CTF president Gonzalez
expresses unions’ need
for education programs

In an interview with the I.W.A.
CANADA Lumberworker, Jorge Gon-

zalez Castillo, conducted in Concep-
cion, Chile on October 29, the presi-
dent of the National Confederation of
Forest Workers of Chile, answered
questions on the importance of the
education ee and the relation-
es with the L.W.A.
his is an important project for
us,” said Brother Gonzalez. “The
biggest impact that the project will
have will be to make us better pre-
red — it has been very difficult to
form leaders at the local, regional
and national levels.”

“Chilean unions can’t show many
results to workers yet because we do
not have labour laws fo allow us to
flourish,” he said. “Therefore it is
very important to increase the qual-
ity of the union leaders that we have
so the workers will stay with the
union until we can make real
changes.”

Gonzalez said the CTF needs
activists to assist in all of the
provinces which it operates and that
activist training can assist in this
endeavour.

The union has members in 44
pients; but very few members in the

yush camps.

“We need to go into the camps to
organize and the courses that we are
working on in cooperation with the
I.W.A. CANADA will allow up to pre-
pare our activists,” he said. “We need
to indentify organizers, because this
has to be in the blood of the individ-
al — not anyone can be an orga-

nizer. We heve to discaver activists,
educate them and give them assign-
ments.”

Obstacles in Chile apart from
repressive labour laws, are financial
resources, distances and the com-
pany-driven repression of workers.

“There is a lot of fear of unionizing
and when the workers can’t see the
benefits of unions, it doesn’t motivate
them to join. But in the moment that
they see good results from collective
bargaining, they will have an inter-

est.”

“Here the people don’t have knowl-
edge of the rights that they do have
and I think that the new member
education, which is a part of our edu-
cation courses, will serve to teach the
workers on the few rights that they
do have.”

“The activist and organizer that we
will train in the education centre has
to be prepared to confront apathy in
the workforce,” he said. “He has to
know that he can go 100 kilometers
and find only one person interested
in the union — but he has to find that
person. This person will reach
another, then another, and so on.”

The CTF president said that the

“We need to once
again establish
agreements to cover
all workers and give
proper wages and
benefits to all.”

- Jorge Gonzalez,
CTF President

Chilean state must bring in labour
laws that comply with International
Labour Organization articles on free-
dom of association and freedom of
collective bargaining.

“when that happens some day, we
will have collective bargaining on
another level,” he commented. “What
exists now in Chile does not work and
is a collapsed system.”

The education course on collective
bargaining will use I.W.A. and Cana-
dian Labour Congress resource
materials.

“We are going to examine the gains
that you have made,” he said. “We
also have to go back to pre-1973 era

E

when we had provincial bargaining
rights. We need to once again estab-
lish agreements to cover all workers
and. give proper wages and benefits
to all.”

In the course on Occupational
Health and Safety, Gonzalez said
that “we need to convince workers
that safety and security is their
right.”

“During collective agreement
negotiations the local union leaders
spend a lot of time negotiating things
like personal protective equipment,
and work clothes. These things are
basic rights, and are not negotiable,
and our unions need to demand them
under current law.”

In regards to communication, Gon-
zalez said that both internal and
external communication strategies
must be developed for the CTF and
its affiliates.

The CTF needs to establish its own
newspaper. It needs to link members
that have the ability to write and tell
stories of the members’ struggles.

“There are some communities in
the southern part of Chile that are
completley dependent on the forest
industy. We must establish relation-
ships with the local press at the com-
munity level, since the large news-
papers are controlled by private
monopolies that will not authorize

° CTF president Jorge Gonzalez gave an interview to the I.W.A. in October.

journalists to write what they want
to write.”

Tn all, the CTF is very comfortable
with the objectives that have been set
for the education program.

“We send our very fraternal greet-
ings to all of the companeros of the
LW.A. - to the president, to the exec-
utive, functionaries and the mem-
bership,” said Gonzalez.

“We are a very small organization.
But we will never lose the inspiration
to become 55,000 workers united like
you are in Canada. We are a poor
country but with a rich tradition of
struggle. We are thankful when a
union from another country concerns
itself to help us because you are help-
ing us to become free. This is some-

thing that only workers understand
because we are the most democratic

in any part of the world. We know
very clearly what it means to be free
and the reality of being free.”

“We as Chilean workers are strug-
gling to regain democracy. We will
continue the struggle on our own but
we also rely on the international sol-
idarity from workers throughout the
world.

“On behalf of all of the leaders of
our unions we are thankful for your
visit. This house will always been
open to any member of the I.W.A.

Education Centre
Continued from page thirty-six

ployed and marginalized peoples.
‘he CTF membership, man:
whom work for little more than
minimum wage, suprert their
union from a grass-roots level,” says
da Costa. “The union mostly runs on
a voluntary dues structure basis.
Just collecting dues so a union can
exist and function in some capacit
is a large task — it’s like going bac!
into I.W.A. history in the 1930's.”
Wages are very page in Chile. For
example in the logging sector,
which pays higher wages than in
the mills, a chainsaw operator
makes only about $500.00 Cana-
dian per month. A grapple operator
makes about $600.00 while a feller
buncher operator makes about
$1,000.00 Wages are adjusted

based on production and safety. The
base salaries are lower and the typ-
ical work schedule is 14-16 hours a

, 5-6 days a week.

he CTF needs help and lots of

it,” says Brother Tones. “The

lean labour movement is one of

the most solid ones in Latin Amer-

_ iea with a structure that is similar

the Canadian Labour Congress.

forest industry workers, the

W.A. can relate closely to the CTF

nd that is why we are focusing our
Solidarity efforts in Chile.

e At the CTF’s office, volunteer Margarita Ortega proof-reading education documents. The computer system was
purchased in the spring of 1998 with proceeds from I.W.A. CANADA’s International Solidarity Fund.

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1999/37