¢ Greeting Brother Gonzalez was Local 2693 president Wilf McIntyre and a group of striking workers from
Industrial Hardwoods, in Thunder Bay.

President of Chilean forest workers
confederation visits |.W.A. locals

union members from four
locals across Canada had
the privilege of hosting the

president of the National
Confederation of Forest Workers of
Chile (CTF) in September and Octo-
ber of 2000. CTF president Jorge
Gonzalez, who attended and was a
guest speaker at the union’s annual
convention n Vancouver, was in
Canada from September 20 to Octo-
ber 13.

He paid visits to I.W.A. CANADA
Local 2693 (Thunder Bay), Local
363 (Courtenay), Local 1-424 (Prince
George) and Local 1-207 (Edmon-
ton). The visits provided Brother
Gonzalez with an overview of the
diversity of local unions within the
LW.A.

The I.W.A. and the CTF kicked-
off an international solidarity pro-
ject in 1999 and began operating an
education centre in Concepcion,
Chile in March of this year. Both
unions have been participating in
the structuring, composition and
delivery of education courses for
CTF activists.

Gonzalez’s visit to Canada was a
further step at forging links between
the national trade union bodies.

The CTF is a confederation of
individual local unions in the south-
ern forest region of Chile while the
I.W.A. CANADA is one national
union with certifications in seven
provinces. Most of the I.W.A. certifi-
cations remain in the traditional
forest sector.

“What I have confirmed during

my visit is the common bond that
we all have as workers in the forest
industry — the common problems
and issues we share,” said Gonzalez
in an interview with the Lumber-
worker. “You in the IW.A. have been
successful in evolving into a national
structure that represents the inter-
ests of all its members. There are
many things we can learn from the
1.W.A. in how to advance our com-
mon interests.”

National I.W.A. president Dave
Haggard, who greeted Gonzalez at
the national convention, said his
visit was of particular importance to
the union.

“Where compaiiero Jorge and the
CTF say they can learn from us, we
can also learn from the experience
of Chilean workers,” said Haggard.
“In many ways the CTF and its affil-
iate unions are living through a his-
tory that our union lived 40 and 50
years ago — in fighting for the most
basic right to represent workers.
We must learn to never forget the
struggle that the I.W.A. has been
through and can only look at the
experiences that the CTF is having
to remind ourselves that working
people in all parts of the world are
entitled to basic rights and have the
right to go to work with respect and
dignity from their employers.”

NORTHERN ONTARIO LOCAL

Gonzalez’ first stop was Local
2693 where he met with local union
staff and members and visited two

ill i: Gonzalez joined (1. to
Outside the Primex sawmill in Courtenay, Brother j
r.) Local 3683's Sy Pederson, Victor Ruiz and Bill Windram.

operations. Accompanied by local
union member Rolando Quintul, he
visited the Avenor woodlands opera-
tion approximately 130km west of
Thunder Bay. There he saw modern
feller bunchers in action, grapple
skidders hauling wood to roadside
and debarker/chipper machines pro-
cessing logs for the pulp and paper
industry.

The next day he toured the
Atikokan Forest Products sawmill
in Atikokan, a high-tech, high-speed
operation owned by Buchanan For-
est Products.

“In Canada you have advanced
technology but in Chile some of our
sawmills and logging operations are
not so different,” said Gonzalez.
“But the big difference is in the mis-
erable wages and salaries that work-
ers are paid.”

Chilean forest workers are paid
between $1 - $2.00 per hour and
then have numerous deductions
taken off their cheques: health care
premiums, social services taxes and
other charges. There’s not much left
for the benefit of the worker.

By law workers must be paid over-
time after 48 hours, a practice that
rarely takes place. Sixty to 70 hour
work weeks are not uncommon as
the low wages necessitate longer
shifts in the mills and logging sec-
tor.

National fifth vice president and
Local 2693 president Wilf McIntyre
said Gonzalez’s visit was good expo-
sure for his local union.

“The discussions we had about
working conditions, about rates of

ay, about safety, about economics

‘or working people and about poli-
tics were important ones to have
and I am sure that the relationshi
between our two organizations will

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develop more in the future,” said
McIntyre.

Local first vice president Joe Han-
lon said Gonzalez’s visit with strik-
ers from the Industrial Hardwoods
plant in the city of Thunder Bay
was a valuable exposure for the vis-
itor. There he met Brother Eduardo
Belda, a Peruvian Canadian who
acted as interpreter. Workers at the
Thunder Bay value-added operation
have been on strike since November
of last year against a very anti-
union employer that wants conces-
sions from the I.W.A.

“Jorge could clearly see that here
in Canada we have difficulty with
some employers,” said Brother Han-
lon. “Without an adequate national
strike fund there’s no way our union
could fight back for so long.”

Gonzalez told the Lumberworker
that the CTF, which has 43 affiliate
unions and has grown to about 6,200
members in recent months is expe-
riencing difficulties. Taking strike
action in Chile is a rare occurrence
at best. The CTF has no central
strike fund and individual union
strike funds don’t last very long.

VANCOUVER ISLAND LOCAL

Following Gonzalez’s stay at the
national convention, he went to
Local 363 where he visited bush
operations at Weyerhaeuser
Canada’s Kelsey Bay Division.
Accompanied by local president
Sy Pederson, and local union mem-
ber and interpreter Victor Ruiz,
Gonzalez saw several operations
including a grapple yarder, a heli-
copter logging show, and fallers
working near a road building opera-
tion. He also visited the company’s
log dump at Menzies Bay.

e was also taken to Primex For-
est Product’s dimension sawmill in
Courtenay where most lumber is
produced for the Japanese market.
Then local first vice president Bill
Windram, who works at the mill,
accompanied the tour.

One evening Brother Gonzalez
met with a dozen members from
Local 363’s executive board and had
dinner and spoke with them.

“I thought it was a great opportu-
nity to have direct contact with a
worker representative from another
country,” said local union president
Sy Pederson. “Our members who
talked with Jorge have gained a
greater understanding that there is
a bigger picture out there as far as
the global marketplace and what
the global workforce is confronting.
They talked about issues that all
working people are concerned about
like wages and working conditions,
health and safety, workers compen-
sation, unemployment insurance,
medical care and hospitals and the
cost and quality of education for
their children.”

NORTHERN B.C. LOCAL

Gonzalez paid a brief visit to Local
1-424 in Prince George where he
was accompanied by local union
member Alfredo Espinoza, a Chilean

Continued on page thirty-six

i
i

¢ At the convention Gonzalez met with Local 1-424’s Fred Carroll, and

national fourth V.P. Norm Rivard.

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 2000/35