ae

e Newly acclaimed Local 2171 First Vice President Gary Kobayashi welcomes B.C. Premier Glen Clark to found-

ing convention. Seated to his right are second V.P. nominee Bob Freer and Nick Doubinin, financial secretary.

Logging and manufacturing local unions
merge to form new ‘I.W.A. Local 2171’

t was a founding convention

of historical proportions. On

February 13 and 14, I.W.A.

CANADA Locals 1-71 and

Local 217 merged into a new
local union which is now know as
Local 2171.

The new local has over 6,700 mem-
bers in certifications stretching
from Vancouver, to Howe Sound, to
Pemberton, up the B.C. mainland

coast to the Alaska border, the north-
ern part of Vancouver Island and
the Queen Charlotte Islands.

The convention was the coming
together of the former Vancouver
Local 217, which was essentially a
manufacturing local, and Loggers’
Local 1-71, which consisted of 80%
loggers.

Gary Kobayashi, former presi-
dent of 217 and now first vice presi-
dent of the new local, said the idea
for the merger was conceived over
15 years ago by former 217 presi-
dent Doug Evans and former 1-71
president Ben Thompson. It took 14
years and several attempts to make
the merger take place.

Local 2171 will be governed by a
selection of elected officers and 22
executive board members. Fourteen
members of the board originate
from the former Local 1-71 areas
and eight come from the former 217
local.

“The new local union is one that
is truly balanced between forestry,
logging, sawmills, construction,
remanufacturing, transportation,
and non-traditional (industries and
services),” said Brother Kobayashi
in his speech to over 200 delegates.

“It’s not an understatement to say
that the membership of 2171 is not
facing unprecedented problems,”
said Kobayashi. He said the CEO’s
of MacMillan Bloedel and Canadian
Forest Products have started an
attack on working people.

“We have been told that camps
and mills will be closed or not
recalled unless we agree to certain
conditions (such as) concessions of
rights and benefits,” he said.

Kobayashi said that because the
new local union combines the log-
ging and manufacturing operations
of several major corporations, the
workers are in a “good position to be
able to fend off attacks by the

employers.’
arrel Wong, the new president
of the combined local, recounted
that Local 1-71 had just celebrated

its 60th anniversary last year and
that Local 217 was chartered in
1942.

“As much as this (convention) is a
celebration...(it) tugs at the heart
strings,” he said.

“We are bringing in a lot of skilled
people into the same local to spe-
cialize in areas to be able to provide
better services and quality of ser-
vices,” said Wong.

I.W.A. CANADA National Presi-
dent Dave Haggard was on hand to
conduct the nominations for offi-
cers.

The following officers were elected
by acclamation: president, Darrel
Wong; first vice president, Gary
Kobayashi; third vice president,
Harry Bains; fourth vice president,
Surinder Malhotra; fifth vice presi-
dent, Gary Wong; financial secre-
tary, Nick Doubinin; recording sec-
retary, Jim Parker; warden Les
Sloan and conductor Ken Bayers.
The only officer position contested
was second vice president. Former
Local 1-71 first vice Bob Freer is
running for the second vice presi-
dency of Local 2171 along with
Brother Loren Scarff, from Cana-
dian Forest Products Englewood
Logging Division.

Following the nominations Bro-

ther Haggard commended the new
local and said that the struggles
that the I.W.A. is facing have never
been more Rrontinen’ than they now
are on the Coast of B.C.

He said that, at convention time,
there were between 6,000 - 10,000
unemployed forest industry workers
on the Coast.

Haggard acknowledged problems
with high stumpage costs and lag-
ging markets but he also blasted
large corporations who are not look-
ing hard enough for new markets
for their products

He noted that Doman Forest Prod-
ucts is still operating with full crews
on the Coast and selling into both
Japan and the United States.

Haggard also talked about the
then current state of negotiations
with the Forest Worker Agency on
the Coast and then spoke on the
union’s national organizing and
growth strategy.

PREMIER CLARK SPEAKS TO
FOUNDING CONVENTION

Welcomed by Brother Kobayashi
as “in our estimation, the best Pre-
mier that we’ve ever had in British
Columbia,” provincial premier Glen
Clark addressed the convention.

He made it know that his nomi-

¢ Third Vice President Harry Bains spoke on the fight to keep the Canfor

Eburne sawmill and planer open.

nation for the NDP seat in East

Vancouver was assisted, in great

art, by the officers and staff of
als 1-71 and 217 in 1986.

He also said that in the last provin-
cial election “ a lot of working peo-
ple had abandoned the NDP” and
that there was a large move back
the party from the I.W.A. base
“which really made a difference for
us coming back and winning the
election.”

Clark said, that to help cure the
industry’s ills, government has
agreed to offer it a $300 million cut
in stumpage per year and another
$200 million cut this year.

He said it is a “$500 million gift,
if you will, to the industry.”

But he said there are strings
attached. The government is pre-
pared to do that if the industry cre-
ates more jobs on the ground.

“Some of them (companies) don’t
want to deal with our government
because they don’t want any strings
attached to the kind of (stumpage)
break we might give.”

After talking briefly about FRBC,
the forest worker agency on the
coast and the government bailout of
Skeena with large loan and loan
guarantees, Clark talked about his
commitment to keep Canfor’s
Eburne sawmill open.

Here’s what Clark said:

“Those of you who know that m:
government has been working wi
your union to say to Eburne
sawmills, to say to Canfor that this
is an important part of their forest
license. That they cannot simply

© Local 2171 President accepted
new charter from national I.W.A.
President Dave Haggard.

abandon manufacturing, (and) the
jobs that go with it and keep their
forest licence. 4

“My office has been involved. Your
local union has been intimately
involved and, as a result of that, we
are seeing the company very, very
worried.

“Here’s the message. The mes-
sage is really simple. The govern-
ment, your government, is not going
to let down this local (union) that
means so much to me personally or
to my government.

“We are going to work with you to
protect as many jobs as we can at
Eburne and everywhere else in
British Columbia.

“We're your government. And I’ve
worked hard to have your support.
And I don’t intend to betray your
support by not delivering on key
things that are important to you.”

RESOLUTIONS AND REPORTS.

Among the resolutions debated
was one calling for the reinstate-
ment of legislation which ties tenure
to specific manufacturing opera-
tions.

Delegate Ron Norgaard said that
companies are working “fast and
loose” with the tenure system.

“I think it’s about time we put the
brakes on them and said ‘hey, you
were given these (tree farm licenses)
because you built a mill and we’re
restoring those conditions and mak-
ing sure that jobs are attached to
the timber that they get so that they
ensure stability in the andusinaed
stability in our workplaces with full
time jobs.”

Continued on page eleven