° B.C. Premier Glen Clark addressed members of three forest industry unions two days before the Accord was announced. Jobs Accord Continued from page one decent lifestyle for workers and their families.” Apriority hiring system will give first dibs to local displaced forest workers. It will also provide a hiring process for First Nations people and local workers who are qualified. The Forest Worker Agency will do the following: ° assess the skills of displaced forest workers, then train them with addi- tional skills for certification in new jobs; ¢ help displaced workers get new for- est sector jobs on a local and region- al basis; ~° create high-quality jobs with decent wages and proper working condi- tions to allow for community sta- bility, and; ° get rid of sporadic work by provid- ing long-term stable jobs. Overlooking the Accord will be a government appointed “Jobs Accord Advocate” who will work with all parties to assess progress and keep track of job creation and mainte- nance. The advocate will make annual reports on progress and propose actions to create jobs when they are not appearing as expected. Premier Clark has said that the government expects voluntary com- pliance and has threatened to pass legislation in the future if the forest companies don’t co-operate. This “carrot and stick” approach gives generous incentives along with tough compliance standards. Companies that play ball under the Accord will get priority to FRBC funds. They will also become eligible to become exempt from the 5% “claw- back” of AAC when timber cutting licences are sold or transferred. Complying companies will also have priority for unallocated AAC where it arises and be first on the list, for new innovative agreements on forest practices. “The Jobs and Timber Accord is the next step in my government’s long-term plan to renew our forests and sustain the communities that depend on them,” said Clark. “Iam determined, in partnership with SR 2/LUMBERWORKER/JULY 1997 } il create 5,000 jobs B.C. Projects. Displaced forest workers will have first priority for jobs. ‘ we Forest Renewal industry, forest workers and commu- nities, to put the same energy and commitment into creating jobs as we put into protecting the environment.” “Our forests are a_ valuable resource, owned by all British Columbians, and to be cared for an used for the good of everyone. The people of B.C. believe that access to public timber is a privilege and that should be tied to the delivery of jobs and other social benefits.” “Forestry jobs are changing and the Accord reflects the new realities of the forest sector. Gone are the days when forestry was simply a matter of getting the wood out of the forest to the mill. Today’s forest workers are as much about putting more value into the wood we harvest and more value back into the land from which we harvest,” said Clark. B.C.’s twenty major forest compa- nies have committed to creating 5,900 direct jobs which should result in an equal number of indirect jobs. Of those direct jobs, 3,900 will be related to getting more productivity from crown lands available for log- ging and ensuring the industry access to their full potential AAC’s. Two thousand direct jobs will be counted on by greater investment of capital to improve the state of technology and operational efficiency and developing higher value added, more labour- intensive products. The government has committed up to $50 million a year to companies to defray the added costs of comply- ing with Forest Practices Code provi- sions of compiling inventory informa- tion, planning and road construction and rehabilitation. The Accord calls for 6,500 jobs by adding more value to wood. The government is directing large companies on the coast to sell 18% of the wood they cut to value-added manufacturers and secondary indus- try at fair market prices. In the Inte- rior regions of the province they will send 16% of the lumber to smaller outfits. % In small business wood realloca- tion, the Ministry of Forests will direct substantially more logs and lumber to small secondary manufac- as sees Be newly hired “One of the most significant parts of the Accord is that it endeavours to create full-time, stable jobs from which our displaced members can support their families and communities.” - Dave Haggard regional “value-added facilitators” to ensure that lumber reaches the reman and value-added sector by connecting buyers with sellers of specific grades and species of wood required. “One of major problems that small- er operates face is actually getting a hold of wood they can do something with,” said Brother Haggard “They want to make value-added products and, more often that not, the big com- panies export semi-processed wood and lumber which bypasses them.” At the Prince George announce- ment Lignum Ltd. chairperson Jake Kerr said that the provingial govern- ment can take “whatever steps are necessary if individual companies do not carry their own weight in creat- ing new jobs.” Ee Contract Talks Continued from page one union’s demands are non-cost items and that the I.W.A. has come a long way down the road to a collective agreement under difficult economic circumstances. The union wants an agreement sooner than later. Haggard said that “we donotintend to be negotiating with industry when the cold rains come or Christmas roll around.” Elsewhere in the province, the I.W.A. last met with the Interior For- est Labour Relations Association in the Southern Interior on July 2-3. The union first presented its demands to them on May 28. The IFLRA is seeking a five-year agreeement, despite the move towards a three-year contract on the Coast. “They first said they wanted the pattern set on the Coast,” said Nation- al Third Vice President Dave Tones. “Now they say ‘we really didn’t mean it.” Troi Caldwell, President of Local 1-423 said that the union will put all of its demands on the table if the IFLRA is seeking a different agree- ment than on the Coast. In the Northern Interior negotia- tions are on hold, following the pre- sentation and explanations of the I.W.A.’s demands to the Council of Northern Interior Forest Employ- ment Relations, and northern inde- pendents Canfor, Weldwood and Northwood Pulp and Timber. The union is targeting a pattern for the collective agreements on the Coast. Collective agreements expired on the Coast on June 15 and in the Interior regions on June 30. Elsewhere, the I.W.A. is having considerable difficulty in getting Pacific Forest Products to the bar- gaining table, following their deac- creditation from FIR. Until early July, Pacific had refused to negotiate with the union. There hasnow been an exchange ofdemands, but meetings for formal bargainin; have not materialized, despite real efforts by the I.W.A. to get them underway. 5 “They are running us around,” said Local 1-80 President Bill Rout- ley, “and if we can’t get moving a strike vote could be in the cards. ¢ Negotiations between the I.W.A’s provincial negotiating committee and FIR kicked off on May 8 in Vancouver.