HIGHLIGHTS So i] ENIUN- THUNDER ° IAM’s Randall Rice told delegates that his union is making advances despite unfair labour laws. IAM speakers from United States address |.W.A. Two of the I.W.A.’s best guests at this year’s convention were Brothers Rod Kelty, President of the Woodworkers District Lodge 1 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and Randall Rice, President from District Lodge 2 stationed in Memphis, Tennessee. Both American brothers flew up to Thunder Bay to address the convention and exchange information with union officers and delegates. The District Lodges of the IAM are the for- mer regions of the I.W.A. in the United States. In 1994 the I.W.A.- U.S. merged into the IAM. Brother Kelty’s speech addressed the issues of organizing and defending woodworkers against attacks by radical environmentalists. He commended the union on its Organizing and Growth Strategy and wished the Interna- tional Woodworkers of America had adopted one like it 10-15 years ago. “The question is, and the most important thing is, where are we going? If history has served us right, and it should tell us all, all woodworkers, that status quo is no longer acceptable in the labour movement,” he added. “Change is hard to do, but it must be made for all of us in the labour movement, for our chil- dren, for our grandchildren (and) for our com- munities,” said Brother Kelty in his speech. He was in Harare, Africa in July with I.W.A. CANADA President Dave Haggard, where he lent his support to the I.W.A. at the Twentieth Congress of the International Federation of Building and Woodworkers. With the pressure from the IAM, the I.W.A. and other affiliates, the IFBWW agreed to amend its four year action plan to take actions to support affiliates who are confronted with unfounded campaigns (i.e. blockades and boy- cotts) by environmental radicals. “Today the forces of the environmental com- munity, the anti-worker governments, the anti- worker, and the anti-union employers are greater that any of us have ever faced in the last 60 years,” said Brother Kelty. “Therefore we must change in the way we do things.” “We must...like never before, improve our communications, coordinate our activities and work together for the sake of our respective membership in the trade union movement,” he said. “We can no longer do it on our own and not care about what happens in each other’s country or around the world. And the global market and global economy requires us in the labour movement to think beyond North Amer- ica in our own countries.” Safety Resolutions Continued from page twenty health and safety education delivered by labour safety representatives. SAFER FUNDS AND TRAINING - a resolution was passed demanding the National Safety Officers to instruct the SAFER trustees to provide safety training for Safety Committees in local unions. WORKING ALONE - the union made firm its oppo- sition to the concept of working alone in areas of high hazard. HELI-LOGGING REGULATIONS - the union demands an immediate review of the WCB heli-logging health and safety regulations in the province of British Columbia. CREW BOAT SAFETY - the I.W.A. reaffirmed its commitment to lobby government to develop and enact into law, mandatory crew boat train- ing requirements. E ONTARIO WCB AND SAFETY CUTS - the union recon- firmed its cooperation with the Ontario Federa- tion of Labour and other unions in fighting for the return of all benefit levels and employer responsibilities to what they were before the Conservatives took power. WALKING WOUNDED AND WCB - a resolution was passed calling for employers and the WCB to stop forcing injured workers to work and that the worker's physician’s decisions be supported by the Board. DISCIPLINE FOR SAFETY INFRACTIONS - the I.W.A. demands that the WCB or appropriate govern- ment agencies require employers to promote training and education in the workplace and that disciplinary measures not be promoted for occupational health and safety infractions by such government agencies. WCB INSPECTIONS - WCB worksite inspections must be done on a regular basis including a work site inspection at least four times a year. The resolution was forwarded to all federations of labour across Canada. CORONER’S INQUESTS - all appropriate ministries in all provinces are being called upon to provide mandatory coroners’ inquests in a timely man- ner following fatalities. RECYCLING PONDS - a resolution was passed demanding that the B.C. Ministry of Environ- ment conduct a series of sample at Celgar Pulp recycling ponds in Castlegar to determine what causes workers to experience dizziness and burning in the eyes and throat. SPECIALIZED SAFETY TRAINING - the delegates unanimously passed a resolution calling for specialized safety training (fall protection, hear- ing protection, spill protection equipment, etc.) which would be paid for by the employer for the affected bargaining unit employees. WCB ACT AND APPEALS - the I.W.A. will lobby appropriate government agencies to speed up appeal processes, first by offering more Boards of Review and support staff and enforcement of WCB Acts. In his speech to the delegates, Brother Rice said that he agreed with I.W.A. CANADA’s “On the Move” convention slogan. “You’ve got to keep that in mind,” he said. “You can’t move and stay in the same old place and not do everything different.” He then related some of this experiences of organizing in the U.S. South over 20 years. “In the U.S., and particularly in the South, we have to organize every day. There is not a time to stop organizing and sit back and look at. what you've done,” he said. You’ve go to keep going. There were 21 states that I worked in, basically in the South, 19 of them are right-to- work states that people have freedom at to resign from (unions)... You’ve still go to repre- sent them, you've still go to pay for their negoti- ations or arbitration, etc.” After getting sign-up cards, the union has to go for a vote in front of the National Labour Relations Board. Then the employers, go on the attack, said Rice. “There’s a major industry in the US. of attor- neys that make a living out of doing nothing except keeping unions out of plants and getting them out of plants they’re already in.” Continued on page twenty-two Resolutions Pass Continued from page sixteen employers to provide jobs based on annual allowable cut. IMPLEMENTATION OF CORE - the union demands that the B.C. Minister of Forests examine the job impact of the CORE process and make changes necessary to tenure to ensure retention of industry jobs. SUPPORT OF ENVIRO GROUPS - A resolution was passed demanding that the union contact the Canadian Labour Congress to ensure that the national labour body’s funding of environmen- tal groups are researched carefully to ensure their cause(s)‘or projects do not affect I.W.A. members and that the CLC be held accountable for any loss union members may fact due the the Congress’ actions. JOBS AND TENURE - the union will press the provincial governments wherein public lands are harvested that the respective provincial for- est acts be amended to include job levels related to timber levels being harvested. “RAT” UNION AND NON-UNION CONTRACTORS - there was a reaffirmation of the union’s policy that any company or person providing contract- ing or sub-contracting services to an I.W.A. operation be legitimately unionized. ORIENTATION KIT - a resolution was passed call- ing for the development and distribution of a new member kit to each new employee to explain the role of the union in the workplace. LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER 1997/21