i eI.W.A. CANADA national president Dave Haggard told silviculture employers that most of the workers’ concerns have been addressed in the NewFo agreement. . Haggard calls for cooperation with silviculture contractors The Western Silviculture Con- tractors Association provided national union president Dave Hag- gard a chance to speak and answer questions at it’s annual convention, held this year in Vancouver on Feb- Tuary 2. Brother Haggard told association delegates that the nearly two year old experience with New Forest Opportunities (NewFo) has provide stability for both workers and silvi- culture contractors. NewFo, which is a Forest Renewal B.C. funded company, began opera- tions in April of 1998, and has pro- vided hundreds of good paying jobs to silviculture workers, including displaced forest workers and First Nations people. Haggard said good things have happened since an I.W.A. collective agreement was negotiated covering NewFo workers. He said the agreement has giving workers some dignity in the work- * place and has provided benefits that rarely existed before (including medical and dental coverage, holi- day pay, and employer-paid RRSP contributions). He said that “most of those things that are needed for silviculture workers from a silviculture worker’s perspective have been addressed in the NewFo agreement.” “I think we put together a silvi- culture agreement that didn’t put silviculture companies out of busi- ness and didn’t put workers at risk...” he added. Haggard said that it is fair to say that the union didn’t spend enough time consulting with the silvicul- ture contractors community “so we too made mistakes and we all have learned from them.” A recent Price Waterhouse study on NewF activities indicates that, although overall costs for silvicul- ture activities rose in the first year, those costs are coming into line for the second year. e@ the people in this room that were part of those agreements and the people we represented at the bar- gaining table,” added the union president. He said the NewFo agreement gives the I.W.A. a foundation to con- tinue to work with the WSCA anda group of silviculture workers. He said that all parties have to work together to assist the forest industry to grow and prosper and make the silviculture sector more “T think that in general it served ~ prominent. Haggard said that the province’s annual allowable cut can increase if proper work is done to grow more trees “bigger, better and faster.” He said that it is important for all sides to work together so that all will benefit and everybody will be included in the future of the forest industry. “We need to talk about our differ- ences and what we have in com- mon,” he said. “We didn’t go and put anybody out of business (with the NewFo agreement) with what we tried to do,” he added. “We think there have been mixed results and we think in general it’s been a huge success.” WSCA president Dirk Brinkman told Haggard that he believes the efficiencies resulting in the NewFo program have been a result of “our (the contractor’s traditional close relationship with our workers and the efficiencies that result...” “Tm pleased to work with you to create a collective agreement that expresses a breakthrough in aspects of collective bargaining in British Columbia,” he added. “We have piece rates; we have core benefits and there is a great deal of flexibility in terms of job descriptions — people can do what they have to do to get the job done.” When questioned on the Liberals’ plan to scrap the NewFo agreement should they form the next govern- ment, Haggard said that would be unfortunate, as the Liberals don’t understand its impact. He said that the union would sit down with any government and silviculture con- tractors and workers. He reminded the WSCA crowd that NewFo “has created a floor where we have a legitimate oppor- tunity to bid on a project without knowing that somebody is going to come in and undercut you and doa substandard job and pay substan- dard wages...” Questioned on expanding NewFo to the province’s Interior, he said that he hopes the silviculture sec- tor will be supportive and that through being educated, contrac- tors will see the value of being union contractors working through the whole province.” Contract demands Continued from page two STANDING COMMITTEE FOR EVALUA- TION - the I.W.A. demands that ref- erences to the Industry Standing Committee under the Job Evalua- tion Plan be eliminated and replaced with a provision to have disputes referred to a third party arbitrator. VACATION PAY ON TERMINATION - the union demands that when any employee is on the payroll for less than ninety consecutive days and has their employee terminated for any cause, and they have not yet taken their personal floating holi- day, that it be paid and that it not be considered as an extension of the period of employment. HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT - the I.W.A. demands that all holidays be taken. TIME CLOCK - at the West Fraser, Williams Lake division, the union demands the removal of the time clock. SOUTHERN INTERIOR DEMANDS FOREST TECHNICIANS - the union demands additional classifications and rates for professional techni- cians, forestry pupils, foresters in training, and registered profession- als in order to reflect to the demand, conduct and duty of professionals in the industry. WEEKEND WORK - the union demands that all time worked on Saturdays be paid at time and one half and Sunday be paid at double time if the employee works any hours during Monday or Friday of the week before. BUMPING RIGHTS - in the case of the reduction of hours, the union demands that members be allowed to “bump up” to a position of higher rate in relation to the person’s senior- ity. TRAINING DURING REDUCTION - the committee demands that the employ- ers train senior people so they may continue to work unless outside cer- tification is required. TEMPORARY SUPERVISORS - if a tem- porary supervisor is used for any amount of time in a day, the union demands that they lose a whole day of temporary supervising. TRADES WAGE PARITY - the union demands that the rate for certified carpenters be negotiated at the same rate as millwrights, mechanics and welders covered under the Southern Interior Master Agreement. COASTAL DEMANDS LOGGING WAGE SUPPLEMENT - the union demands that the wage sup- plement in the Coast Master agree- ment by upgraded to better reflect work being done in the industry today. JOB DESCRIPTIONS - the I.W.A. demands that a committee be struck to assess each operation on an indi- vidual basis and that any recom- mendation(s) be applied retroac- tively to the 2000 Coast Master Agreement. AIR FARES - the union will demand that the company pay 100% of air fares. Union members can follow negotia- tions by logging on the national union’s website (www.iwa.ca) or con- tacting the national union - tele- phone (604-683-1117 or fax 688-6416). Regular negotiation bulletins will be issued on the union’s e-mail list, by fax to local unions, and in media news releases. ° Above, during a lighter moment in negotiations, are members of the L.W.A.’s provincial negotiating committee. Below, on the left is a portion of the union’s negotiating committee during the first day of contract talks and on the right are representatives of Forest Industrial Relations, the employer association on the Coast of British Columbia. LUMBERWORKER/APRIL, 2000/3