Logging operations in some parts of Canada, especially coastal British Columbia, have dropped to

a standstill.

IWA. locals

continued from page six

improved severance packages when a mill in
closed.

"This is another example of the devastation
that could happen to workers, families and
communities," he said.

"Depending on what changes are made to Bill
13, the I.W.A. may be in a struggle with
contractors to maintain wages and benefits if the
contractors are not able to arbitrate contact
rates with major licensees."

On the watering down of wood utilization
standards, Wong warned that government should
be careful not to invite high-grading and the
return of international boycotts of B.C. forest

products.

Sy Pederson, president of Local 363, said the
anti-dumping levy has had no effect yet at
Weyerhaeuser’s North Island Timberlands
Division.

The Fields sawmill in Courtenay, now owned
by Interfor, is working steady selling into the
Japanese market. TimberWest loggers are
orang on private lands for the most part.

On the negotiations that have taken place
between B.C. and the Americans, Brother
Pederson said “I think it’s a negotiating mistake
to play their cards like that.”

“All the Americans have done is say they are
prepared to negotiate an agreement but they are
not talking about market-access or ‘free trade,”
added Pederson. “The Americans are seeking

rotectionism. It’s hardball. We make mistakes
if we try to appease them.”

The local union leader said by getting rid of
appurtenance clauses in license agreements, the
door for log exports would be pried wide open.

“If we can’t keep our wood and tie it to
appurtenance and mills, we'll ultimately end up
giving resources away to the Americans,” he
added.

He said the government’s move to sever the
link between parent companies and logging
operations goes far to appease both the Americans
and Weyerhaeuser.

“Weyerhaeuser is hell-bent on contracting out
company logging jobs — we've seen this already
in our local,” he said. “The Liberals are headed
towards a ‘Made in America’ policy on contractors
and small operators. They want to create a whole
bunch of sharecroppers in the bush.”

On taking away minimum cut requirements,
Pederson said the issue is a “red-herring.” Forest
companies can already apply for ministerial
exemptions for minimum cut requirements in
money-losing markets. There’s no need to give
companies a. hand, he said.

In Fraser Valley Local 1-3567 president Sonny
Ghag said that a harder line must be taken by
B.C. and Canada. He said the Americans should
be “starved out of logs” and forced to buy Canadian
lumber.

He said that the industry should strongly
consider an out and out halt of lumber shipments
to the United States if customers don’t want to
pay the additional duties. =

Eventually Ehey are going to cripple our
industry anyways. I’d rather suffer the short-

term pain for long-term gain,” said Ghag.

He predicted that American politicians would
take a tremendous amount of heat from the U.S.
public if Canadian lumber shipments drop off.

The Hammond Cedar mill ran its last shift on
November 2, before going into an indefinite
shutdown. Nearly 400 workers were laid off. The
local is also suffering layoffs at the Interfor
Albion mill and McDonald Cedar, which relies on
wood from Hammond for value-added production.

Brother Ghag is also against severing
manufacturing and harvesting.

“Why harvest the trees if you are not going to
manufacture them?,” he said. He added the
results will be contracting out in the logging

sector and the loss of mill jobs.

Ghag said that when manufacturing would be
down in the future, logging companies could
contrive to produce a log surplus, thereby
exporting raw timber out of the country.

IN THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR

In Local 1-405 the Tembec value-added plant
in Cranbrook closed on November 5. The company
was hit by a 10.7% percent anti-dumping levy.

Local president Bob Matters said Tembec
thought it would be hit with a lower anti-dumping
charge based on the formulas they were given by
the Americans.

Elsewhere in the local nothing has been heard
yet.

“If (the dispute) lasts very long, even by the
new year, I think some of our operations may see
shutdowns,” he said.

Brother Matters remarked that appurtenance
has not been an effective enough tool in preventing
mill closures and that another arrangement
should be put in its place.

“Tt (Sppurtenance) has helped us get a few
nickels here and there when we negotiate
severance pay and the like, but it has been
relatively inadequate,” he said.

On the issue of cut control, he said parties
must work to seek a balance between stability
for workers and profitability in the industry.

“The government must realize that worker
and community stability is critical and not swing
the pendulum totally in favour of the industry,”
he added. “There has to be more debate on these
issues.”

In Kamloops Local 1-417 president Joe Davies
reported that those companies which have not

en down time are pondering the issue.

Weyerhaeuser mills in Kamloops and Vavenby
have temporary closures of two weeks each. The
Kamloops mill was on its third week of a 4 day
schedule as of press time and should be working
that way until the end of the year.

The Louisiana Pacific mill in Malakwa has
been up again, cutting both whitewoods and
cedar while the Federated Co-op mill is Salmon
Arm/Canoe is deciding which way to go as are
Tolko mills in Louis Creek and Merritt.

Slocan mills in Vavenby and Valemount are
sitting on increasing inventory while the Aspen
Planer Industries mill in Merritt has closed due
to upgrading of the mill.

In the plywood end, the Ainsworth Savona
plant has taken a 2 week shutdown and is back
to 1 shift as markets have softened.

The West Fraser mill in Chasm will not open
until 2002. It closed due to market conditions in
May of this year.

Brother Davies said
become more involve
struggling.

“I sense that companies are looking at
downsizing, mergers and buyouts,” he said.

If the Liberals follow through on their policy
commitment to the Americans, Davies said
workers and communities will see a lot more
movement of timber by-passing sawmills.

Even now the Weyco Kamloops mill is
manufacturing fir from the coast which is
dewatered and trucked to the operation.

“Tf they can move small fir logs that distance
they can certainly move any other kind of product
throughout the province if they can make a buck
by doing it,” he said.

He said the results will eventually hurt small
communities as manufacturing jobs will
diminish.

In a joint press release with locals 1-424 and
1-425 on October 31, Brother Davies said if the
government remove cut controls “we could be
pushed back into the boom and bust days of the
1960’s and 70’s. Present cut-controls ensure
companies must cut a percentage of their annual
allowable cut or lose it.”

Troi Caldwell of Kelowna Local 1-423 said
that Riverside sawmill in town is down to 4 day
work weeks.

“Everything else is business as usual,” he said.
But inventory is building at mills like
Weyerhaeuser Okanagan Falls, Weyerhaeuser
Princeton, and Pope and Talbot mills in Grand
Forks and Midway.

Brother Caldwell is concerned that unity be
maintained and that individual companies will
break out on their own and try to cut a deal with
the Americans.

He is also concerned about maintaining the
well-being of Canadian companies like Tolko,
Riverside, Slocan and Doman, which have worked
to create jobs and community stability.

On the political front Caldwell said that prime
minister Jean Chretien should tell the Americans
to live up to the North American Free Trade
Agreement.

IN THE NORTHERN B.C. INTERIOR

‘In northern B.C. local 1-424 president Fred
Carroll said there have been no new
announcements. The local has about 1,500
members at 10 Canfor mills.

He said all the mills may be headed for some
down time. Canfor’s business plan, he pointed
out, has each operation producing a specific
product line. Each one is less flexible in the
market place.

At the same time the company is extremely
concerned about maintaining supply to big-box
retailers like The Home Depot and Lowes.

Canfor has even gone to Lithuania and Latvia
for wood volume to maintain those markets.

“The good thing for us in Canada is that the
infrastructure in those countries and in Russia
are not yet up to scratch,” he said. “When they
are it will be a different story.”

Brother Carroll said he was surprised to see
Slocan hit with a huge 19.24 percent anti-
dumping duty.

“I knew they would hit Slocan hard but I just
didn’t think they would get nailed the way they
did,” said Carroll.

He said that Canada has to exploit the
advantage of have American consumer
associations and congressmen and senators who
are on its side.

In the joint press release statement with
Locals 1-417 and 1-425, Brother Carroll remarked
that cut-controls guarantee some employment
during tough times.

He said the B.C. government’s move to do
away with the controls, in addition to a potential
market-based stumpage system, could result in
devastating effects on the value-added sector
and small business joint ventures.

“This devastation will occur even if it mepresents
only a a percentage of the annual allowable cut,”
he said.

“We're not guilty of dumping into the American
market,” said Local 1-425 president Wade Fisher
in Williams Lake, B.C. “It’s the U.S. system that
has got you guilty before you start. There’s no
‘way around it.”

So far there have been no curtailments in the
local but that could soon change he said.

“It’s really frustrating for us and our members
to sit here and watch our jobs be jeopardized
because of politics in the southern U.S.,” he
added. “We hear Americans talk about free trade
on one hand and practice the exact opposite
when it comes to our product.”

continued on page eight

overnments need to
as companies are

a SSSR
LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER 2001/7