= ee

Ra daa A= ny
cil
< ay

ai am

e Proud of his new, and larger office, is Local 1-423 First Vice President
Ben Landis.

Local 1-423 Office

Continued from page fifteen

9-1/2’ with about 1-1/2’ of space to
hang a suspended ceiling around
the duct work.

In addition, all of the trim, base-
board, doors and cabinet work was
done on site.

The work on the office began in
the plant on August 10 and all work
was completed by the end of Octo-
ber, despite some delays for contrac-
tor work on the site.

“This place is built solid and to
last,” said Local 1-423 First Vice
President Ben Landis. “And the
final finishing is to the best stan-
dards possible.”

PLANT PRODUCES CUSTOM JOBS

“We can produce just about any
design the customer wants,” said
Mr. Sommerfeld, in an interview
with the Lumberworker. “It just
comes down to a cost factor as to
what the customer wants and what
they are willing to pay for.”

Chapparal is in the “high-end” of
manufactured housing products.
The real difference between it and
other competitors is the quality in
the end product.

All the homes are fully wall-
boarded and there is no steel frame
involved. They are also built with
MacMillan Bloedel’s Silent Truss
floor joist.

“If you look at your house that is
stick built, that is what you are buy-
ing from Chaparral,” said Sommer-
feld.

Over 98% of the orders that the
company gets are for custom orders
although it does offer standard floor
plans.

Chapparal uses quality compo-
nents which are mostly produced
locally. It uses NAP windows,
McGregor Thompson door locks and
accessories, Norelco or Westwood
Cabinets and Riverside Forest Prod-
ucts building materials.

Imported components, added to
customer specifications, include
Peerless Carpets, Armstrong Floor-
ing, General Electric appliances and

Moen water faucets.

“Our prices are competitive with
lower end products who go through
dealerships,” he said.

Most of Chaparral’s customers
are in British Columbia, and pri-
marily in the Okanagan Valley. In
the past year it has sold homes to
customers in Yellowknife and Daw-
son.

LOOKING TOWARDS BETTER TIMES

The recession in the B.C. econ-
omy has hit most manufactured
homes companies in the province.
Mr. Sommerfeld said that the reces-
sion in his industry has never been
so hard for so long.

This year, the I.W.A. crew has
worked only 7 of the last 12 months.

Most workers are staying in the
Kelowna area, despite the slump.

“T can honestly say that, over 18
years, I haven’t seen too many guys
leave over a layoff period and never
come back,” he said.

Sommerfeld said that the indus-
try peaked in 1992, the year that
Chapparal built the Pacific National
Exhibition prize home, and has not
been as robust since then.

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s
the company had lucrative markets
in such areas as Saltspring Island,
Ladner and White Rock.

“T think we have a good relation-
ship with our customers and we are
hoping that markets will come back
after the recession clears up,” he
added. Chapparal is now working
with a Prince George developer in
designing manufactured home with
wood siding exteriors.

“One thing our clients like to know
is whether or not there will be a
labour dispute if they get into a
larger project,” he said. “Our answer
is that there have been no walkouts
since 1980, which speaks to the
issue of labour relations in the plant.
I think we have a good rapport with
Local 1-423 and the members.”

“The labour relations at Chappa-
ral are very good and has been so
for 8-10 years,” said Brother Cald-
well. “There is a fully trained crew
there and our union and manage-
ment are cooperating to do things
together for our mutual benefit.”

Rough year
Continued from page two

working 4 day weeks for prolonged
periods of time and has just gone
back to 5 days.

Other mills like Pope and Talbot,
Kalesnikoff and Galloway Lumber
are taking down time over the
Christmas holidays.

Matters said the only real bright
spot in the last year has been the
Evans Forest Products plywood
operation in Golden which has done
a complete turnaround from near
closure two years ago.

In Local 1-417, 1998 was not.a
good year. The Ainsworth sawmill
went down for good in January,
throwing 60 people out of work.

On February 12 of next year the
Weyerhaeuser Merritt sawmill will
be shutting down for good, leaving
about 45 workers in the planer.
Weyerhaeuser’s claims that the mill
is not viable and has a lack of prof-
itability is still being challenged by
the union, said Local 1-417 Presi-
dent Doug Pockett.

Elsewhere Local 1-417 has seen
about 60 long term layoffs at the
Slocan Valemount sawmill which
exports primarily to Japan.

In Kelowna Local 1-423, presi-
dent Troi Caldwell said that Weyer-
haeuser Lumby operation will go
down due to lack a profitability on
February 12 of 1999. One hundred
and thirty union jobs will be perma-
nently lost.

The Milestone Wood products
reman operation in Vernon closed.
permanently in June of this year
over the issue of timber supply,

profitability and markets.

All of the local union’s Riverside
Forest Products sawmill, plywood
and veneer operations have stayed
stable in the communities of Arm-
strong, Lumby, and Kelowna.

“Over the short term we don’t
forecast changes, but if the reces-
sion lasts very much longer, would
predict that two major operations in

our local could be in jeopardy,” said
Caldwell.

In northern B.C. Local 1-424,
Financial Secretary Frank Everitt
said that “we’ve certainly seen our
share of curtailments and some of
them might not spring back.”

In March of next year, Canfor’s
Netherlands operation in Prince
George will be permanently closing,
due to markets conditions, and 160
jobs will be finished.

At Slocan’s Fort Nelson sawmill
and plywood plant complex, over
110 workers have suffered prolonged
shift layoffs while at Finlay Forest
Product in MacKenzie, 70 people
where put on the unemployment
rolls when the old number one plant
closed this year. \

At Weldwood’s Quesnel plywood
and sawmill plants, reconfigura-
tions caused the loss of 110 jobs this
past summer.

In the value added sector, the
local union is concerned about the
well-being of workers at Burns Lake
Specialties, which has been losing
money for over 5 years.

Local 1-425 President Brian
Symmes told the Lumberworker
that Riverside Forest Products’ late
October shutdown of its stud mill
portion in Soda Creek, will cause up
to 70 lost jobs, although the com-
pany only claims there will be 41

jobs gone. The local says the left-
over small log mill and planer will
not be running to full capacity in
the future, causing the additional
job loss.

“Most of our plants (except River-
side Williams Lake and the Weld-
wood Plywood plant in Williams
Lake) are taking down time from
one week to longer over the Christ-
mas and New Years period,” said.
Brother Symmes.

“We have felt job loss in various
operations who have lost their third
shifts.”

Loeb markets
Continued from page twenty-six

nificant hee of our local union,”
said Brother Diotte who represent
over 800 members in 17 operations.
“In fact in the three stores there are
some of our more active members.’

Local 700’s Barb Noftall, a cashier
at the York Gate store, is first vice
brasidens of the local. She was a

lelegate to the first I.W.A. national
women’s conference last year and
attended this year’s national con-
vention in Vancouver.

Former Executive Board Member
Liz Connor and now Trustee, from
the Ajax store, is a former commit-
tee chairperson. She attended the
second women’s conference in Win-
nipeg this year.

eanwhile Anne Turner from the
York Gate store is a local trustee
and Debbie Edelist, from Coulter’s
Mill is 700’s recording secretary.

The Loeb certifications makes the
local union a more diverse one. It
has other operations in such areas
of the economy as building supplies,
warehousing and distribution, fur-
niture manufacturing, trucking and
plastics manufacturing.

Zuabods seaueny the eae
operations are generally very good,
said the local union president. “We
hit the odd bump in the road but we
(both union and management) try to
work together.”

Brother Diotte noted that in the
Ontario economy, as at the Loeb
operations, there are more and more
part time jobs.

He recalled, about 8 months ago,
when the provincial government of
Mike Harris released the latest job
creation figures in Ontario.

Harris said the government help
create 70,000 new jobs.

“Some guy at the back of the hall
got up and said, ‘Yeah, I know. My
wife’s got three of those,” recalled
Brother Diotte.

¢ Local trustee Anne Turner, at
York Gate store.

Bonn

Continued from page eleven

standard-setting discussions. Mr.
Synnott now realises that PPWC is
not fully representative of workers
in the forest sector. As well, asa
result of this conference, there will
be strong pressure from IFBWW on
certifying bodies, including FSC
and CSA, to ensure that affiliated
unions are fully involved in develop-
ing, implementing and monitoring
any standards, criteria and indica-
tors.

Let’s face it, we still have serious
problems in the areas of trade, mar-
ket access and certification. It is
still a minefield, full of dangers.
Unions, not just I.W.A. CANADA,
are in uncharted and unfamiliar
territory here. But I also believe
that there is no power greater than
the international workers’ move-
ment once it achieves unity and
works together on an issue. On this
issue, after last week, I believe we
are getting there.

It will be important to stay in
touch with other affiliates of
IFBWW,, particularly the Germans.
We must find ways to bring FSC
closer to reality and farther from
Greenpeace. As a start, recommend
that although we continue to partic-
ipate in CSA, we also continue to
meet Mr. Synnott: let’s see how well
he digests the position we put for-
ward in Bonn and how far he is going
toward a reasonable process to set
regional standards in the various
parts of Canada, starting with B.C.

As well, let’s meet with forest
industry representatives to learn
more about their views on FSC, CSA
and forest certification issues.

As the world economy becomes
more global and as trade issues
become increasingly central to the
success or failure of the companies
for whom our members work, it will
be increasingly important to solidify
our relations with unions elsewhere
in the world. We need, therefore, to
ensure that we continue to work in

organizations like IFBWW.

ee
32/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1998