° Hardest hit by the combined effects of the U.S. trade actions have been
coastal loggers in British Columbia.

Anti-dumping charges

continued from page one

“The Americans are trying to write
our forest policy and they are saying
what our governments should do.
So far B.C. has done a good job of
shoveling government polices off the
back of a truck in their capitulation
to the Americans,” said Brother
Haggard.

“The government has offered up
long-standing policies on a silver
platter and we are very concerned,”
he added.

Meetings between the B.C.
government and a U.S team lead by
special negotiator Mary Ryckman
on October 17 and 18, saw the
govern-
ment float out its concessions to the
Americans, nearly two weeks before
the industry was hit by the anti-
dumping levy on October 31.

The government offered up the
following concessions which it says
are consistent with its campaign
pledge to change the regulatory
environment in B.C.:

e the removal of the requirement
for forest companies to tie harvesting
rights to lumber manufacturing.
Companies would be able to get opt
out of the logging business.

e a “market-based” stumpage
system tied to lumber prices, thereby
ehamnaing revenue targets. That
would be based on 13% of the
provincial harvest.

¢ the eradication of “appur-
tenance” clauses in forest licenses
tying timber to jobs in local
communities. Companies could be
able to close mills and walk away
from communities,

° the elimination of minimum cut
requirements which maintain
minimum harvesting levels in poor
lumber markets. Companies could

be able to lay logging crews off for

extended periods of time in poor
market conditions.

° the elimination of a 5%
“clawback” when tenures are
transferred between companies.

° the loosening up of minimum
harvesting requirements. Logging
companies could be able to by-pass
uneconomic stands, creating a “high-
grade” effect.

The industry’s response was
predictable.

Interfor president Duncan Davies
told the Vancouver Sun that the
policy changes were welcome.

“Old tired, inefficient mills haven’t
been allowed to close without the
government trying to bend you over
a barrel to extract some concessions
out of you,” he said.

Interfor had just eliminated over
250 jobs with the closure of most of
Fraser Mills in Port Coquitlam, one
of the company’s more efficient mills
which could run both red and white
dimension lumber.

Canfor CEO David Emerson,
appointed as a top economic advisor
by premier Gordon Campbell earlier
this year, told the newspaper that if
the changes are approved, there
will be an overhauling ofthe industry
and the “strong will survive and the
weak will have to step aside.”

“It’s fair to say that we have
multiple decades of history that are
about to be revised,” said Emerson.
“We have treated the industry too
much like a regulated monopoly.”

After meeting with fine Ms.
Ryckman and crew, Minister of
Forests Mike de Jong appeared
hopeful.

‘I haven’t ordered the champagne
yet but I am optimistically more
optimistic today (October 18) than I
was yesterday,” he said.

De Jong would feel differently
following the anti-dumping announce-
ment, which he termed “a kick in

the teeth” from the Americans. »

Strike in Juniper
continued from page one

1.W.A. Local 2995 in Cochrane,
Ontario with full union shop rights.
It has the same at CEP and
Carpenters certifications in Quebec
and Net Sener Perens
ey the company wants to pus
open shop here in New Brunswick
is beyond us,” said Local 306

president Pat Hogan. “Perhaps they

are using it as a testing grounds for
the ‘right-to-work’ movement in
Canada.” ;

“Right from day one, in
negotiations they (the company)
were setting up to take us on,” said
Hogan. “I don’t think they had any
doubt that’s where they wanted to
go. They didn’t think we had the
support at first.” i

Hogan and the other union
representatives have sent a message
to all workers who have crossed the
picket line.

“People have to make their choice
and have to live with the results of
their decision,” said Hogan. “After
we get a contract, all workers will
see the benefits and those who
crossed the picket lines will only see
that they delayed us from getting a
collective agreement.”

The strike is an important one for
the union to win.

“We are on the picket line to prove
to workers and to the community
that we are here to stay and that
we are prepared to go the distance
to build the I.W.A. in New Brunswick
and represent the members in the
province,” said Hogan.

“We want a fair collective
agreement and we want to be able
to represent anybody in the forest
industry and any other workers
that need representation,” he added.

PICKET LINE SETS UP

About 50 picketers hit the bricks
at 5:00 a.m. on the first.day and
activity was peaceful. The union

members met four truck loads of 2 x
3’s used in the laminating it.

Union drivers asked to ce
loads off and said they wouldn’t be
back. Other drivers refused to come
back and were dispatched to Nexfor’s
nearby Norbord lumber mill where
220 non-union workers are
employed. ‘i

Local union organizer Mario
Fortunato said that “a lot of people
we thought might not show up did.”

Higher-paid workers including
maintenance crew, electricians
millwrights and operators showe:
solidarity with lower paid workers,
some of whom get paid little more
than $9.00 per hour.

Many new workers — those who
were hired by the company to work
on a second shift just before the
union vote, joined the picket line.

The RCMP had 10 cruisers, one 4
x 4 and about 40 cops.

By day two, people who crossed
the line began to filter out to join
the struggle. That same day RCMP
began to arrest some picketers.

“I think the RCMP may have had
a mandate to pick out all the leaders
(on the line),” said Brother
Fortunato, who said that the union
members were “not doing that much”
when they got arrested.

“There were frivolous charges,”
said Brother McIntyre. “At the end
of the day they aren’t going to make
anything out of it.”

Union member Amanda Campbell,
witnesses say, was bumped into the
path of a turning transport trailer
truck by former RCMP officer John
Barnstead, an individual hired by
the company, said Brother McIntyre.

Sister Campbell was taken away
by an ambulance after her foot and
lower leg was hit by a truck tire and
she suffered bruises and an injured
shoulder. Barnstead was not
charged.

One incident saw a gravel truck
enter the yard and buzz past
picketers at an estimated 40 km/hr.,

continued on page three

¢ During the first days of the strike workers put up tarps and bolstered

the picket line. L.W.A. national fourth vice president Wilf McIntyre (left)

is seen here with. l. to r. Chris Goodine,

Lorraine Mazarolle.

Terry-Lynn Brayall and

2/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 2001