Chaw Young Continued from page eight tried to organize Louisiana Pacific, Chaw has been our main inside organizer and during each unfair labour practice that we have filed against the company, Chaw’s signa- ture has been on it,” said Kotz in an interview with the Lumberworker. In a best case scenario, if all turns out well as a result of the Labour Relations Board hearing which took place on August 19-21, the union would get automatic certification and Brother Young would get his job back. He was fired after the door to his loader was found locked following an employer suggestion to him to keep it unlocked. ‘or several weeks, on occasions, Young locked the door and gave the key to another worker when he went on coffee breaks. The reason for this is that one time some union mem- bership cards, which he kept in his jacket pocket, went missing from the loader and wound up in man- agement’s hands. Under Manitoba labour law the union and its supporters can not approach workers to sign union cards during production time. But workers can be approached on com- pany property during coffee breaks and lunches. When his cards disappeared from the loader, the union suspected that it was an inside job — either an anti-union employee or a manager swiped them. “They (Louisiana Pacific) know from the last drive that I was strongly behind $ tt (the WA.) and was trying to get it into the plant.” — Chaw Young When Chaw was confronted by management over the cards he first denied ownership of them as he wanted to keep the signatures confi- dential. Upon receiving legal advice, he returned to the workplace to claim the cards. The employer informed them that they were destroyed. “He just got a little nervous at the start when he was brought into management’s office and was sur- rised that the cards were in the Beds of the employer,” said Kotz. “We advised Chaw to claim the cards as is his legal right. He has a legal right to join the union and promote the union from the inside.” i Young started to lock his loader and drop off the key with a worker in the immediate area. The loader was assigned to Young during his shift. “It (the locked loader door) never became an issue until the green end supervisor decided to make it an issue,” said Kotz, who accompanied Brother Young to the labour board hearing. “When the supervisor talked to Chaw on the day he was fired, the loader door wasn’t, in fact, locked. ® But an hour later, out of habit, Chaw locked it again.” “It may have been a mistake to lock the loader but there was a heck of a lot more to the firing than just a locked loader,” said Kotz. e The company argued that the dis- missal of ae was a paates ve step in discipline which built upon a suspension that he was given in September of 1997 for taking extra minutes on his coffee break. But the union fought that suspen- sion too, arguing that many employ- ees do the same thing, and that the company was focusing in on Chaw because of his union activity. The unfair labour practice was won by the union with the agree- ment that the company would delete the suspension record from Chaw’s file after six months, as long as there were no further violations. He went through the next six months without a hitch. “Louisiana Pacific was supposed, as it had agreed, to drop that sus- pension from Chaw’s personnel file and it didn’t,” said Kotz. “The Labour y ° Local 324 member Chaw Young. Relations Board has to take this into consideration when they decide whether or not L-P has treated Chaw fairly.” During the last two union drives, Chaw continued to speak out in favour of the union in the lunch- rooms. “They (L-P) know from the last drive that I was strongly behind it (the I.W.A) and was trying to get it into the plant,” said Brother Young, in an interview with the Lumber- worker. “Everybody (the workers) in the plant knows that I’m behind the union and that what went on isa crock,” he said. “Even the guys that were against the union are finally waking up and opening their eyes...” Young, who has a background a crew lead hand in the mining indus- try and on the Canadian National railway, has been around and seen quite a bit happen during his work life. But he has never seen the kind of games that L-P plays. “The company only brings out safety issues when they want to dis- cipline somebody,” he said. “They also practice a lot of favoritism. If you are not their friend or what- ever, you would get written up for something.” Young said the wages were never a concern to most employees until they found out how much I.W.A. Local 1-424 members make at the L-P plant in Dawson Creek, B.C. and at the Saskfor MacMillan OSB plant in Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, certified to I-W.A. Local 1-184. “A lot of guys, and even people in the (Swan River) valley, are now starting to get the true story about L-P,” he added. After talking to several business people and other community mem- ers, the story on Louisiana Pacific is spreading. “At first they thought it was just a couple of guys who were disgruntled but after talking to more workers from the plant, the people are start- ing to find out the truth,” he said. Paul Hallen a union organizer and an executive board member with Local 1-184, has worked on all three campaigns in Swan River. “It’s unfortunate that today, in our society, workers can’t make their choice to join a union without dealing with a whole bunch of garbage from their employers,” he said. “The government allows too much interference and permits employers like L-P to create a nega- tive perception of the union. Work- ers need to be able to seek informa- tion about a union and how they can become involved in it without intimidation from their bosses.” Amoco Fabric Continued from page ten lock out procedures and Workplace Hazardous Information Systems. Each worker is given his/her own lock and name tag to shut down the power source when necessary. Up to six locks can be put in place ata time. “If a worker has left to go home before all locks are removed, we will call them back to take his lock off,” said Larocque. “Safety is the num- ber one consideration. When we train on the job, we always train on safety procedures too.” The crew has been given exten- sive awareness training on working with hazardous materials such as methyl chloride and solvents used to clean machinery. Tn the plant there is a room which contains emergency fire fighting equipment for a special response brigade of 15 workers. Most fires occur near extruders where there may be overheating of primary mate- rials. In 1990 the Hawkesbury opera- tion had one of the worst safety records in the Amoco chain, with cuts, bruises and crushed fingers. It was also a crowded plant. All of that has changed for the better during the past eight years, and, as a result the company’s WCB premiums have dropped. Amoco operates a program, with the union, to reintegrate injured and disabled workers back into the workforce. It brings in a doctor on a regular basis to oversee the pro- gram. CONTRACT RENEWED In October of last year, Local 1000 signed a new three year collective agreement following the expiry of the last contract in December of 1996. It was a tough set of negotia- tions for the membership. In September of 1997, the union voted 92% in favour of striking the company over its list of concession demands that would have gutted the agreement on such issues as overtime, seniority, and vacation periods. i “The company was trying to limit vacations to no more than four days at a time, which made the member- ship very upset,” said Brother da Costa. “Amoco was using the vaca- tion issue as a smoke screen to get other concessions. But the member- ship stuck together and got the com- pany to back down.” The membership was solid, despite the fact that many of the workers had been laid-off for over four months in 1997. A contract was eventually settled, paying the workers an additional 6- 1/2% over three years. The I.W.A. negotiation committee consisted of Brother McCarter, Ginette Leveille, Roger Sauve, Serge Larocque, Gilles Crete and Yvon Rochon. EF e Pictured in the union’s own office space, which is situated in the plant, are local executive board member and business agent Yvon Rochon (I.) and Serge Larocque, union co-chair of the joint OH&S committee. Ed Henderson Continued from page nine short long lengths have been sub- merged for at least 30 minutes, The mill can handle 5,000 - 9,000 logs on a 12 hour shift. After chipping the flakes go through a 3 dryer system which are about 100 feet in length. After combing resin and wax with the flakes, the material is laid down in angles on four different levels; the bottom, the bottom core, the top core and the top surface. The presses squeeze the flakes LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 1998/15 together at 2,750 lbs./square inch and at a temperature of 410° F. The 8’ x 24’ sheets go through a flying trim saws which trim two edges simultaneously and then through flying cut off saws which cut the lengths. Some of the thicker boards are send to machinery which cuts a tongue and groove. Among the stock that the Dawson Creek plant produces is 15/32”, 1/2”, 19/32”, 23/32”, and 7/8”. Before shipping the lifts of ori- ented strandboard are let cool for at least 24 hours. Most of the product is shipped out by rail and “B” trains.