Nes

business agent Dennis Byers, recording secretary Eric Obermayer, and vice chairperson Brenda Mueller.

Ontario labour laws split Interforest
strikers as Local 500 fights OLRB

ts a prime example of how the
labour laws in the province of
Ontario are stacked against
the union. Scabs herded in
darkened buses, security
guards, surveillance cameras, police,
injunctions, firings of striking work-
ers, an arrogant and militant, con-
cession-seeking employer that
couldn’t care less about dividing fam-
ilies and communities and an anti-
union labour board and government.
that sat back to let it all happen.

The prolonged strike at the Inter-
forest hardwood veneer slicing plant
in Durham, Ontario turned into a
disaster for I.W.A. Local 500 in early
and late November when dozens of
its own members, in fear of perma-
nently losing their jobs, went back to
work, while the company refused to
recognize a settlement to the strike
which was then five months old.

On October 31 the union held a sec-
ond vote to accept Interforest’s last
offer which had not been taken off the
table. The vote, which was held at the
local union office in Hanover, passed
by a vote of 250-32. The local sealed
32 ballots for workers which the com-
pany had fired for alleged picket line
violations.

Thirteen days earlier, the contract.
was rejected by a vote of 268-218.
That vote, which was held under the
supervision of the Ministry of
Labour, saw the entire group of scabs
vote on the contract.

“After the first vote was rejected,
we decided to revisit the employer's
last offer,” said Local 500 President

Bruce Weber. “We invited the scabs
to vote too. There were signs posted
and our members on the picket line
held the notice of the second vote
right up to the windows of the buses

that carried the scabs. They had
every opportunity to vote.”

After the vote passed the second
time around, the crew reported back
to work on November 1. They voted
on an offer that wasn’t taken off the
table. The employer refused to let the
crew in and locked them out. Then
from November 2-4, the union met
with the Board.

“We told the Board that they were

really screwing up,” said national
fourth vice president Norm Rivard.
“Our members had voted on the offer
asecond time, which is nothing that
is unusual at all in a labour dispute.
The offer was still on the table. By
allowing the illegal lockout to con-
tinue, the Board was preventing
I.W.A. members from going back to
work.”

Unfortunately, over 100 union

© DISPLAYING UNION PICKETS outside the Interforest Hardwood Veneer mill in Durham, Ontario, are (1. to r.) plant chairman Richard Graham, Local 500

members streamed back into the
plant before the labour board case
was heard.

“All hell broke loose, many of our
members who supported the strike
for over 5 months went back to work
scared — scared that the company
was out to eliminate their jobs in the
plant forever if they were out over 6

Continued on page seven

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~ | BEACH PATROL

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¢ In photo, taken in late September, union members were united in their struggle against the union-busting employer.

6/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1999