with Greenpeace on the Vancouver waterfront.

I.W.A. members clash with Greenpeace
in fight back against ‘eco-terrorists’

he I.W.A. and Greenpeace
met head on in late June
and early July when union
members from forest prod-
ucts manufacturing plants
and logging operations in the Lower
Mainland and Fraser Valley gave the
multi-national environmental organi-
zation a huge dose of its own medi-

on June 28 workers set up an infor-

mation picket line on the Vancouver
Harbour Authority Main Street Dock,
near the Greenpeace icebreaker “Arc-
tic Sunrise,” which is playing an
essential role in the organization’s
international boycott campaign
against B.C. forest products.

On July 2 union members sur-
rounded the icebreaker and the small-
er Greenpeace vessel (the “Moby
Dick”) with boom sticks, prohibiting
their departure from Vancouver.

‘Two days later, assisted by Van-
couver Ports Police, both the Moby
Dick and the Arctic Sunrise fled into
approaching darkness. The icebreak-
er Tet without a ship pilot, as required
by law.

Pilots refused to cross the union
picket line which was supported by
members of the International Long-
shoremen’s and Warehousemen’s
Union, the United Fisherman and
Allied Workers Union and other affil-
iates of the B.C. Federation of Labour.

“We're not surprised that Green-
peace decided to take illegal means to
get out of the Port of Vancouver as
required by law,” said Haggard. “That
kind of illegal action is par for the
course with this pepe aOR.

‘The stand-off, which lasted almost
a week, received high profile coverage
in the provincial and national media,
as I.W.A. members struck back at
Greenpeace, using the very tactics
that Greenpeace is famous for.

“Greenpeace wasn’t too goddamn
happy about what we did to hold
them on the docks in Vancouver,”
said I.W.A. CANADA National Presi-
dent Dave Haggard. “They are a
bunch of ites who blockade our
members from going to work and
then they scream when we do the

same thing to them.”

sea pu penne notiviata stopped I.W.A.
Local 1-71 members from going to
work on Roderick Island on June 6.
‘Then on June 11, they chained them-
selves to logging equipment and

plocked a logging road on King Island,
preventing union members from going

to work for 13 days before being arrest-
ed by RCMP.

Local 1-71 President Darrel Wong
said that “it is an absolute outrage
that it took the RCMP as long as it
did to clear the logging roads at King
Island.”

He suggested that the police form
a special team to get future block-
aders out of the woods.

e The union had members on the
dock 24 hours a day.

“T think the people of B.C. have to
make a decision whether or not they
want a huge environmental organiza-
tion threatening working people and
their communities,” said Wong.

As a result of the I.W.A.’s direct
actions, there was an overwhelming
show of public support for the union’s
cause. The union’s national and local
offices were flooded with calls of sup-
port and financial donations to be
used in the fight back against Green-
peace.

“Greenpeace spent the last month
or so putting our members out of
work, so we thought we would put
them out of work,” said Brother Hag-
gard. “These characters come gallop-
ing along, some of them paid and
some of them on summer holidays,
just to try to put our people on the

readlines. Greenpeace’s blockades
and boycott are totally irresponsible
and it is high time that they took
some repercussions for their actions.”

The I.W.A. said it would have dia-
logue with Greenpeace pending pay-
ment for lost wages of I.W.A. Local 1-
71 members who were blockaded.
The Local union has filed legal suit

inst Greenpeace for the lost wages
of its members.

“We are going to hit back at Green-

every chance we can get,” added
aggard. “Their organization has a

e I.W.A. CANADA National President Dave Haggard fields media questions during the union’s confrontation

holier-than-thou attitude where they
think they can go around staging
media stunts which throw our mem-
bers out of work and do damage to
the forest industry. They are trying to
undermine the very fabric of British
Columbia.”

The union president said the Green-
peace has had more than its fair share
of chances to participate in legitimate
debates over land-use during the past
several years and has neglected to do
so.

“Now they are committing acts of
economic terrorism against the peo-
ple of British Columbia,” he said.

The decision to carry out an inter-
national boycott against B.C. forest
products was made in Amsterdam by
32 Greenpeace leaders in November
of last year. As part of that campaign,
Greenpeace has counselled its mem-
bers and supporters to commit illegal
activities.

It has requested that 5,000 compa-
nies around the world cease purchas-
ing B.C. forest products which account
for annual sales of almost $16 billion.
About 300,000 British Columbians,
rely, directly or indirectly on the
industry for their livelihoods.

The multi-national organization is
also calling for a halt to all logging
activity on the Central Coast region
of the province (which it has unilater-
ally named the “Great Bear Rainfor-
est”) and the set aside of 45% of B.C.’s
land mass.

Greenpeace spokesperson Tzepo-
rah Berman said that a shutdown of
all old growth logging on the Central
Coast Region would cause the loss of
only some 300 direct jobs.

The unions says that between
6,000-7,000 direct jobs would be lost
in logging, log transport, sawmills,
manufacturing plants and other jobs
in the forest sector. In addition, thou-
sands of spin-off jobs would be elimi-
nated.

Brian Harder, one of Local 1-3567’s
key organizers of the actions taken
on the Vancouver waterfront, said
that “a boycott of B.C. forest products
would cause extreme job losses and
hardship for our members and trau-
matic dislocation for the many com-
munities that are dependent on the
industry.”

“Greenpeace isn’t offering any
solutions for British Columbians,”
said Harder. “They are only interest-
ed in spreading sensationalistic
untruths about the industry in our

province so they can fund-raise on
the international stage. And the by-
product of that is economic terrorism
against the people of this province.”

As of press time, donations to the
union’s “Fight Back for Forest Jobs”
Campaign were rolling in.

Haggard said that public dona-
tions will be used to take on Green-
peace “wherever their anti-worker
and anti-forest industry campaign
rears its ugly head.”

“Every time Greenpeace looks over
its shoulder, the I.W.A. will be there
ready to take action,” he said.

Haggard said the union will be
requesting assistance from trade
unions in foreign countries including
American, European and Australian
affiliate of the IFBWW.

“We have an interesting story to
tell our affiliate unions about the
anti-worker activities of Greenpeace,
which we think will have a signifi-
cant impact on their activities all
over the world.”

ACTION IN SQUAMISH

Local 1-71 was under the gun again
in the Squamish area as union mem-
bers joined community supporters in
defending logging activity in Tree
Farm Licence 38. Since June 19, coali-
tion activists have set up their own
version of “block the blockaders” at
the 24-1/2 mile mark of the valley’s
logging road - this time to keep radi-
cal environmentalists out.

Ken Bayers, Local 1-71’s Third
Vice President, said that the radical
environmental group PATH (People
Against Threatened Habitat), which
has little support in Squamish, has
plans to use the cover of a research
station as a training ground for acts
of civil disobedience against loggers.

PATH has joined with the Western
Canada Wilderness Committee in
calling for the complete preservation
of a 260,000 hectare old growth for-
est, of which about 20% has already
been set aside for permanent protec-
tion.

At stake are over 110 direct log-
ging jobs for I.W.A. members and 190
jobs in the Interfor Squamish Lum-
ber sawmill in Squamish.

“We've had a lot of community sup-
port from union members, the Cham-
ber of Commerce, and friends and
families of people in the area,” said
LW.A. member Rob Otto.

All people entering the valley have
been requested to sign a petition to,
B.C. Premier Glen Clark, which calls
for the payment of lost wages and
benefits to workers by persons liable
of blockading roads and for the depor-
tation of any foreign national involved
in an illegal blockade.

FIGHT BACK
FOR FOREST JOBS!

Have you had enough of the illegal
blockade activities of Greenpeace
and other radical environmental
groups? Are you tired of their unre-
lenting attacks on the forest industry
and the working people of B.C.?

Give Greenpeace a piece of your
mind and support I.W.A. members
and other concerned British
Columbians who are fighting back.

Support I.W.A. CANADA’S

‘FIGHT BACK FOR
FOREST JOBS!’

fund by making a donation.

Please Call:
1-888-963-2000
9:00a.m.-5:00p.m.

Mon. - Fri. PST

on god LUMBERWORKER/JULY 1997/3