Bushworkers ready
Continued from page one

to debate and formulate their com-
mon demands.

On April 16 and 17, about 65 wage
and contract delegates got together
in Thunder Bay to thrash out their
set of demands for bush operations
where they represent about 2,250
workers.

Altogether there are about 60 col-
lective agreements to be negotiated
in the sawmill and bush sectors.

In the mills, the union will put
the issue of contracting out at the
top of the agenda.

‘A lot of our mills have violated
contracting out clauses in different,
ways,” said Brother McIntyre. “They
have brought in contractors on week-
ends to do jobs that our members
can do. If there is that much work
to be done, then it should go to our
welders, our millwrights and our
electricians.”

Rivard said that the companies
are playing figgery poker” with the
union and that they continue to
bring in contractors even though
the I.W.A. has established weekend
scheduling under the collective
agreement.

“We are saying that there has
been enough job loss due to mecha-
nization and it’s about time that
they (the employers) start to bring
inane some abe to us,” said Rivard.
“It is the perfect opportunity for
them to do so.” :

The union will also be pushing for
significantly better wages and bene-
fits.

The wage and contract srcertag
committee for the mills was heade:
by McIntyre, Rivard, Local 2693
First Vice President John Loren-
owich, Local 1-2995 First Vice Pres-
ident Damien Roy and Local 2698
Second Vice President Lloyd Szka-
ley.

Ne the conference in Thunder Bay,

e I.W.A. member at Spruce Falls woodlands operations is one of over 2,400
workers who will be represented by the union locals in negotiations.

bush workers passed their resolu-
tions for the upcoming contract
talks. The union will be negotiating
with major pulp and paper compa-

nies like Avenor, Abitibi and E.B. .

Eddy. Most contracts expire on
August 31.

Several other contracts for wood-
lands operations that haul to
sawmills will expire on that date or
a year later.

McIntyre predicted that his local
union will be into a major conflict
with Avenor, as the company has
been pushing its crews to work on a
contractor basis.

“This is the year that we will take
on Avenor and its attempt to push
our crews into accepting piece-rate
work systems,” he said, adding “that
we could have one helluva fight on
our hands.”

Another major issue at the con-
ference was that of following proper
job posting procedures.

“Companies are using the job post-
ing provisions in any which way
they can,” said Rivard.

The agreement allows companies
to put up temporary postings if the
job is supposed to last up to 2 weeks.

“In some of our operations, they
are using people for almost two
weeks, then removing them, and
then putting them back on those
temporary postings for another two
weeks,” said Rivard. “This is an
abuse of the system and is clearly
the wrong interpretation of the col-
lective agreement which has to be
fixed in negotiations.”

Tn addition to better wages and
increased medical, life insurance
and health benefits, the local unions
are calling for full safety boot, cov-
erall and glove allowances.

Resolutions to the woodlands con-
ference poured in from all sub-local
operations to the steering commit-
tee which consisted of Brothers
McIntyre, Rivard, Roy, Lorenowich
and Local 2693 Financial Secretary
Joe Hanlon.

Greenpeace

Continued from page one

forest, building and woodworkers in
110 countries around the world,
took action following false claims by
Greenpeace in April that its cam-
paign was puppets by labour cen-
tral bodies in Belgium and Holland.
The resolution is in line with
IFBWW’s September 1997 Action
Plan, which pledges the interna-
tional workers’ body “to counteract.
the effects of unfounded campaigns
which threaten the livelihood of
their members and the implementa-
tion of sound forestry practices” and
to condemn organizations that

engage in such campaigns.

I.W.A. National President Dave-
Haggard and Fourth Vice President
Harvey Arcand were in Geneva to

oint out to IFBWW members the

act that Greenpeace launched its
campaign without ever consulting
workers or their union; that work-
ers have been put out of work and
endangered by illegal logging road
blockades and that the entire B.C.
forest industry, which supports
some 100,000 direct jobs, would be
undermined were Greenpeace’s cam-
peer. successful. Meanwhile, B.C.

as made great strides toward sus-
tainable forest practices, includin;
the Forest Practices Code, Protecte
Areas Strategy and other conserva-
tion measures.

-Kim Pollock, Director of Envi-
ronment and Public Policy

[.W.A. negotiates contract
for NEWFOR silviculture

In the next few months displaced
forest workers on the Coast of British
Columbia will have new job oppor-
suniies that have not existed in the
past.

In April the Council of I.W.A.
Locals (Local 1-85, 1-80, 2171, 363
and 1-3567) concluded negotiations
with New Forest Opportunities Ltd.
(NEWFOR), a provincial crown cor-
poration which will oversee silvicul-
corel work funded by Forest Renewal

The collective agreement covers
all government-funded enhanced
silviculture project that will take
place on the Coast of B.C.. About
1,000 person years of employment
will be created in each year in silvi-
culture jobs such as brushing, thin-
ning, pruning..

For hundreds of displaced forest
workers, the new program will be a
welcome relief.

“We've been working to get FRBC
working for the benefit of displaced
forest workers and finally there is
something more to show for all our
efforts as a union,” said I.W.A.
National President Dave Haggard.
“NEWFOR will give many of our
people a chance to be properly
trained and employed in the silvi-
culture end of the industry. It will
allow them to land good-paying jobs
so they don’t have to pull up roots
and move away.”

“Thousands of forest workers,
most of them I.W.A. members, lost
their jobs with the reductions in
annual cut and the creation of parks
and protected areas,” said National
Fourth Vice President Harvey
Arcand. “Lots of people promised

these workers jobs, but very few of
them were serious.” A

- “The green groups and others
don’t care about jobs, so it’s a good
thing the NDP (provincial govern-
ment) does,” he added.

Although the NEWFOR agree-
ment won’t pick up all the members
who have lost jobs, it goes a long
way to helping those who have been
affected by the province’s attempts
to reach environmental and social
goals.

Brother Arcand says that it is
workers who have paid the price for
land-use reform and the setting
aside of lands that were originally
targeted for forestry.

The base wage rate under the
NEWFOR agreement will be $17.17
per hour. Some jobs will pay mini-
mum day rate of between $155 -
$180. For some jobs (i.e. thinning,
pruning and spacing) there will be
incentive piece work rates that will
be added to the base rate.

The I.W.A. - NEWFOR contract
has some good benefits attached to
it, including pension plan .contribu-
tions. Other important features of
the collective agreement include
grievance procedures, union com-
mittees, vacations, and leave of
absence provisions. 2

“We're starting to get more silvi-
culture workers some of the things
that our union has fought for decades
to get other workers in the forest
industry,” said Brother Haggard.
“We are saying that workers in this
sector must have the right to good
pay and benefits too.”

The NEWFOR agreement pro-
vides employment to displaced for-
est workers (“new” silvicultural
workers) and the existing work-
force.

During the first two years of the
agreement, 70% of workers who get
jobs with NEWFOR will have to be
“qualified” when they hire on. The
other 30% will have a training period
with lower rates of pay. In the third
year of the I.W.A.- NEWFOR agree-
ment, 80% of the worker will have
to be qualified.

The collective agreement assures
that there will be ample time for
the workers to be trained up and
that existing qualified workers will
not get displaced.

Ron Corbeil, FRBC Employment
Coordinator at the national office,
says the NEWFOR will be taking
advertisements out in newspapers
to advise displaced workers on how
they can register for the NEWFOR
jobs.

Most Forest. Worker Transition
Centres should offer the same ser-
vices to displaced workers in their

areas. There are transition centres
in Vancouver, New Westminster,
and Nanaimo, in the Pacific region.

Many displaced workers in the
Lower Mainland should be eligible
for jobs in parks and recreation
upgrading. Most of those opportuni-
ties should be available for about
two years.

One big benefit that the majority
of isolated NEWFOR workers will

et is the standard I.W.A. rate of
2.50/day for room and board in
decent accommodations.

“It’s possible that if the NEWFOR
works the way we hope, not only
will the workers themselves think
that it is the way to go, but the
industry will think it’s the way to go
with a more stable workforce,” says
Brother Corbeil. “Then we’d see less
of the race-to-the-bottom bidding
system that the industry has
involved into.”

¢ Displaced forest

~ \

workers will be properly trained to do silviculture work.

AMIRI v1

LUMBERWORKERJJUNE, 1998/3