Employer getting tougher to deal with

AN ANTI-UNION AMERICAN
employer is getting worse to deal
with. Negotiations to reach a first
contract at the Anagram Premier
Rescare facility in Niagara-on-the-
Lake is being hampered by a compa-
ny which has been investigated by
Immigration Canada, for smuggling
American scabs over the border (see
story page two).

In June and July, instead of mak-
ing progress in negotiations, the
employer took more items off the
bargaining table. The union has filed
bad faith bargaining charges against
the company in front of the Ontario
Labour Relations Board.

“We think we can win it,” says
IWA national second vice-president
Norm Rivard. “When the Board
hears about the scabs from the U.S.,
we think it will look very poorly on
the company’s activities. It’s really

lear that the company has been deal-
ing in bad faith and has no intention of
reaching a collec-
tive agreement with
the IWA.”

“Its hard to
believe that the
employer would
stoop so low to use
scabs from the
U.S. to prevent
Canadian workers
from reaching a collective agreement,”
he adds. In late July, Brother Rivard
sent a letter and a package of informa-
tion on the strike to 120 federal MP’s
and provincial MLA’s, requesting that
they put pressure on the company to
resolve the strike. In the package,
Rivard points out that the workers are
refused WSIB coverage, even though
there is a high risk of repetitive strain
injuries in the workplace. The union is

= Norm Rivard

also seeking proper training for new
hires, and some wage increases, even
though wages are not the central issue.
They are underpaid by at least
$5.00/hr to begin with. There are
some people with university educa-
tions that start in the $10 per hour
range. “They are taking care of
human beings who have suffered seri-
ous brain injuries,” says Rivard.
“Workers should be well compensated
and well treated.”

Ron Diotte, president of Local 700,
says in addition to bringing illegal
scabs into Canada, ResCare has had
lawsuits filed against them in the
United States for not taking care of res-
idents. “These guys are ruthless,” says
Diotte. “They have not been negotiat-
ing with us and they don’t want a col-
lective agreement. It would be great if
they left Canada and the government
took the facilities over.””

ear BY WILF MCINTYRE
#3 In April, WA members from the Juniper Lumber and I-Joist plant rallied in support of first contract legislation.

Taking on the [WA

Nexfor’s top brass take on unusual step of overseeing
efforts to break union in New Brunswick

THE UNION IS BATTLING noth-
ing less than the top brass of Nexfor
Inc. on the picket line in Juniper,
New Brunswick as the strike at the
Juniper Lumber and I-joist plant
heads into the fall. IWA Local 306
members walked off the job on
October 15, 2001 as they rejected the
company’s call for an “open shop”
agreement which would grant work-
ers the right to not pay dues.

The company’s president from
Toronto and North American direc-
tor of Human Resources are directly
involved in the dispute, says national
fourth vice-president Wilf McIntyre.
In New Brunswick if a strike goes
beyond six months, a decertification
vote can take place.

In early September the IWA and

Nexfor met before the New
Brunswick Labour Board. The Board
chairman directed the sides to agree
to a decert vote and back to
work agreement. Brother
McIntyre successfully
insisted that, should the

THE IWA AWAITS

there was bad faith when the employ-
er would not address monetary
issues unless their position on non-
mandatory dues would be in the
agreement,” he adds.
Brother McIntyre says
“it’s pretty mysterious

union win the vote, all || THE RESULTS OF when upper level man-
employees will pay dues | A VOTE WHICH agement, with opera-
through a variation of the tions all over the world,
Rand Formula. The || COULD END A gets involved in a strike

vote is scheduled for
September 17. “The
wheels of justice are slow for workers
in the province,” says McIntyre, who
says a decision should come out in
the IWA’s favour. Then, he says, the
company would be compelled to
return to the bargaining table and
deal with the dues issue. “We say

LENGTHY STRIKE 2t 4 small mill in small

town New Brunswick. It
sends a message that they are out to
take on the IWA.” Support on the
picket line is strong, says local presi-
dent Mario Fortunato. “The crew
understands the issues and is solid.
They realize that they have to contin-
ue the strike until we win.”

No end in sight for strike at
Industrial Hardwood

It’s a strike that is going on three
years this coming November 8.
Twenty-eight IWA Local 2693 mem-
bers remain on picket duty outside
the Industrial Hardwood Products
plant in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

There have been no recent talks
between the company and the local
union in recent months. Using
Ontario labour law, the employer
has brought in between two to
twelve scabs to keep the plant oper-
ating at low capacity.

“The company even offered the
scabs a $2 an hour increase, with a
pension plan and benefits to keep
the union out,” says local union
president Joe Hanlon. Industrial
Hardwood has also demanded drug
and alcohol testing and wants all
employees to read and write
English. Several are immigrant
workers with limited skills in English.

“People are getting frustrated to a
point, but the picket line is still very
strong,” adds Hanlon.

Local 2693 strikes Bowater
sawmill in Ignace, Ontario
Since early August, workers struck
the Bowater Ignace sawmill in
Ignace, Ontario in order to reach a
first agreement with the company
which bought an old mill on the site
two years ago. There are 51 Local
2693 members who want the mill to
be up and running
soon, with a col-
lective agreement
in place. Although
Bowater built the
state-of-the-art
operation, it re-
moved planing
facilities and
wants to contract
out the wood yard and weekend
maintenance. It also wants to impose
a 7-day a week operation with shifts
it would pick and choose. “Our
members want to get the company to
the bargaining table and reach a fair
and equitable agreement and get the
new mill up and running,” says local
president Joe Hanlon.

B Joe Hanlon

Scabs vote to decertify
plant after 6 month strike
In northern Ontario, strikebreaking
workers used labour laws intro-
duced by the former premier Mike
Harris to defeat an IWA strike and
decertify Local 2693 at the Marona
Kitchen Manufacturing plant in
Sudbury. Certified in April of 2001,
the union was unable to reach a
collective agreement and struck the
employer. After more than six months
on strike in Ontario, scabs can vote
to get rid of the union and did so.
“Look at what has happened at
Marona and at Industrial Hardwood
(see story above) in Thunder Bay,”
says local president Joe Hanlon.
“We used to have anti-scab legisla-
tion under the Bob Rae (NDP)
government and today we can see
Conservative labour laws under-
mine how we strike,” he adds,
“Now employers can freely bring in
scabs, protected by police, keep the
union on the picket line, and scabs
are allowed to vote out the union.”

SEPTEMBER 2002 THE ALLIED WORKER | 9