CTF President
Continued from page thirty-five

Canadian, who also interpreted for
him during convention week.

There he met with local president
Fred Carroll and other union offi-
cials and staff. He was given an
overview of forest industry opera-
tions in the Prince George area and
found out more about the structure
of one the union’s largest local
unions.

“The Prince George local is very
large in size and has nearly as many
members as we have in the CTF,”
said Gonzalez. “It was a valuable
experience to learn how one local
union can administer such a large
area of the province and unite work-
ers within its structure.”

The local stretches south from
Quesnel to Fort Nelson in the north.
It goes from Dawson Creek in the
east to Moricetown in the west. With
a team of 11 officers and staff, it
has one of the largest structures to
service the members of any I.W.A.
local union.

“I think Jorge left here with a
good idea of what he and his broth-
ers and sisters in the CTF need to
consider if they want to make
improvements to their organization
that can offer more services to the
members in Chile,” said Brother
Carroll. :

Carroll said the visit of the CTF
president was an “eye opener” for
the I.W.A.

“Sometimes we get so involved in
our own business and our own prob-
lems that we forget that there is a
whole different world out there

where workers don’t nearly have as
much or have as many rights as we
do in Canada,” he aad

Politics also were topics of discus-
sion and so was the local’s educa-
tion program.

“We pointed out the importance
political action as a union move-
ment,” said Carroll. “One way we
have achieved that is through edu-
cating our members.”

The local union also regularly
holds classes for job steward and
health and safety committee train-
ing.

“With our education system we
are always seeing new people
involved and a new flow of ideas
and solution to problems,” said
Brother Carroll.

“We in the CTF (which was
founded in 1988) are rededicating
ourselves to education of the mem-
bership in a way to bring our mem-
bership closer together and work on
common issues,” Gonzalez told the
Lumberworker. “In Prince George
and the other locals I have been told
that education is the foundation of a
strong unionism for the I.W.A.”

ALBERTA LOCAL

The last local that the CTF vis-
ited was Local 1-207, where he met
with local union president Mike
Pisak and interpreter and union
member Paulo Santos.

The three brothers visited Weyer-
haeuser operations at Drayton Val-
ley where they toured through both
the oriented strandboard plant and
sawmill. They also visited the com-

pany’s reload station, in Sunny-
brook.

e At the B.C. Fed the CTF president met with (1. to. r.) Jane Staschuck,

Phillip Legg, Jim Sinclair and Miriam Sobrino.

aT

* SAVIILL |
- WOODLANDS

A
5
3
:
:
i

e At the Weyerahaeuser Drayton Valley sawmill was (I. to r.) the CTF pres-
ident with Local 1-207’s Bernie Rushton, Paulo Santos and Mike Pisak.

“In many parts of Canada like the
provinces of Ontario, B.C., Alberta
and Saskatchewan I learned that the
1.W.A. has negotiated contracts with
the same big multinational corpora-
tion — Weyerhaeuser Canada. The
1.W.A. locals have worked together to
bring up wages and working condi-
tions for all Weyerhaeuser employ-
ees,” said Gonzalez. “We can do the
same in Chile. We have to work
together to achieve good standards
for all workers, no matter what region
of Chile that they work in.”

In Alberta, Gonzalez got a run-
down of how difficult it is for the
I.W.A. to organize. The province has
one of the most anti-union govern-
ments in Canada.

“We told Jorge that many times
when we try to organize workers we
lose the vote because of intimidation
from the employer. It is something
that he can relate to — although on a
different scale,” said Pisak.

“T learned a lot about the structure
of the Alberta local (which has 15
certifications and about 1,500 mem-
bers) and how it has a difficult task
of representing workers in a large
province. In the CTF we also have
large areas to represent but with
very few representatives,” said Gon-
zalez.

“We can share our constitution and
structure with the CTF,” said Pisak.
“They need to consider reorganizing
themselves and we can help.”

VISITS TO BC FED AND CLC OFFICES

Following the I.W.A. convention,
Brother Gonzalez visited offices of
the B.C. Federation of Labour and

the B.C. office of the Canadian
Labour Congress.

At the Fed he met with president
Jim Sinclair, research director Philip
Legg, community and social action
director Jane Staschuck, and com-
munications director Miriam
Sobrino. Broader discussions were
had over the structure of the labour
movements in Chile and Canada
and the current states of workers’
rights in both countries. They also
exchanged information on the politi-
cal situation at the federal level in
both countries.

At the CLC, provincial director
David Rice gave Gonzalez an account
of the functions of the central labour
body with specific references to
assisting labour councils and devel-
oping and coordinating labour edu-
cation programa for affiliated unions.
Unions affiliated to the federation

play an important role in the deliv-
ery of education.

Photo courtesy ILW.A. Local 1-424

° Local 1-424’s Alfredo Espinoza
and Gonzalez made a trip to
historic Barkerville.

¢ With Local 363 president Sy Pederson (1.), Gonzalez met a crew of fallers during his tour to Weyerhaeuser’s Kelsey Bay Division on Vancouver Island.

36/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 2000