{ { f | { | SECOND CONFERENCE FOR STAFF MEMBERS In March officers and staff from all 1.W.A. Locals met in Vancouver to discuss the direction of the union’s programs. PAGES 7-9 ¢ LOCKED BEHIND A GATE at the Canfor Eburne Sawmill in Vancouver were Local 2171 members who occupied the plant for five weeks. Pictured are I.W.A. CANADA National Presidént Dave Haggard and Local 2171 President Darrel Wong, who spoke at a protest rally on March 26, the day the mill permanently closed. Sawmill occupation ends with jobs agreement for Eburne employees prolonged sawmill occu- pation lasting five weeks ended on May 1 in Van- couver, B.C., when I.W.A. Local 2171 members from. the now-closed Canadian Forest Products Eburne Sawmill voted to accept an agreement, negotiated between the local and the company, that will create replacement jobs, and offer improved severance pack- ages and retirement bridging. On March 25, over 150 workers began to occupy the Canfor millsite, scheduled to close the following day, to protest the planned demolition of the company’s last solid wood man- ufacturing plant on the Coast of B.C. The union learned from a source that Canfor was planning to tear the mill down with non-union crews. Until the day the workers occu- pied the mill, Canfor had refused to give any guarantees of solid wood sector manufacturing jobs, would not address any job security issues, and would not talk about better retirement and/or severance pack- ages for the displaced workers. On March 4, when the company announced that it would not reverse its decision to close Eburne, which was the last operation attached to ‘Tree Farm Licence #37 on Vancou- ver Island, the I.W.A. demanded that the provincial government take away Canfor’s tenure, In the ensuing weeks the union ut pressure on Canfor to keep burne open, or to at least build a solid wood conversion facility on the Coast which would employ I.W.A. members, The company said no. The B.C. government put pres- sure on the company to comply with its tree farm license and was inves- tigating the legal ramifications of Canfor’s move to shut down its last mill when the occupation took place. The agreement reached on May 1, was a revised version of a tentative agreement that was rejected on March 30, following intense negoti- ations between the Local 2171 and Canfor. The big difference the sec- ond time around, following the five week mill occupation, was that Can- for committed to build a manufac- turing facility in the Lower Main- land. The company will construct a veneer slicing facility on its Panel and Fibre Division site in New West- minster. It will run the new opera- tion, which will employ between 30- 40 people on one shift, as a separate operation with a separate seniority list. In turn, a new collective agree- ment will be negotiated between Canfor and I.W.A. CANADA Local 1-3567. The company has also finalized an agreement with Primex Forest Products to ship about 300,000 cubic meters of wood a year to Primex’s Acorn mill in Delta, which is also in the Lower Mainland. This will cre- ate a minimum of 30 full-time I.W.A. positions for Eburne workers. Former Eburne workers will also be eligible for jobs at the Langdale Dryland Sort, on the Sunshine Coast, which will be soon be owned by Can- for. The company has committed to adding a second shift which will provide a minimum of 30 jobs. CALC NCARAT All in all, the Eburne closure agreement is one of the most com- prehensive closure agreements ever negotiated by an I.W.A. local union. “This agreement recognizes the linkage of timber licenses to manu- facturing jobs,” said Local 2171 President Gary Kobayashi, follow- ing the second vote. “That is the basis of our fight against Canfor.” “The occupation of the mill by our members motivated the company to come to a final agreement, which includes the construction of a com- pletely new facility in the Lower Mainland and other guaranteed, real jobs in manufacturing and the industry.” “The actions of the crew at Eburne helped push the company into com- mitting to new capital investment which is rare in the industry today,” added Brother Kobayashi. He said that the location of the new veneer plant in the Lower Main- land and the jobs at Primex, were two important factors in getting an agreement. “At the end of the day, the mem- bers that want to are going to be able to stay in the industry, and protect their pension and benefit plans,” added Kobayashi. “Jobs are sacred these days and some of our members have 20, 30 years and more in the industry.” Brother Kobayashi said the role of the NDP government was instru- mental in getting thé company to make new expenditure to create jobs. Continued on page two BREST ET SNR OAR Bush workers get ready in north Ontario The I.W.A. can expect a wet set of negotiations with forest industry employers in northern Ontario this summer. If past sets of contract talks are any indication, union nego- tiating teams in Locals 2696 and 1- 2995 better have their chest waders on. “We expect the forest companies will be crying poverty again this year,” said Norm Rivard, President of IL.W.A. CANADA Local 1-2995. “They are professional criers who always want the union to believe that they are going down the tubes.” Wilf McIntyre, President of Local 2693 expects the upcoming sets of negotiations in the sawmills and bush operations to be tough. Con- tracts for most collective agree- ments expire on August 31, 1998. “The companies, especially in the sawmill sector have been making piles of money, but we expect that these sets of negotiations will be no different, and even tougher than sets of negotiations in years past,” said Brother McIntyre. Brother Rivard said that employ- ers will give the union the line that they have reinvested their revenues in the mills and bush operations. “In our local we haven’t really seen that much as far as modern- ization goes in the past couple of years,” he said. “But we have seen a lot of logs cut, a lot of lumber pro- duced and a lot of pulp logs taken to the mills.” Both local union presidents par- ticipated in two wage and contract conferences held in March and April along with delegates from both Local 2693 and 1-2995. Approximately 60 delegates rep- resenting 15 sawmills gathered in Hearst, Ontario on March 12 and 13 Continued on page three IFBWW condemns Greenpeace Forest, wood and building work- ers from around the world have con- demned Greenpeace for its unfounded campaign against British Columbia forest products, reports I.W.A. CANADA. Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on May 27, the International Feder- ation of Building and Woodworkers (IFBWW) passed a resolution “to condemn the actions taken by Green- peace in British Columbia.” The IFBWW’s action was a response to Greenpeace’s so-called “Great Bear” rainforest campaign, in which the Amsterdam-based extremist group is trying to con- vince companies to boycott British Columbia forest products in support of its campaten against any har- vesting of “old-growth” timber on B.C.’s central coast. The Federation, which represents some 259 unions and 12.9 million Continued on page three TLE DALLA AREER IES