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secretary Brian Harder (r.)

Fraser Mills

continued from page nine

Vancouver Trade and Convention
Centre. Workers signed a petition
calling for government assistance in
stepping in to find logs for the mill
or force Interfor to sell it.

“We have to hold any government,
whether it’s the NDP or the Liberals,
accountable,” said Ghag. “We’re
talking about 300 mill jobs and
another 300-400 logging jobs here.”

Ghag noted that many Fraser
Mills workers voted Liberal and
supported Campbell.

“Whether they did or didn’t is
irrelevant,” he said. “They (the
Liberals) are elected to represent
British Columbians and all British
Columbians.”

Brother Harder said the union is
also waiting for the government and
the Ministry of Forests to investigate
appurtanancy clause(s) which tie

At the rally for the Fraser Mills petition

timber rights to Fraser Mills.

“Workers and their communities
need some light shed on the Fraser
Mills situation and its relation to
the ‘Great Bear Rainforest”, said
Mr. Harder. “Fraser Mills is a cost-
effective operation. We have to get
to the bottom of this case. Our
members and the public deserve
nothing less than a full investigation
of the company’s harvesting rights,
harvesting volumes and legal
obligations to the province.”

“And indeed if the ‘Great Bear
Rainforest’ impact is supposed to
result in a log shortage, we should
know exactly what that shortage
amounts to,” he added.

“If Interfor can’t run the mill then
they should sell it to another
company that will.”

Harder said the government
should put people ahead of bears
and said that environmentalists
“will not be happy until they shut
down the whole (forest) industry
down.”

were I.W.A. Local 1-3567 president Sonny Ghag (1.) and local financial

And Harder said that if the ‘Great
Bear Rainforest’ is a decisive factor
in any mill closure, it should be
canceled.

He
compensation package for workers

also noted that

any
affected by the “Great Bear
Rainforest” decision must be
enhanced.

He said that during the campaign,
Gordon Campbell said it should be
increased.“At the end of the day he
(Campbell) needs to live up to that,”
he said.

But the local’s position is to save
the mill first.“People that work
there need the jobs and so does the
community and the union,” said
Harder. “The forest industry is what
drives the economy of B.C.”

Brother Ghag said that Interfor
has a senior workforce at Fraser
Mills that the company wants to
sever.

The average age is 53. Some are
second and third generation
woodworkers.

The union also questions the fact
that in March of this year Interfor
paid $123 million to take over
Primex Forest Products which is
involved in five coast operations. |

“For a company to spend this kind
of money to buy two mills that have
no logs and then come to the I.W.A.
and say ‘we’re shutting down Fraser
Mills because of no logs’ — it’s totally
unbelievable,” said Ghag.

He predicted that Interfor would
back down from closing Fraser Mills
if the government threatens to
revoke its timber rights.

Plant chairman Don Samson told
the Lumberworker that Interfor has
only offered to keep about people
fifty people working by running a
planer and a dry-kiln system on the
site.

He said a closure of Fraser Mills
just doesn’t make economic sense.

“It sure surprised me. You have a
mill that can run 2x4, 2x6, 2x8
whitewood and cedar,” he said,
claiming that every test run of logs
and lumber that Fraser Mills has
recently run through has come out
with higher quality and lower
production costs than other mills.

It has two head rigs and a chip
and saw. The actual mill machinery
is only 19 years old.

“If they (Interfor) want to
negotiate for more machinery and
fewer jobs they should let us know,”
he said.

Brother Samson pointed out that
the company started up two of five
new dry kilns on the day of the
closure announcement. They stopped
work on the other three kilns.

“These guys don’t make these
decisions in a day or two — they do
(make plans) over 4-5 years,”
he added, underscoring the union’s

doubts about the rash decision
to close the mill. a

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Canada-U.S. dispute

continued from page seven

IN THE NORTHERN B.C. INTERIOR

Local 1-424 president Fred Carroll
told the Lumberworker that they
haven’t heard much of anything yet.

“I think everyone’s just batting
down the hatches to see what
transpires when the final (CVD)
decision comes down,” he said.

Canfor which runs 10 mills in the
local employing some 1,500 Local 1-
424 members, says it is simply going

to run the mills harder and more
efficient.

Slocan is not saying anything.

“I think the American consumers
are going to help win this war for us
— they don’t want to be stuck buying
southern yellow pine,” said Carroll.
Local 1-424 has about 5,000 members
in the sawmill sector.

In Williams Lake Local 1-425,

. president Wade Fisher said there
are not any major layoffs yet.

“So far we’re running but we’ve
had a delay in starting up an extra
shift at one operation (Riverside,
Williams Lake),” he said.

Fisher said companies have started
a detailed analysis of what price
they can sell lumber at with the
CVD in place.

Unlike many other locals in the
1.W.A., Local 1-425 has fared better
since the downturn in lumber
markets started in 1997.

He said highly efficient mills with
loyal customer bases has made a
difference.

Brother Fisher wasn’t.surprised
at the size of the CVD. “Free trade
doesn’t exist,” he said. “The
Americans talk out of both sides of
their face. It’s very worrisome when

you see them bully Canada like they
are doing.”

ON THE PRAIRIE PROVINCES

Alberta Local 1-207 president
Mike Pisak said there is no indication
yet on employment impacts but that
those “are always a possibility.”

Canfor’s sawmill in Hines Creek
is one of the most efficient the
company has. Weyerhaeuser
Drayton Valley and Grande Cache
are running as normal as are Tolko
High Level and Weldwood Hinton
bush crews.

“Right now we have to wait and
see,” said Pisak. “If something isn’t
done, a couple of mills in our local
could be seriously affected.”

Saskatchewan Local 1-184
president Paul Hallen said there’s
no impact to date but expressed
similar concern. Having been exempt
from the 1996-2001 Softwood
Lumber Quota Agreement between
Canada and the U.S., now
Saskatchewan is in the same boat
as most of the rest of the country.

The dominant player in the
province, Weyerhaeuser, is
completing a wood fibre optimization
study in the province — the results
of which will influence how the
company views the viability of its
operations.

That review, combined with the
softwood tariff, may have important
impacts, said Brother Hallen.

The union is certified to Weyco
sawmills in Big River and Carrot
River, the Norsask mill in Meadow
Lake and the Wapaweeka sawmill
near Prince Albert, a jointly owned
operation between Weyco and the

foodland Cree Indian bands.

Manitoba Local 324 is also very
concerned about the future impact
of the CVD and potential
antidumping charges. During the
petied of the Canada - U.S. Softwood

umber Quota agreement, which
expired at the end of March,
Manitoba was free to ship as
much tariff wood as it wanted. Not
any more.

Tolko, which has a major sawmill
in The Pas, is waiting for the
antidumping shoe to drop before it
decides what to do.

The local is kicking off negotiations
with Tolko in early October and is
concerned whether or not the
company will try to stall negotiations.

Elsewhere there have been some
layoffs at Neepawa Lumber in
Neepawa but it is not known if it is
related to the CVD.

IN THE ONTARIO INDUSTRY

In the north of Ontario, Local 2693
president Joe Hanlon said that
nothing major has happened yet.

“If it (the CVD) continues to stay
on for a long period of time I would
imagine there’s going to be an
impact,” he said. The local has heard
from a couple of employers who say
they are working hard to “ensure a
free market.”

Buchanan Forest Products is a
major employer in the local with
mills in McKenzie, Atikokan, Nakina
and Dubreilville. Domtar’s White
River operation is running and the
opening of the sawmill in Ignace is
still proceeding.

Many of the local union’s loggers

cut both pulp and saw logs and stand
a greater chance of maintaining
employment than those who cut just
sawlogs. Some companies have
worked out the exchange of logs for
chips.
Local 2995 president Damien Roy
told the Lumberworker that all its
Tembec mills were running on
reduced shifts at press time. The
company has operations in Hearst,
Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Cochrane
and a 50 per cent interest in Excel
Forest Products in Opasatika.
However the Tri-Cept planing mill
in Hearst is running on one shift as
Excel is selling less wood from it.

“We are concerned about the
countervail duty,” he said. “We are

concerned there could be more
layoffs.” The local hasn’t heard any
negative news yet from Domtar in
Timmins and Chapleau, Lecours in
Calstock, Olav Havelshrud jv
Hornepayne or Weyerhaeuser in
Chapleau. we

In Local 1000, president Joe da
Costa said “we hayen’t felt it (the
effects of the CVD) yet or are we
expecting to in the near future. But
we may not be completely immune
to it.”

His local has only one mill, the
Tembec sawmill in Mattawa, that
cuts predominately hardwood but
runs softwood part of the year, like
other mills in north central Ontario.

Brother da Costa said the tariff
action is from “a powerful pro-

tectionist nation which has no re;
for the true meaning of free trade.”
IN NEW BRUNSWICK

I.W.A. Canada Local 306 is
negotiating is with Lakeburn
Lumber, a 50 man sawmill that the
union organized in October, 2000.
Its wood supply comes from private
lands, which is being exempted from
the CVD by the Americans.

Lumber mills in the province are
ramping up production. The local
has been in negotiations with the
company since early April for a first
collective a; ent.

On September 10 both sides will
be ae with a mediator.

“They (Lakeburn representatives)
don’t really want to say it (the CVD
exemption) is to their benefit but
before that decision neta out they
were saying ‘everything is hingi
on the softwood jumber tariff” Roe
they have no comments,” said local
union president Pat Hi 5

Brother Hogan said that all areas
of Canada must be treated equally,
and that the country must seek free
and fair trade in lumber with the
United States.

RR
40/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 2001