Ps i ‘ e S

° National union president Dave Haggard said the NDP is the government that the I.W.A. has access

to.

[.W.A. President’s speech touches many topics

t this year’s constitutional convention,

national president Dave Haggard hit

on several themes. Standing in front of

a large banner entitle “Convention
2000 - A Proud Union, A Bright Future,” the
I.W.A. leader said that members in B.C. should
remember that not supporting an NDP govern-
poset provincial will only lead to a bad labour
code.

“Three out of 10 provinces (in Canada) have
good labour codes and the rest have right-wing,
no good, rotten governments, and it’s workin:
people that continue to elect those people an
there’s something really wrong with that pic-
ture.

pngeard warned that with the re-election of
the Mike Harris Conservatives in Ontario, that
province may be on the verge of introducing
“right-to-work” legislation.

“Sooner or later...we’ve got to come to the con-
clusion that you can’t elect a government that
doesn’t give a damn about you — (and) that
only dances to the tune of their masters, which
are the corporations that finance them getting
where they are today.”

He said that working people in B.C. are on
the verge of kicking the NDP out of office — a
government that the I.W.A. has access to.

“Tf we do our job we can still elect an NDP

government...if we don’t the next four or five
years of the new government will make the last
nine years (of NDP governments) look like a
cake walk,” he said. “That’s the challenge that
we have. I say those things because I see them
in Ontario and Alberta, and New Brunswick
where we are organizing and in other provinces
across the country. So we have that responsibil-
ity. We’ve just got to get our act together and
make it so.”

eezerd| said the union is still confronting
radical green groups that threaten I.W.A. jobs.
He commended Local 1-3567 for taking direct
action to detain a Greenpeace vessel in New
Westminster (see story page 40).

“As we continue to reach out across this coun-
try and across this country and across this
world they (Greenpeace) continue to beat the
hell out of us in the marketplace,” he said.
“They continue to put pressure on those that
want to get rid of forest products from (what
Greenpeace terms) ‘old growth endangered
forests.”

He said there are no endangered forests in
B.C. and that the corporations have to go out on
the international stage to assist the union in
promoting the province’s sustainable forest
industry.

In reference to the stand-off between Local

e Courtenay, B.C. Local 363 union members were among delegates present from 19 locals across
Canada.

2171 members and protesters in the Elaho Val-
ley, Haggard said a B.C. judge took the right
action by locking up protesters.

“They damn well deserve it...it they haven’t
got the responsibility to care about working peo-

le and their neighbors that are earning a livin,
om this forest industry, they should rot in jai!
as far as I’m concerned because it’s wrong.”

He said that wherever the union has met the
greens at a negotiating table and have tried to
cooperate and reach consensus, the greens
would never come to an agreement.

On the topic of negotiations with the B.C. for-
est industry, Haggard warned delegates that
the union believes the industry will be coming
after the I.W.A. in 2003, when the agreement
negotiated this summer expired. He said that “we
have to start talking to our membership today.”

This summer he said that the union signed
the same forest industry agreement throughout
the province — one that was a “fair and just
agreement and had no concessions...”

He pointed out to the industry’s disunity on
the Canada - U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement
and said the corporate greed by some players
over the quota question can result up in mill
shutdowns.

“We have industry fighting with industry.
Those that have quota are saying we want a
deal. Those that have no quota say ‘go to hell.’
So we have an industry divided in this province
and the only common sense that’s coming
through is from the I.W.A.”

The union has called on the softwood lumber
agreement to expire in March of 2001 and for
equal treatment of all Canadian lumber produc-
ers.

He also said the I.W.A.’s efforts to negotiate
partnership agreements is a proactive way for
the union to protect the interests of its members
and the future of sawmills.

The union, he said, wants partnership agree-
ment that are going to benefit its membership
so they can take control over their workplace
and futures.

Haggard reported that, in the last three years,
the I.W.A. organized nearly 8,000 new mem-
bers.

“It was hard work and diligent efforts by peo-
ple like yourselves working on the street orga-
nizing the unorganized and making them part
of this great organization,” he said. He chal-
lenged all locals to participate fully in the
union’s organizing program.

Haggard said the union has successfully
increased the membership during the last year
in spite of the fact that there have been plant
shutdowns.

“] think that’s something we should all be
proud of as we build our union for the future,”
he said.

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 2000/15