¢ Pictured opposite piles of processed logs is a patch of trees with a majority of tops under three inches.

utilization standards set by Tolko.

Manitoba loggers

continued from page thirty-three

plentiful in the Manitoba bush, the company
operated as a Crown Corporation, employing as
many as 75 crew and staff. Cut and skid crews
were the order of the day and the vast majority
of employees came from outside the area.

In 1974, in the province, the crown corporation
Manfor had over 450 company loggers scattered
between Cranberry, Beli: Kisissing and
Conlin Lake. Logging later opened up in the

Wawbowden and Thompson areas.

By the mid to late 80’s, logging camps shut
down and massive tech change swept the
industry by the early 1990’s.

In 1992 the province turned over the assets
of Moose Lake to a private corporation owned
by the community and the Mosakahiken Cree

Nation - Moose Lake Logging Company (1992)
itd.

Over the next four to eight years, a transition
to mechanized logging took place as chainsaws
were replaced with feller bunchers, cable
skidders were replaced by log forwarders, and
log peceesors were atrod ace

The changes took their toll. Much of the early
equipment used broke down or wasn’t suited to
the job. Running some equipment 24 hours a
day, seven days a week, without proper
preventative maintenance, didn’t help either.

Worker training issues became more
important, as loggers who had spent years
cutting and skidding, had to be retrained for
jobs with other skill sets.

Today the Moose Lake Logging has sub-
contractors with one feller buncher, three log
harvesters and two forwarders.

The sub-contracting owner/operators are
Abel Martin who runs a processor, forwarder
and Cat; Jody Ehman, who runs the feller
buncher; John Mercredi Jr., who runs a
processor; forwarder operator Jason Sanderson;
and processor operator James Buck. Each sub-
contractor has employees.

Journeyman mechanic David Jaeb, services
all equipment in the area.

“Since we have had the national and local
1.W.A. back here in Moose Lake, we’ve seen
some definite improvements,” said company
manager Laverne Jaeb.

WORKER/CONTRACTOR PROTECTIONS NEEDED

While the I.W.A. is making slow, measured
progress in getting rates reinstated that can
provide union pay and benefits, the larger issue
of protecting workers and contractors in the
province of Manitoba remains.

Talking from experience, Gordon Landriault,
who now works at the Tolko sawmill in The

Pas, said the union needs strong successorship

rights under the labour code and that contractors
need legal provisions to protect them from
cutthroat bidding processes, so they can pay
union rates.

“The horror stories are out there. People
know where they are,” he said. Truckers are
sleeping in their cabs to catch a few hours of
sleep, working six days a week.

Bush workers get as little as $8 to $9 per
hour, working seven days a week. Some in the
farther north are only getting $5 per hour.

Small contractors can’t become vocal or they
risk getting their contracts removed.

It doesn’t matter whether they are native
workers or non-native, said Brother Arcand.
They are in the same pot.

“But Moose Lake Logging does have a voice,”
said Brother Arcand. “I think they are starting
to realize that more and more.”

“In the bush, workers in Manitoba must
know that if they remain divided, they will
remain conquered,” he added.

Still today, like yesteryear, the economic
activity of the forest industry offers Manitobans
one of the very limited opportunities for
employment. In northern Manitoba, most First
Nations bands are faced with unemployment in
the 90 per cent range and confront numerous
social problems.

Most of the Tolko company and contractor
crews work in the Saskatchewan River, High
Rock and Nelson River forest sections.

“It is in these vast areas that we have to try
to help workers who are being exploited,” said
Arcand. “The Swampy Cree are out there and
there’s no band that I know of that is not having
some kind of problem. By working together, we
can tackle the issues.”

Wood is coming in from the south of the

Workers are concerned about decreasing

province too, he said, for much less than union
rates. ~

BETTER RATES CAN BE HAD

Since 1997, when it bought out Repap, Tolko
has put about $85 million into its sawmill in
The Pas. It is a super-efficient mill which was
set up to make dimension lumber from small
dimension logs.

Local financial secretary Doug Northcott,
himself a former truck driver, said Tolko can
afford to pay contractors better in both the
harvesting and hauling sectors.

“They (woodlands crew and log haulers) have
been under a lot of pressure by Tolko,” he said.
“Before that they were under the gun when
Repap was around. Both companies have been
out to make the bush as non-union as possible.”

He pointed out that log haulers are having a
difficult time as there are less opportunities to
work. They have lost work to the fact that there
is more wood being hauled by rail as Tolko is
using more stump-to-rail contractors.

Gordon Landriault said Tolko might feel good
that more First Nations people are working but
questions the quality of the employment.

“Providing employment for the sake of
employment if it’s not sustainable or not of
good quality is questionable,” he said. “Providing
employment at $8 to $10 an hour jobs is useless,
Setting a person up to invest in machinery in a
First Nations community which costs hundreds
of thousands of dollars and then not pay them
enough wages to survive and keep the machinery
running is exploitation,” he said. M

¢ Pictured is mechanic David Jaeb’s mobile camp.
their own roof and “bach-it” in the bush.

Workers get paid a minimal allowance to Provide

34/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER 2001 4