e Some of the newest I.W.A. Local 1-184 members are Brian Poitras, Inez
Hebert, Oliver Poitras, Wayne Kuhn, and Liza Revie.

Union organizes sawmill
in Meadow Lake, Sask.

The I.W.A. is increasing its pres-
ence in Northern Saskatchewan. In
addition to representing workers at
the Norsask sawmill in Meadow
Lake, Local 1-184 is now represent-
ing approximately 120 workers at
the Clear Water Forest Products
Tne. sawmill in that same communi-

ty.

On May 30 of this year the local
received an automatic certification
from the Saskatchewan Labour
Relations Board after receiving over-
whelming support from over 80% of
the workers. The workers joined the
1.W.A. to seek better pay and bene-
fits and to establish better work
rules in the new mill, which was
built to primarily manufacture lum-
ber from vast stretches of burnt tim-
berdue to recent forest fires.

The new mill will be going full-
steam in utilizing the wood over the
next couple of years. The burnt
standing timber must be salvaged
before the timber is infested with
insects and begins to check.

Local 1-184 kept in contact with
workers inside for over a year and
began to recruit a significant num-
ber of new members in the fall of
last year. Local union First Vice
President Paul Hallen was joined by
National Organizer Harold Sachs
from Ontario, in the final month of
the organizing campaign to ensure
that the union signed up a majority
of the workers.

Local union President Dennis
Bonville and Local Financial
Secretary Ted Becker also spent
time in Meadow Lake assisting
Hallen and Sachs during the sign-

up.
Brother Dennis Bonville told the
Lumberworker that the new certifi-
cation is an important development
for the I.W.A. in the province.

“These new members mark a sig-
nificant increase in our membership
and are an important part of our

esence in the north,” said Brother
Bonville. “We are building a stronger
union there and hope to branch out
from Meadow Lake should the oppor-
tunity arise.”

The mill, is situated close to the
Norsask operation. The workers
receive which are comparable
to union rate but receive very few
_ benefits. The workers have been

paying for most of the benefits pro-
and have no pension plan.

‘As of press time the union is in

negotiations for a first collective

agreement.

The negotiating committee is com-
prised of National First Vice
President Neil Menard, Brother
Bonville Paul Hallen, Brian Poitras,
Vince Hoffmann and Terry Sarabin.
The union is putting an emphasis
on getting some solid contract lan-
guage in the first agreement includ-
ing a grievance procedure, job post-
ing procedures and a training sys-
tem for all employees.

“For a brand new committee, this
negotiating committee is very keen
and competent and I am very confi-
dent that the outcome of negotia-
tions will be satisfactory to workers
in the operation.”

“When we were organizing the
operation, one of the issues con-
stantly brought up was getting a
fair job bid system where everybody
can use their seniority to better
themselves,” said Brother Hallen.
“Some of the people in the plant
have experience in the forest indus-
try and realize this. Others, who
don’t have as much experience,
require skills upgrading through
improved work practices.”

During the more than one year
that it took to get the certification,
Hallen said that there were several
rumours that unionization would
result in a closure of the operation.

“Those kind of rumours always
float around and are common dur-
ing an organizing drive,” said Hallen,
“with the primary intent of intimi-
dating workers and discouraging
them from joining the union.”

At one point during the organiz-
ing drive the employer gave the crew
an across-the-board wage increase
of 40 cents an hour and a shift pre-
mium.

“The crew has realized that the
employer is making a good profit
from their labour and although
improvements to wages and benefits
are important to them, there are
other items of equal and greater pri-
ority,” he added. “We see lots of chal-
lenges ahead and we are eager to
get at it.”

Hallen said that Clear Water has
indicated to the I.W.A. that they
intend to attempt to access some
green timber that will be necessary
in order for them to operate ona
long-term basis.

Chopsticks closure

When management at the
Canadian Chopstick Manufacturing
Ltd. plant informed workers that
they were shutting down their Fort
Nelson, B.C. operation on the first
day of April, many workers and peo-
ple in town thought that it was just
a cruel April Fools Day joke.
But it wasn’t a joke - the plant
went down for good and it looks like
Shey won’t be making any more chop-
ticks. Thrown out of work, without
moment’s notice, were 158 I.W.A.
‘ANADA Local 1-424 members and
33 company staff.
“Tt was a real shocker,” said sub-
local committee chairperson Tracy
Pederson and packer, who was the
first union member to find out about
the closure at about 6:30 a.m. The
crew showed up to start work at
7:00 a.m. and never turned a wheel.

“All of the events happened very

suddenly,” added Sister Pederson.
“We had been trying to renegotiate
a contract since mid-February and
had several meetings with the com-
pany. Not once was the issue ofa
possible closure mentioned.”
Local 1-424 President Fred
Carroll said that the employer gave
economic reasons for the shutdown,
claiming that the plant could not
compete with low wages now being
paid for chopstick manufacturing in
China.

“Japanese customers have moved
the mass production of chopsticks to
China where labour is dirt cheap
and materials are considerably more
inexpensive than in Canada,” said
Brother Carroll. He also said that
the company had complained to gov-
ernment that it was losing money
and could not get what it saw as an
adequate price for residue aspen
that it sold to the non-union strand-
board plant in Fort Nelson.

Canadian Chopsticks was using
less than half of the aspen that it
had to harvest on crown land. The
rest was sold to the Slocan OSB
plant at prices it deemed unfair and
the company claimed that it was
losing money hauling wood out of
the bush that it didn’t need.

shocks Ft. Nelson

Local union activist Rod Park
told the Lumberworker that before
the chopstick plant opened in 1990,
most of the aspen in the region was
cut down and burnt. He said that
was an irresponsible waste of the
public's timber.

The union has worked to set up
an Industrial Adjustment Service
operated out of the Local 1-424 office
in town. It is being co-funded by the
provincial Ministry of Skills,
Training and Labour and Human
Resources Development Canada,
which have kicked in $25,000 each
so that the service can operate until
the end of September. Canadian
Chopsticks has reneged on its
$25,000 commitment to help work-
ers find new jobs.

Bea Park, sub-local secretary at
the plant and former lathe operator,
has been working with Sister
Pederson in helping displaced work-
ers find employment.

As of late July over 50 people had
found new jobs.

Several displaced workers were
picked up by the non-union OSB
Dien and then subsequently laid
off.

At least 50% of the workers at
the chopsticks plant were women,
many of whom are single parents.
Over half of the displaced workers
originate from the province of
Newfoundland.

Sister Park said that about 12
people have gone through some
workplace retraining and are now
employed in jobs varying from the
forest industry to office and busi-
ness administration.

Tracy Pederson said that most of
the displaced tradespersons in town
have been picked up by Slocan and
are now working.

She told the Lumberworker that
some still believe that the plant
could reopen in the future because
the equipment is still there.

“There’s lots of rumours floating
around, but that is all they are at
this point in time,” she said. “Some
people are still hoping for that.”

3
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a
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¢ Sitting at the control panel of the saw shack in Meadow Lake is Local

1-184 member Wayne Kuhn.

HISTORY OF THE 1.W.A. :
Readers of the Lumberworker will have to wait until a future issue of the

newspaper to read Part VIII of Clay Perry’s series on the History of the I.W.A.
Clay went to the cottage this summer and took some well-deserved time off.

We hope you will follow the series.

LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER 1997/11