Barrel cleaning plant
not for teatotallers

ake a walk through the Can-

bar Inc. whiskey barrel recy-

peneplent in the commu-

nity of Harrow, Ontario and
you can get a pretty good whiff of
the straight stuff. For teetotallers it
is not the place to be.

Whisky, glorious whiskey. You
can smell it in the air yet there is

a drop to drink.

“tts hard to ignore on a Monday
morning when you first come in,”
says 25 year man Ron Thibeault.
“But after half an hour you don’t
hardly notice it at all. You get accli-
mated to it — that’s all.”

In the operation, I.W.A. CANADA
Local 500 members take empty,
used whiskey barrels and recondi-
tion them to be filled again. They
pop the tops of the barrels off, remove
the burnt char and then rechar and
reseal them. The barrels then go to
the Hiram Walker and Sons Inc
distillery in Windsor for refilling.

When you buy your Canadian
Club whiskey, you know they were
erred and aged in unionized bar-
rels,

“Tell the rest of the members in
the I.W.A. to buy Hiram Walker,”
says Brother Thibeault. “It helps
keep us working and we really would
appreciate it.”

No doubt many I.W.A. members
already do.

About 200 members of the Cana-
dian Autoworkers are employed at
the Hiram Walker distillery and
they demand that the reconditioned
barrels be processed by union labour.

“The company says that the bar-
rels need a union stamp,” says plant
Chairman Rick Laliberté. “After we
get get through with them we put
our Local 500 stamp and them along
with the month cal the year.”

When the Lumberworker toured
the plant last October there was a
crew of 5 union members at work,
down from its usual workforce of
seven. There was also a fresh semi-
trailer load of bourbon whiskey bar-
rels in the shipping bay from Bard-
stown, Kentucky, which were being
hand bombed off by the crew.

The smell of bourbon was in the

air!
Hiram Walker buys the used
American barrels because, south of
the line, as they only use the bar-

&

" * Here 25 year man Ron Thibeault, is standing by the rechar machine which
_ torches the inside of the barrels to burn out all the remaining alcohol.

rels once in the United States. In
Canada, they can be used several
times.

THE PROCESS

After the barrels are unloaded
they are deheaded. The two top
bands (a head hoop and a quarter
hoop) are manually banged off with
a soft hammer and a wedge, known
as a “drive.” It’s a demanding job
that really builds the upper body.

Then Hig barrels go down a con-
veyor belt to the dechar station
where stainless steel brushes, rotat-
ing in a circular up-and-down motion
on a hydraulic system, scrape out
the excess char which falls into a pit
below.

Then they go to the rechar where
the insides of the barrels are hit
with gas flames to burn any of the
excess alcohol out of the barrel. Sub-
sequently, they are doused with
water to cool down.

After this, the person who
deheaded the barrels sends over the
heads to put back on. It is essential
that the all barrels and heads be
put back together in their original
sequence.

“One head or one barrel might be
a quarter inch or a half inch differ-
ent than the one behind it,” said
Brother Laliberté. “It is important
to keep them in order and we do
this by marking each barrel and
putting the heads on a tray.”

A worker puts the head on and
tightens both the head and quarter
hoops before they are forwarded to
a machine which pulls them down
by hydraulic powered claws.

Each barrel is air and water pres-
sure tested at 40 lbs. per square
inch and any leaks are marked before
they go to a cooper for final repair.

The problem could be with a stave
or a hoop or a head. Whatever it is,
the repair cooper will fix it. He will
cannibalize the white oak parts
from other barrels, if necessary, to
patch up the end product.

On an 8 hour shift five men can
pecess about 160 of the 45 gallon

arrels. When there is seven men
working, production can jump to
250 barrels a shift!

ALONG HISTORY
Brother Thibeault put his first
day in the plant in February of 1973,

¢ Local 500 member Wilfred Cornwall, is seen here with a de-headed
whiskey barrel.

over 26 years ago, when there were
nine workers on the production line.
The crew eventually grew to 32
employees, including a grave yard
shift, that could process well-over
1000 barrels a day.

“Back then the public bought a lot
more whiskey,” said Thibeault. “But,
you know, tastes have changed over
the years and a lot more people have
switched to other beverages like
wine.”

The resulting switch-over has had
its obvious effects on downsizing the
workforce.

The bargaining unit was first
organized as Local 42 of the Inter-
national Woodworkers of America.
Then it became Local 79. Ten years
ago the crew joined Local 500’s geo-
graphic jurisdiction and has received
better service.

In 1973. Thibeault says that wages
were starting at $2.95/hr. Today
they range from $14.00 - $15.44,
which is a good wage in the rural
farming community of Harrow.

Along with good pay, the union
has achieved an admirable benefits
package, including medical, dental,
prescription and pension benefits.

NEGOTIATIONS UNDER WAY

Brother Laliberté told the Lum-
berworker that the crew has worked
hard to make the employer competi-
tive and works cooperatively with
the company.

“It’s a small place with 5-7 guys.
Everybody works together,” he said.
“There’s nobody saying ‘this is my
job and this is your job.’ We spill
each other off all the time.”

The union’s negotiating commit-
tee, headed by local business agent
Saul Marques, will negotiate a new

collective agreement as the current
on expires on December 31, 1999.

At issue are obvious wage and
benefit requirements and some
safety issues, mostly related to
improved catwalks and better light-
ing in the plant.

“There hasn’t been a lot of money
spent in improving the plant over
the years,” said Brother Marques.
“We hope that in the future, that

Continued on page fourteen

Ota a

¢ Plant chair Rick Laliberté on hoop
tightener.

LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1999/13