convention —

¢ National first vice president Neil Menard, officer responsible for organizing, delivered the

union’s organizing and growth report.

Organizing report shows growth in I.W.A.

Delegates to this year’s convention heard that
since 1997, when the union embarked on its
Organizing and Growth Strategy, the I.W.A.
has gained almost 8,000 new members. For the

third year in a row, over 2,000 members were
brought into the fold.

Since the 1999 convention the union reports
successful organizing drives accounting for
2,770 additional I.W.A.’ers, including voluntary
certifications.

Neil Menard, the union’s national first vice
president, and officer responsible for the orga-
nizing program, read the report.

“Despite this success, we have yet to see all
cylinders pumping at the same time. This year,
the Ontario local unions more than doubled
their results from last year, while two B.C.
locals saw a decline in organizing. Two of the
smallest local unions (Toronto Local 700 and
New Brunswick Local 306) doubled in size with
the addition of newly certified units, yet some of
our largest local unions had little if any success
organizing.”

In the past year, the I.W.A. organized five
bargaining units of over 100 workers. The
largest single sector organized was the forest
products remanufacturing sector which
accounted for 40 percent of new members.

Prince George Local 1-424 led B.C. with 453
new members including two Canfor operations
with over 300 workers.

Local 2171 organized 128 workers in nine
bargaining units and 144 new members under
voluntary certifications. It remains focused on
bringing in workers from coastal logging opera-
tions and non-traditional industry and service
sector workers in the Lower Mainland.

Close to 200 workers were organized in seven
Parse un gruntes in Local 1-3567. Courtenay
Local 363, Kelowna Local 1-423 and Cranbrook
Local 1-405 organized 65 new members while
Williams Lake Local 1-425 brought in a new
certification and added 81 contractors and
truckers to its fold. Local 1-80 in Duncan
reported two new units with one application
pending Labour Board approval.

The union also estimates that 297 new mem-
bers were gained at New Forest Opportunities
Ltd., despite budget cuts.

Despite laws that allow interference from
employers, Alberta Local 1-207 brought in new
members at a grocery store in High Level, a
hotel in Lethbridge and at Suncraft Log Homes
in Didsbury.

In Manitoba the union continues a campaign

16/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 2000

teretonn g

to organize log haulers and logging contractors
(the Northern Wood Haulers) out of The Pas, in
order to prevent Tolko Industries from forcing
workers to bid against each other and the union.

Local 700 in Toronto nearly doubled in size
with the addition of Canac Kitchens in Thorn-
hill when it signed up 750 and reported a new
unit in the health care field at the Victorian
Order of Nurses.

Local 500 got 174 new members at four oper-
ations, the Harrow Co-op, Ziegler Lumber,
Selinger Wood and General Coach while Local
1000 certified 290 new members at the Caisse
Populaire credit union and Simmons Canada in
Quebec.

Locals 2693 and 2995 organized one new cer-
tification each.

New Brunswick Local 306 received a total of
220 full and part-time new members at the
Northumberland Co-op in Miramichi and worked
on three other applications.

Since the last convention the I.W.A. spent
about $1.6 million on organizing, 79% of which
went to pay organizers and their expenses.
About 13% was used to pay legal fees and 6%
went into advertising and promotion (posters,

a, 3
Ee —

¢ Delegates from Northern B.C. I.W.A. Local 1-424 were in full attendance at the fall convention.

leaflets and advertising materials).

The union launched a toll-free line (310-
JOIN) which connects the callers in the provinces
of B.C., Alberta and Ontario to the union’s
national offices in Vancouver and Toronto. It is
expected to be expanded nationally in the near
future.

The national union held a youth organizer
course for 20 participants and hopes to see more
locals utilize these organizers in the future as
they reach out to younger and more diverse
workforces. :

The report said that union is carrying for-
ward a valiant drive. The cry to organize come
from all sectors of the population and all ethnic
diversities.

Read the report: “It comes from the brothers
and sisters in the Indo-Canadian community,
the Vietnamese community, and the Filipino
community. It comes from those workers who
work day in and day our for multinational cor-
porations at minimum wage. It is in the thou-
sands of workers who have fallen out of the
public health care sector in the privatized world
of Mike Harris and Ralph Klein who need to
organize.”

“AK