up-
grading educational skills which they
can also use to get into apprenticeship
programs.”

But the skills being taught are not
only related to needs on the job.

The union (with a committee of
Brother Hayes, Bernie Clement, Jerry
Wilkes and Ernie Boudreau) and the
company, jointly conducted a needs
analysis amongst the hourly and
salaried employees in the plant and
found out that most workers wanted
to receive some level of instruction on
computers.

A basic computer course and com-
puter application course were first of-
fered, and by late December over 40
of 101 LW.A. members either had tak-

en or were registered to take one or
more of the courses.

Brother Hayes said that it is impor-
tant that the skills learned be
portable. They can be used on and
off the job and can be part of a work-
er’s “portfolio” of skills should he/she
retire or go elsewhere for employ-
ment.

“There is going to be some job skills
training done here but that is not the
whole intent of the program,” added
Hayes.

Workers can study up on such top-
ics as personal accounting and retire-
ment planning. Average age in the op-
eration is 43, with a number of senior

employees nearly ready for or closing
in on retirement.

“We view this as an ongoing thing
and an opportunity for all employees
to, on their own initiative, take up-
grading and stay current,” said divi-
sional personnel manager Boyd Stin-
son. “People are willing to learn and
we're in a situation now, in the mar-
ketplace, where we (Canfor) have
people taking upgrading courses to
stay competitive as a company.”

Jim Marshall, Canfor’s divisional
manager, told a small crowd at the of-
ficial opening that “we have always
been committed to training.”

“The results of this training exer-

cise are going to see this division
through many future years,” he added.

He said: “I think that all the
ees that work here are [ete of
products and that the kind of things
that we want to continue to do here.

The plant produces a wide range of
value added products, from door pan-
el for automobiles to yellow cedar ce-
ment boards to agricultural products
to a wide array of decorative paneling.

Then local President (now National
Third Vice President) Dave Tones was
on hand to commend all of those who
worked hard on the partnership to
make the program a reality.

“That partnership is very crucial for
us to move into the future and into an
area which is very near and dear to
us...that’s jobs,” he said. “We want to
be part of future job growth at the
Canfor site, in terms of new ways to
create jobs and be competitive out
there in the value added sector.”

Jim Marshall told the Lumberwork-
er that Canfor intends to have better
skilled workers that are proficient in
computer use, mathematics, business
writing and reading.

He said that the workers share a lot
of information now between shifts
and in doing production reports.

The learning centre operates on an
instructional basis from noon to 6
p.m., four days:a week. Classes last
from 2 - 4 hours, before or after a
shift. However those workers who
want to use the computer equipment
can get in to use the facilities up until
midnight.

Local union Business Agent Lyle Ol-
son said that “I didn’t think we would
get this far” as the result of the griev-
ance in 1995.

“We would like to see this kind of
program in every operation in the fu-
ture,” he added.

Sub-local union committee member
Bernie Clement, said that upgrading
will help senior employees go for
posted jobs that require math and
computer skills.

“This is the first time I have been
happy, in a long time, about some-
thing the company has done for the

workers,” added Brother Clement.

° On the green-chain during the last day of production for the sawmill

der Dhillon, and Surinder Sandhu.

Tolko Cedar

Continued from page fifteen

satisfied to acquired a steady supply
of white wood in order to trade for
cedar on the open market.

The last day of production for the
sawmill portion of the plant was on
February 21. The planer was schedule
to run a further two shifts for two
weeks and then onto one shift until
the rough stock was used up.

Brother Parker points out that even
if timber was available under the
SBEP, it would be scattered all over
the province.

The mill needed 300,000 cubic me-
ters of cedar to operate shift year
round. It needed 200,000 cubic meters
which had to be sustained at a reason-
able price and could acquire the rest
on the open market.

Local union President Gary
Kobayashi says that a mill closure at
the Inlet cedar operation will cause a
serious ripple effect at other wood

products plants in the Lower Main-
land of the province.

Tolko supplied about 20% of the
cedar lumber that is consumed in the
remanufacturing sector.

“The mill closure will be felt in sev-
eral reman operations, including
those that employ some of our mem-
bers,” says Brother Kobayashi. “We
made it clear, to the government, that
a mill closure of this sort will cause
serious disruption to the economy.”

Kobayashi points out that other
sawmills are feeling the pinch of de-
clining timber supplies and a report
released by the government late last
year says that up to 4000 jobs in the
Vancouver Forest Region, which en-
compasses most of the coast from the
Queen Charlotte Islands to the Fraser
Valley, may be at risk if fears that the
annual allowable cut for the region
may come true.

The report, says that the combined
effects of the Forest Practices Code,
the Protected Areas Strategy and the
Timber Supply Review, may cause a

were (1. to r.) Harmit Sandhar, Bhagan Sall, Ravin-

loss of up to 2.8 million cubic meters
from the region.

Severance pay will be paid out to
employees after March 27. The com-
pany wants to sell off equipment
quickly to get maximum value from
it.

During the last months of operation
there was no significant maintenance
work carried out at the mill. It is esti-
mated that there would be about
$500,000 worth of work required to
get the mill running again.

Brother Noyes says the workers are
accessing FRBC funding under the
“7:20 rule.”

That's $7,000 in funding for tuition
fees and up to $20,000 in income as-
sistance which is now being adminis-
tered through a FRBC funded Worker
Transition Centre in the Local 1-217
building in Vancouver.

The local union approached the
company again prior to the final clo-
sure on March 27 to take another try
at getting timber. Tolko refused the
offer, saying closure was inevitable.

——EE

16/LUMBERWORKER/APRIL, 1997