e At convention media conference showcasing new members were (I. to r.) Local 1-3567’s Tom Aikman from New members Continued from page one recover the resources that it has poured into organizing for several years, the organizing and growth campaign is essential. “In the long-run organizing new members will ensure that our union is stable and will flourish without the concern of being eaten up by a larger union,” he said. “We must build on our traditional forest indus- try base and continue to reach out to all sectors of the workforce to do this.” “In the past we made mistakes,” he added. “We became fat and sassy and believed our union would grow as certifications themselves became larger. Those days have been over for quite a few years. Now we are going back to the belief that the basic function of a union is to orga- nize, educate and motivate new members.” He acknowledged that other major unions like the Canadian Autowork- ers, the United Steelworkers of America and the International Asso- ciation of Machinists are also out there organizing anything that moves. “I think the unions that will pre- vail are those who are there first to show that they can provide the best opportunity for members to partici- pate in their organizations,” he added. On the issue of mergers with other unions, he said the I.W.A. is open for such possibilities with smaller, compatible unions. “When smaller unions keep get- ting beat up by corporations they go looking for a home with a larger strike fund and a larger (member- ship) base to help support them,” said Haggard. Ryan Mcintosh, a line mechanic at the Naya Natural Spring Water plant in Revelstoke told the media that some of the main reasons his Delta Play, Patricia Lewis from the International House of Pancakes, Donna Bell from Snowcap Lumber Ltd., Local 1-417’s Ryan McIntosh from Naya Natural Spring Water and Local 2171’s Lloyd Cronk from Fabrene Inc. fellow workers joined the I.W.A. was to seek higher wages, seniority, job postings, some retirement bene- fits and tool and clothing allowances. He and 74 other hourly employ- ees joined Local 1-417 in July this year and are still seeking a first contract at press time. Naya has another unionized plant in Mirabel, Quebec and is the leading brand of Canadian natural spring water in the world. Donna Bell, a dryer operator at the Snowcap Lumber Ltd. veneer slicing plant in Abbotsford, told the media that the I.W.A. was “the easi- est union to talk to.” She point to job security and wages as major issues. “There was a lot of favoritism there and we needed some job secu- rity provisions to protect us,” she added. Fourteen hourly workers joined Local 1-3567 in April of this year which successfully negotiated a first collective agreement. The plant pro- duces high quality veneer products from moan alder, fir, western hem- lock and other softwood and hard- wood species. Patricia Lewis, a server from the JHOP restaurant in Coquitlam, one of three such operations that Local 1-8567 organized between February and ‘Apritof 1998, said that impor- tant issues for some 89 other work- ers include wages, safety issues and management issues. Prior to joining the union, she had not received a wage increase for more than 8 years. : THOP is a major service industry employer which owns, operates and franchises over eight hundred 24- hour-a-day family restaurants in Canada, 36 American states and Japan. Tom Aikman, a painter/fiber- glasser and a certified safety officer from the Delta Play manufacturing operation in Delta, B.C. said the crew of 51 workers joined Local 1- 3567 in August of this year to stop contracting out of their work. The company is a producer, dis- tributor and assembler of indoor/out- door modular playground products which are seen in various locations including McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Delta Play, established in 1991, ships and installs its products around the world and has customers in countries including the United States, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, and Costa Rica. Also answering questions at the press conference was Lloyd Cronk, a production team employee and new member of I.W.A. CANADA Local 2171 which certified workers at the Fabrene Inc. plant in Rich- mond, B.C. He has become an active member of the union’s plant com- mittee which ratified a first collec- tive agreement on July 2, following certification in February of this year. Fabrene Inc, is a manufacturer of high strength, laminated woven polyethylene fabrics. It produces lumber wrap at its Richmond opera- tion, that employs up to 33 workers. Le Ee Rough year Continued from page one North American economy — not the least of which is the lumber indus- try. As U.S. lumber and log exporters have also lost Asian markets, they have focused on domestic markets, driving down lumber prices. I.W.A. National Research Direc- tor Doug Smyth says that since the Japanese lumber market collapsed last year, sales to that country have declined by about 1.2 billion board feet in an 18 month period (January 1997 - July 1998). However, since that decline and in recent weeks, sales of premium J-grade 2 x 4’s, which bring rev- enues of $60 per thousand board feet more than lumber sold south of the line, have increased. Some Inte- rior mills are starting to ship back to Japan. All in all, it has been a devastat- ing year for most B.C. locals. The local hit the hardest and the longest is Local 2171 (Vancouver and the Loggers’ Local). Local union president Darrel Wong told the Lumberworker that in excess of 2,000 members in his local have been laid off during the past year. As it heads into the Christ- mas season, about three-quarters of Local 2171’s 7,000 members are down. In November, Western Forest Products laid off 400 workers indef- initely, most of whom work on north- ern Vancouver Island. This year the Western crew will be laid off 5 to 5- 1/2 months, which is unheard of, said Wong. ¥ In March, the local lost over 200 jobs when Canfor permanently closed its door at their Eburne sawmill division in Vancouver. The Interfor Squamish sawmill remains boarded up and shut down indefinitely. He said that some of the larger logging operations such as MacMil- Jan Bloedel and TimberWest may go back earlier in the new year, but that nothing is definite. The picture is less certain for numerous con- tractor camps, most of which had shortened work years. In Local 1-80, only MacBlo’s Chemainus sawmill has worked all year while all other manufacturing operations have seen down time because of high inventory. Local union president Bill Rout- ley said that all of the local union’s Doman operations in Cowichan, Chemainus, Nanaimo and Lady- smith had shorter years, as has TimberWest’s Youbou mill which lost over 6 weeks due to market con- ditions and lack of log supply. “Private lands and the resulting lower wood costs have been factors that have kept our operations going,” he said. The worst hit was the CIPA mill in Nanaimo which was down for a full year before it went back to one shift only. Local 1-80 loggers have seen lots of layoffs, although not as severe because they have been cutting wood on private and federal lands. The local union has made an issue of TimberWest’s and MacBlo’s log exports from those lands. In Port Alberni Local 1-85, Local union president Larry Rewakowsky said that in 1998 there was only about a two month period when all certifications, except for a couple of small camps, were working. Both Western Forest Products and Doman Industries had a rough year, with both have summer shut- downs in logging and early year ends. Doman’s Tahsis mill only worked 5 months and has lots of inventory to sell. At MacBlo, the Alberni Pacific mill went back in February and has had as many as 335 working, down from 470 last year. Franklin River logging division lost 100 jobs and operated with about 275 union members. January of 1998 was the last offi- cial date for Kennedy Lake logging crew which had not operated since the summer of 1997. Brother Rewakowsky said that MB’s logging plans for next year are up in the air and that the local is concerned that if they don’t get back to work before too long, both APD and the Somass cedar mill will run out of fiber. Sonny Ghag, President of Local 1- 3567 in Surrey, said that it has been “a bad year, all around.” Interfor Flavelle cedar closed down in Port Moody over three months ago, throwing more than 200 out of work indefinitely. The company has also put its Western White Wood linc mill on one shift. - One hundred and forty people were laid off when the Cantree ply- wood plant on Annacis Island shut down in November. It originally closed in March and then started up again in August to run out the exist- ing stock. Lindal Cedar Homes in Surrey has been down for several months and the local has suffered perma- nent closures at Douglas Homes in Delta, Nortec in Abbottsford and the Elkwood and Imperial Lumber reman operations in Maple Ridge and Surrey, respectively. ‘There’s some operations that are barely hanging in there — espe- cially the remanners,” said Ghag. In addition the local union’s 600 loggers had a lousy year. “Some didn’t see any work and those that did (eg. Interfor, Catter- mole Logging, Pretty’s Timber and Lineham) had a short season,” he added. The local has over 5,200 members when times are good. This year those numbers dipped below 4,200. “We’re hoping that with the decrease in stumpage fees and an allowance of more wood waste, that things will pick up next year as markets improve,” said Ghag. Sy Pederson, President of Local 363 in Courtenay said his local took a big hit when Campbell River Mills closed down permanently, costing 140 jobs. Although the last day of production was in November of 1997, the local union fought most of this year to put together a rescue plan. The company filed for bankruptcy in May of this year. Local 363 saw its membership at MacMillan Bloedel go from 540 workers to 350, following the com- pany’s restructuring at logging divi- sions at Menzies Bay, Eve River, and Kelsey Bay. Brother Pederson is “cautiously optimistic” that there will be more jobs at MB as the annual allowable cut is supposed to go up by 40% next year if markets recover. Local 1-405 President Bob Mat- ters told the Lumberworker that the closure of the Crestbrook Forest Industries sawmill in Cranbrook has cost the loss of 90 jobs. Now only about 80 jobs remain at the mill site’s planer which receives wood from the company’s mills in Elko and Canal Flats. Because both of those operations have lost the third shift at their planer, about 90 jobs are gone. At the Slocan Forest Products plant in Slocan the crew has been Continued on page thirty-two el 2/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1998 : :