° Union leaders, members and their supporters gathered in front of the I.

.W.A. national office on West Pender Street in Vancouver and marched to the

nearby U.S. Consulate. Middle front is Local 1-423 president Troi Caldwell and right is national fourth vice president Norm Rivard.

[.W.A. protests U.S. trade action

Over 700 I.W.A. members from

local unions in the B.C. Lower
Mainland, Vancouver Island, and
the southern Interior joined with
national executive board members
and supporters from affiliates of the
B.C. Federation of Labour to send a
strong message to politicians in the
United States and Canada that the
tariff against softwood lumber
exports is affecting the whole country
and must be removed.

The labour rally took place on
August 30, 2001 outside the offices
of the U.S. Consulate in downtown
Vancouver. Busloads of workers
gathered in front of the I.W.A.
national office on West Pender Street
and were escorted to the protest site
by city police.

Amid shouts of “Hey, hey, ho, ho!
Lumber tariffs gotta’ go!”, speakers
addressed the growing crisis in the
softwood lumber industry and the
effect it is having on workers and
their communities.

National union president Dave
Haggard thanked the crowd and
other unions in supporting the I.W.A.
in “the fight of our life.” He said
that unless there is a fight back
there will be a much different and
weakened I.W.A. in Canada in the
future.

“We aren’t about to stand by
waiting for that to happen,” he
shouted. He added that, during the
union’s 64 year history corporations,
governments and “rabid environ-
mentalists” have tried to destroy
the I.W.A.

He said the U.S. corporations are
putting punitive damages on
Canadian softwood on one hand and
“they sit behind barbwire fences (in
Quebec City) and try to negotiate
free trade with the Americas and
other poor parts of the world.”

“There’s something wrong with
that, Brothers and Sisters, when
they can’t have free trade with their
closest neighbour and biggest
trading partner,” he added.

“When the Americans negotiated
free trade with Canadians they
really didn’t mean it! They really
weren't serious! They merely wanted
free trade when it suited them,”
said the I.W.A. president.

Haggard told the crowd that by
late August there were over 5,000
union members unemployed in the

B.C. forest industry as a result of
the countervail duty.

He said workers shouldn’t be upset
at American people but “we should
only be disgusted with their
employers because of their greed” in
putting up tariff walls.

He said the tariffs will result in
the reduction of Canadian lumber
exports to that country, and drive
up the price of housing, making it
more difficult for poorer Americans
to buy homes.

Haggard sent a message to
American President George W.
Bush, saying that opposition to the
tariff is also growing in the United
States as well as Canada.

Haggard said the union is
organizing more activities and will
possibly leaflet Canada-U.S. border
crossings in the weeks ahead. If
necessary, he said, the union will go
to Washington, and American unions
and consumer groups are also
committed to removing the tariff.

CLC president Ken Georgetti sent
a message to the rally, read out by
B.C. Federation of Labour Secretary-
Treasurer Angie Schira.

“The attack on the softwood
lumber industry is an attack on all
Canadians. This is an important
issue from coast-to-coast that has a
direct impact on members of the
Canadian Labour Congress
affiliates,” read the statement.

Georgetti said that the CLC is
meeting with International Trade
Minister Pierre Pettigrew in
September to see how the labour
movement and the federal
government can work together to
help resolve the issue.

The Congress has also contacted
American unions in the construction
and retail sectors, which are most
affected, and is trying to set up
meeting with consumer associations.

Georgetti said that the CLC is
working “to bring an end to the
naked abuse of power of the United
States.”

B.C. Fed president Jim Sinclair
told the rally this is an issue for
forest workers and “every working
person in this province and the
economic survival of every
community in this province.”

“We’re not giving into bullies
because once you start giving into
bullies like the Americans you know

what? They keep coming back for
more. They keep doing it if they can
get away with it.”

Brother Sinclair said it’s
important that regulations on how
the forests are utilized are set in
B.C. and not Washington.

He then drew a parallel between
the issue of log exports and the
export of raw fish.

The fishing industry has lost
control of where fish is processed
and workers have been told that
companies either export the raw
resource or import lower working
conditions.

“We’re not going there because
the backbone of our communities
are those decent I.W.A. wages,” he
said, adding that workers in both
the sawmill and pulp sector “need
the right to have access to those
trees.”

Guest speaker Michael de Jong,
Minister of Forests for B.C., told the
rally that “when a foreign power
takes actions to attack my
neighbours and the citizens of
British Columbia and put them out
of work then you attack me as well
and we're going to stand together to

fight back.”

He said the U.S. forest industry
has received protection from the
U.S. Department of Commerce and
that both Canadian and American
workers who depend on receiving
Canadian lumber are being thrown
out of work by “punitive, ill thought-
out, self-serving trade sanctions.’

He said millions of American
families “are Receienecs out of the
housing market because of some
greedy American industrialists who
just want to put a few more bucks
in their pockets.”

He sent a message to George Bush
through the rally outside the U.S.
consulate.

“Look, are you a free trader or
not?” he said.

“You talk a great game. We heard
you speak out very passionately two
weeks ago about your presumed
commitment to free trade. We'll,
this is where the rubber hits the
road!”

Mr. de Jong said ministry staff
were in Washington with federal
trade ministry staff, working “to
achieve a lasting agreement that
embraces two words — free trade.” &

° B.C. Fed president Jim Sinclair said the Botiwan
important for every working person in the province.

2/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 2001