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Local 324 gives third attempt to
organize L-P plant in Swan River

“If at first (and second) you don’t
succeed, try, try again...” That could
very well be the I.W.A.’s motto when
it comes to organizing Louisiana
Pacific.

For I.W.A.CANADA Local 324
the motto fits well. On August 18 -
20 the local union went in front of

the Manitoba Labour Relations
Board during its third attempt to
organize the company’s oriented
strandboard plant in Swan River,
about a two hour drive south of local
union headquarters in The Pas.

The local union had tried twice
before to oranize the plant workers
in the rural farming community in
the Swan River valley. The first try,
in January and February of 1996
resulted in a lost vote of 40 workers
for the union and 87 against.

In October of last year, the vote
resulted in a dead heat of 59 for and
59 against.

The third time the ballot boxes
were sealed prior to the LRB hear-
ings. As of press time, the results of
that vote are not known.

“All the attempts that we have
had at organizing the Swan River
plant have been building blocks in
getting these workers into the
I.W.A.,” said Local 324 President
Jim Anderson.

“This Spring more people in the
plant started to realize that man-
agement is not going to give them
what they want as far as signifi-
cantly better pay and work condi-
tions go,” he said in an interview
with the Lumberworker. “If they
want to defend their rights they
have to unite to help themselves.”

On May 27, 1998 the local union
filed application for the third vote of
the members at the OSB plant.

Following the application and
after the LRB had its posters up in

the operation advertising the certi-
fication vote, L-P plant manager
Jim Heineman wrote to the employ-
ees advising them that they should
exercise their legal right to vote. He
also said that, a day before the vote
on June 2, the company was giving
the employees an across-the-board
wage increase of 6%.

6/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 1998

“After we heard that L-P was giv-
ing the workers a wage increase,

the day before a vote, we asked the {

LEB’ to séal the ballot box and
demanded a hearing,” said Brother
Anderson. “We called this blatant
interference in the I.W.A.’s vote an
unfair labour practice.’

During the organizing campaign
L-P had informed the employees
that they were to get a wage increase.
They were just never told where or
when.

“All along we said to the workers
that L-P should go ahead and give
them a raise,” said Anderson. “We
had no problem with the crew get-
ting a raise because of the union
drive. It’s the timing of the raise
one day before the vote that was so
sleazy.

“Louisiana Pacific tries some
pretty backwards stuff sometimes.
They’re like hillbillies when it comes
to labour relations.”

The union also went in front of
the LRB to fight for the reinstate-
ment of Chaw Young (see story this
page) who, the I.W.A. argued, was
fired for his support of the union.
“Chaw stuck his neck out on behalf
of the other employees that have
worked at Swan River,” said Ander-
son. “We commend him for that.”

“Louisiana Pacific is trying to
make an example out of Chaw and
put fear into other employees that if
they try to exercise their legal rights,
the company is prepared to punish
them,” added Anderson.

Also at issue during the labour
board hearings, was the issue of L-P
stacking the voters’ list against the
union with summer students and
other individuals. The ballots are
sealed until the labour board deci-
sion,

The primary issues of job security
and wages have been festering at
Swan River since the plant opened
in early 1996.

L-P pays a base rate of about
$10.00/hr. which is far behind the
industry standard and there is no
security for the workers. ‘

It is capitalizing on a workforce in
an area of the province where wages

are generally low by comparison.
“When the company came into

Swan River it offered a little bit .

more than most people are getting
in the area,” said local union execu-

tive board member and organizer
Mike Kotz. “The employees are gen-
erally young men with little or no
experience in industrial jobs.”

“Many of the crew are from farms
in the valley and have never been
exposed to a major multinational
employer like L-P,” he added. “In
the organizing campaigns we have
had to explain what the rest of the
industry is like and how they are
being taken advantage of. I guess L-
P wants the workers in Swan River
to think they are in a different
world.”

“Most of the crew has a sense of
what is fair and just and realizes
that they have been treated very
unfairly by the employer,” said
Brother Kotz.

The I.W.A.’s National Education
Director Lyle Pona, then Director of
Organizing in January and Febru-
ary of 1997 during the union’s first
campaign, said that in Swan River
there is little exposure to unions.

“There’s not many unions in the
valley other than the United Food
and Commercial Workers and a few
public sector unions, so there is not
much of a tradition to build on,”
said Ponaa. “It’s a tough one to orga-
nize for the local union.”

“Tn this part of Manitoba the local
has done a great job in educating
the Swan River crew on their jobs
in the forest industry, on what the
LW.A. is about in the industry and
on what unions are all about in soci-
ety,” said Pona. “The young folks
are vulnerable as L-P can focus in
pretty fast on people who try to
organize.”

During the first campaign, the
company introduced a new manage-
ment system called “Rapid Change
Technology.”

The idea was to bring the workers
in, sit them down with manage-
ment, and have some form of “par-
ticipatory democracy” in the work-
place. Workers’ concerns were to be

heard by management as they were
“empowered” to speak their minds.

For over two days, both manage-
ment and workers went through 2
process and L-P was cautious how it
treated the participants. a

“Because it all happened during
the sign up period, the company
was able to get support against the
union and give the workers an illu-
sion that they were important in
decision-making,” said Pona. “We
told the crew all along that if the
company wants to include a pro-
gram that is going to make things
better for them, we’re not opposed
to that — we will work with them
on that respect.”

Today the new management sys-
tem is non-functional in the plant.

Chaw Young
fights for
certification

In each of the I.W.A.’s campaigns
to organize Louisiana Pacific plants
in Canada, individuals have stepped
forward to help the union out dur-
ing its campaigns.

In the case of organizing the ori-
ented strandboard plant in Swan
River, Manitoba, one of those indi-
viduals was 41 year old Chaw Young,
a heavy equipment operator.

On August 18 and 19 the union
went in front of the Manitoba Labour
Relations Board to get Brother
Young his job back after he was
fired on trumped up charges.

I.W.A. CANADA Local 324 told
the LRB that L-P fired Young for
union activity and not for reasons of
insubordination.

Local union organizer and execu-
tive board member Mike Kotz has
worked with Brother Young in the
second and third campaigns.

“During those times that we have

Continued on page fifteen