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© Local 1000 member James Roger at mill, stacks wood for dry-kiln.

Union encourages upgrading
at Tembec mill in Mattawa

ne of I.W.A. CANADA

Local 1000's four Tembec

operations, a sawmill in

Mattawa, Ontario is slat-

ed for some major upgrad-
ing. The union has worked with the
company to keep the mill upgraded
in order to compete in both softwood
and hardwood lumber markets.

The company, which currently
employs 110 I.W.A. members in the
northeastern community of 1,800

eople, has vowed to plough about
M0 million worth of expenditures
into the operation over the next sev-
eral years. Most of the money will be

put in a twin-line band saw system
and upgrading other portions of the
production.line. Tembec is also look-
ing at a new line for maximizing
recovery from pulpwood.

Local 1000 also represents work-
ers at Tembec’s Huntsville, Braeside,
and Alban operations.

The Mattawa operation is current-
ly a two-line facility that produces
predominately 1” stock in both soft-
wood and hardwood species.

“It’s not the top of the line mill,”
said Local 1000 President Joe da
Costa. “In negotiations last year we
spoke to the company about the need

Abitibi-Price logging camp goes
over one year without injury

I.W.A. CANADA Local 1-2995 is
pleased to inform union members
everywhere that one of its loggin;
divisions has celebrated over one full
year without a single lost time acci-
dent.

In mid-March, Abitibi-Price Inc.
announced that its Camp #34 wood-
lands operation completed the full
year without any injuries to its work-
force of 75-80 employees. At press
time, the operation continues on its
accident-free record.

Local union President Norm
Rivard told the Lumberworker that
the accident-free year set an exam-
ple of what can be done when union
members on the joint occupational
health and safety committee get the
full support and participation of the
membership.

“This is a good news story that
1.W.A. members should be aware of,”
said Brother Rivard. “The times are
few and far between when this many
logging division employees get a full
year in without anybody suffering
injury and time off work.”

“At Camp #34 (about 70 Kms.
north of Cochrane) there was nobody
put on light duty during the year, so
there was no camouflaging of
injuries,” added Rivard. “Nobody
was walking around in a cast or with
their arm in a sling. The accident
record was absolutely clean and
that’s quite an accomplishment.’

Union members on the sub-local
safety committee are certified repre-
sentatives Richard Vachon and Mar-
tin Godbout along with committee
members Jean Noel Cote, Mario
Germain, George Boily and Alain

I.W.A. job steward Gerald East
said a lot of work has been done mod-
ifying machinery to reduce potential
accidents.

He said the OH&S committee is
very active and that there are six
members on it to ensure that all
work shifts are covered.

“We want to ensure that there is
always an I.W.A.. rep at every safety
meeting,” he said. “The committee
and employees think safety and secu-
rity at all times.

Gordie Dawkins, human resources
manager with Abitibi, said that “we
have an excellent safety committee
and a committed workforce. I don’t
know of a better workforce in any
industry.”

“Safety is always a number one
concern at Camp 34,” he added. “We
always tell the crew ‘if you don’t feel
safe doing it, don’t do it.”

The company’s mill employees
issued a certificate of congratula-
tions to the crew which read, in part,
as follows: “. . the Occupational
Health and Safety Committee would
like to congratulate each and every-
one of you in achieving this mile-
stone. a goal such as this must be a
group effort; working together, com-
municating, and understanding that
“TJ” can make the difference, is what
this milestone is all about, but this
accomplishment has more value
than words alone. You have endured
one full year; three hundred and
sixty-five days without any human

metering: There were no hardships
for a spouse or a child to endure at
home because of a disabled employee.
What a gratifying feeling that must
be!”

to invest more in the plant. If more
money is put into the operation, it
will stay competitive so we can keep
our members working,” added Broth-
er da Costa.

Last year the local union signed a
five agreement with Tembec, with a
three year wage opener.

In past years the operation has
had a difficult time in ensuring an
adequate log supply. It is not a high

roduction facility by industry stan-
Merde: as it produces over 120,000
finished board feet on an irregular 11
hour shift.

The company cuts mostly hard-
woods in the summer months and
prefers to cut softwoods in the fall
and winter, when there is less chance
for sapstain. Most of that softwood
cut in the winter is pine, which is cut
into both 4/4” and 5/4” stock for the
planer.

The company is drying its own
production in steam driven kilns on
the property. Pine is dried to a mois-
ture content of 12-16% for 4/4” stock
and 6-8% for 5/4 wood, which is then
dressed out on both sides to a full
one inch.

Kiln drying cycles for hardwoods
such as red oak run up to 21 days at
temperatures between 120-160
degrees farenheit.

Pine is sold to mostly U.S. cus-
tomers with some stock being sold in
Canada for furniture manufacture
and other uses.

The mill cuts several species
andluding. balsam, spruce, maple and
oak.

Tembec dries as much of the wood
as it can on the premises but does
send out some loads on occasion .

Because of low wood chip prices
the company is trying to get as much
value added lumber production as it
can out of all logs, including pulp
grade.

“We have to look at ways of using
pulpwood for something other than
chips,” said Personnel Manager and

Safety Director Shelley Fraser. “We
try to cut the higher grade wood out
and run it through the mill. We’ve

~had good luck with birch but the

maple still needs a lot of work.”

jalesmen from Tembec have been
promoting lower grade pulpwood
material for pallets.

The Ontario government has been
telling forest companies to take out
all the trees cut, including pulpwood.
Before that, logging contractors used.
to, more often than not, just take out
the cream, says Local 1000 Business
Agent and Financial Secretary Mike
McCarter.

Brother McCarter expresses con-
cerns about the Conservative govern-
ment of Mike Harris and its job cut-
ting attacks on the Ministry of Nat-
ural Resources.

“When you cut about 50% of the
monitoring jobs out of the ministry
and start to rely on companies to
monitor themselves, you know that
the bottom line is the most impor-
tant issue,” he said.

The Mattawa plant was owned by
G.W. Martin until 1989 when Tem-
bec bought several of the company’s
operations. At the time of the takeover,
there was two separate yards
attached to the Mattawa mill site.

Yard #1 was I.W.A. and yard #2
was under certification to the Car-
penters’ union. Yard #2, which had a
planer and dry kiln, would get wood
after it was milled in Yard #1 by
I.W.A. members.

Eventually the company decided
to centralize operations and move
the planer over to the I.W.A. side. It
started processing wood in January
of 1995.

ALabour Relations Board hearin;
eventually determined that all yar:
work should be done under certifica-
tion to the L.W.A.

In addition to the 1” and 2” stock
the Mattawa operation also produces
boards and timber. It can handle up
to a 35” log on the butt end.

Rivard said there is a growing
awareness on safety issues in the
local union, especially since the Con-
servative government of Mike Har-
ris has cut back on safety inspec-
tions in the workplace.

“Our members are realizing that
they have got to carry the ball on
health and safety issues,” said

Rivard. “They can’t wait for the gov-
ed to do anything safety-relat-
ed.

On June 27, Local 1-2995 is hold-
ing its first-ever occupational health
and safety conference in Kapuskas-
ing. All OH&S committee members
in local union operations will be in
attendance.

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5 LUMBERWORKER/JULY 1997/15