¢ Anoon hour rally outside the B.C. New Democratic Party Convention drew over 250 Canfor Eburne sawmill workers and their supporters. Eburne workers Continued from page one maintain employment for all of our members at the Eburne sawmill and in the Englewood Logging Divi- sion.” “Canfor has intentions of becom- ing nothing more than a log broker with some of the best timber in the world which is on public land owned by all British Columbians,” said Haggard. “With that type of atti- tude, their timber rights must be taken away.” ¢ Local 2171 President Darrel Wong. The company was granted TFL #37 in 1960, with the agreement that Canfor would harvest timber in order to create jobs in the manufac- turing sector. That original license was granted for the “maintenance of the manufacturing plants owned and operated by the licensee...” Since it was granted the TFL the company has systematically closed all of its manufacturing facilities. Eburne is the latest closure. Before that was Pacific Veneer, Stave Lake Cedar, the Hunting-Merritt cedar shingle mill, Specialty Products, and its #3 mill, allin the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. RALLY AT NDP CONVENTION At the provincial convention of the New Democratic Party of B.C. the I.W.A. made its presence known and brought the issue of the Canfor closure to the party and the public. At a noon hour rally on March 7, over 250 Eburne workers and their supporters gathered near the Hyatt Regency Hotel to put the heat on the NDP to pressure, Canfor. Workers from Eburne had just surrounded the hotel with strings 2/LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1998 that had petitions hanging off of them. The Local union had gath- ered over 11,000 signatures that called on the company to honour its commitment and keep the mill open. Local 2171 First Vice President Gary Kobayashi said the union was in a “last-ditch” attempt to ensure that Eburne won’t close, and added that such a closure would cause “200 workers and their families to suffer needlessly.” “If Canfor is allowed to close Eburne and keep its Tree Farm License and, in fact, becomes a log broker, we'll see that spread right across this province to the point where there will be no manufactur- ing done in this province.” “Companies will simply harvest trees when the prices are good (and) leave them standing when the prices are bad,” added Brother Kobayashi. “And there will be no jobs created and no wealth created for the province.” B.C. Premier Glen Clark, backed by North Vancouver Island MLA Glenn Robertson, spoke to the crowd. “You know since 1858 in Canada all provinces have said that the wood that’s owned by the people of British Columbia must be processed in British Columbia and in (the) 1950’s the government of the day created tree farm licenses,” he said: “And (in) those licenses, of which Canfor owns one, it says very explic- itly, that every tree harvested in British Columbia must be processed in British Columbia.” “All you are asking for is for Can- for to live up to the laws of British Columbia and I assure you we will make sure that Canfor lives up to the laws of British Columbia,” said Clark. “There is no way that we can tolerate companies that get the right harvest the trees that we own and not process them as they are required ¢ B.C. Premier Glen Clark spoke. to do when they’re tree farm licensed by law.” “T simply want to say to you today that I am surprised, I’m shocked, that Canfor would willingly take this action as they appear to be doing when they know, you know and we know that they have no legal right to do so and I simply want to tell you, as you know, that I stand with you to make sure that law is obeyed,” he concluded. Local 2171 President Darrel Wong said that “Canfor has to be told that they are going to provide employ- ment in this province if they are B.C. Federation of Labour Presi- dent Ken Georgetti was on hand to throw in the support of the 440,000 member federation. “T think that it is absolutely crazy to see this company do this at a time when business is saying they need some incentives to create more jobs,” said Georgetti. “This company has an opportunity to create jobs with one of the most valuable tree farm licenses that exist in this country...” “We're not going to stand by and let our province’s land base and resources be given away so that they (Canfor) can market those trees at ° I.W.A. CANADA National President Dave Haggard said that Canfor must keep Eburne open, maintain jobs, or have TFL #37 taken away from it. going to have wood.” “That is the only way they are going to have it (tenure) and it is absolutely imperative that our gov- ernment gets on side to support us in this issue as I am sure they will.” Wong said that if the I.W.A. loses the battle over Eburne, it will open the door for other companies such as MacMillan Bloedel, to perma- nently close mills. I.W.A. National President Dave Haggard said that what is happen- ing to Eburne workers is “criminal.” “There should be one option for that corporation and it should only be one option. They should pack their bags if they don’t want to sup- ° ply employment for the workers of British Columbia - they should pack their bags and get the hell out of British Columbia.” without creating jobs,” he added. Inside the convention hall, a reso- lution calling for the review of the appurtancy clause in the Forest Act was called for and passed. NDP MLA Glenn Robertson said that TFL’s were given out to achieve long-term support and stability by creating manufacturing jobs. “For years major licensees have argued that small contractors and truck loggers and communities in this province should not have access to timber because they have no investment in manufacturing facili- ties,” he said. “And when we see a licensee like Canadian Forest Prod- ucts advocating and stating unequiv- ocally that they are going to shut down the only (manufacturing) facil- ity (tied to the TFL) that says to me that we have a problem with some of the corporations in this province.”