Industry targeted

continued from page one

negotiated in 1996.

he DOC has decided to hit
Canada with retroactive tariffs,
saying that Canadian lumber exports
have surged since the expiry of the
SLA, a claim Canada hotly denies.
The result is that Canadian lumber
producers will have to post
retroactive bonds for covering exports
back into May, a move which may
shut some producers down.

The DOC ignored data from the
U.S. Census Bureau which showed
an 11.3 percent increase in Canadian
lumber imports over the second
quarter of 2000, well below the 15
per cent water mark that the U.S.
usually uses to define surges in
exports. That elevation in shipments
was due to an increase in U.S. lumber
consumption, a growth in housing
markets and stronger lumber prices.

Pettigrew said the American
government is imposing a tax on
U.S. consumers and is giving in to
protectionist measures.

A final decision on the CVD by the
DOC is not expected until December
7, 2001. That decision will be
reviewed by officials from the U.S.
International Trade Commission
(ITC) before a permanent CVD may
be put in place.

t’s the ITC that decides if the
American forest industry, in its view,
has been injured or even threatened
with injury by “subsidized imports.”

Also coming soon (probably by
October 15) will be a DOC decision
on “anti-dumping” charges. The
Coalition says Canadian companies
are dumping lumber into the U.S.
below the costs of production, a
position which every province rejects.

uch an additional charge may vary
from province to province.

“The U.S. Commerce Department

is a politicized body that reacts to
heat and lobbying from American
politicians and industry leaders,”
said Haggard. “On one hand certain
congressmen and senators support
protectionist measures and another
ange group doesn’t.”

n July 19, 2001 a group of 103
congressmen petitioned U.S.
president George W. Bush to oppose
any sanctions on Canadian lumber.
They joined with the American
Consumers for Affordable Homes, a
national organization which has
expressed concern that restriction of
Canadian softwood could hurt the
U.S. economy and slap an additional
$2,000.00 to $4,000.00 to the price of
anew home.

The association noted the number
of jobs that rely on Canadian lumber
is 25 times greater than jobs in the
U.S. lumber industry.

The U.S. National Association of
Home Builders chief economist said
U.S. furniture and cabinet makers
will see increased prices if the duty
sticks.

After the preliminary CVD was
announced, B.C. Forests Minister
Mike de Jong called it “a form of
economic blackmail that is very
unseemly in our closest neighbour.”

“When you've got a rigged process
you usually end up with a biased,
self-serving result,” he later noted.
He told The Globe and Mail, “The
possibility of this escalating to a full-
scale trade war is there. Our long-
standing good relations are at risk.”

Up to the weekend prior to the
poe decision, companies were
applying for exemptions from the
ruling. Many cases are pending.
However, during the 1990’s only 20
of 334 companies in Canada were
excluded by the DOC.

Cedar producers are applying for
an exemption. They argue that cedar
is a high-value appearance product
used for ppplentions like siding,
trim and deck work and is not a
structural product the same as
dimension lumber. Hi

e I.W.A. national president Dave Hagard and Local 1-80 president Bill Routley dropped the union’s statement of
claim in the B.C. Supreme Court on May 4th, 2001.

Union sues B.C. government
over loss of Youbou clause

On May 4, in the midst of the
provincial election, the I.W.A. filed
suit against the B.C. government
regarding the closure of the
TimberWest Cowichan Lumbermill
in the Vancouver Island community
of Youbou, as a report investigating
why a clause was left out of the
Tree Farm Licence was taking place
(see story page 9).

In 1997 a clause, which tied public
timber harvested from TFL #46 to
the mill, mysteriously disappeared.
It was a clause that was put in by
the same government in 1991 to
give workers at the Youbou mill
security.

The union’s statement of claim,
filed at the B.C. Supreme Court,
claims that certain bureaucrats,
either in bad faith or negligently,
deleted the Youbou clause (Clause
7) from the replacement TFL when
it.was issued in 1997 or that the
Minister of Forests, either in bad
faith or negligently, deleted the
Youbou clause (Clause 7) from the
replacement TFL.

The sawmill closed on January
26 and the planer kept going until
February 27. By May and June the
company was carving up and
auctioning off equipment.

At a press conference outside the
B.C. Supreme Court, national union
president Dave Haggard said the
union believes the government has
to be held responsible. He also
charged that TimberWest’s “callous
attitude towards workers in that
community is unacceptable.”

“It’s unacceptable to the I.W.A.

‘that we would be faced with that

type of action with a company that
has made more profits in the last 2
years, exporting logs off their private
lands than most companies have in
the last 5 years,” said Haggard.
“We’re going to take it to the
courts to try to get restitution for
our membership that have paid the

8/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER 2001

ultimate price with job loss and the
community of Youbou — which has
paid a high price.” added the I.W.A.
president.

“We believe that the TFL should
be given to the people who deserve
it and that the people in Youbou
and the people in Lake Cowichan
have worked there and derived their
living from the Tree Farm License,”
he added.

Haggard said the union is going
to fully find who or what took the
protective “Clause 7” out.

aE a

In early
supporters when they tried to stop TimberWest from disassembling the _
mill in Youbou.

The national president added
that, after a court case, if the union
is successful, the timber on the TFL
should go to a company that is
prepared to employ I.W.A. members.

Local 1-80 president Bill Routley
told the media that TimberWest’s
treatment of the workers in the
Cowichan Valley has been
“outrageous,” and that the company
has refused to work with the
community in selling just the mill.

continued on page nine

arrested some union members community a‘