Ora PRINCE GEORGE BC

Union negotiates weekend

overtime shifts with Canfor
Local 1-424 president Fred Carroll says
crews at Canfor sawmill divisions at
Fort St. James, Fort St. John, Isle
Pierre, Polar (Prince George) and
Rustad have all agreed to a third week-
end shifts to assist the company keep
the operations running to survive the
softwood lumber crisis and to take
advantage of the large amount of beetle
ldll wood that must be processed in the
near future. Workers have agreed to
work three 12-hour days but get paid
for 42 hours. They are also compensat-
ed for their lunch and coffee breaks.
Either party can cancel the agreement
after the first six months.

(©) 1-425 | WILLIAMS LAKE BC

Local and Weldwood at an
impasse over hauling rates

Negotiations over rates for truckers
hauling for the Weldwood Plywood
mill in Williams Lake have reached an
impasse. At stake are the ton/hour
rates being paid by the company and
the fact it is pushing truckers to accept
a seven axle rate. “They (Weldwood)
basically want our guys to work more
for less pay,” says Local 1-425 president
Wade Fisher. The union is currently
part way through a five year “agency
agreement” in which hauling rates are
re-negotiated each year. It represents
about 20 truck owners covering 35-40
drivers. “We're looking at all of our
legal options,” says Brother Fisher.

© 4-3567| FRASER VALLEY BC

Safety and stewards focus of
local union education

The Fraser Valley local put nearly 70
members through a two day health and
safety course on November 1 and 2 and
nearly 50 workers through a job stew-
ard course on November 14 and 15. The
local worked with the B.C. Federation
of Labour and IWA National Safety
Council members to put on the first
seminars. “We are stressing safety
because there is a lot more pressure to
cut corners,” says local union president
Sonny Ghag. “This industry is still
killing and injuring as many workers as
it has in years past, even though there
are less person hours being worked.”
Local BA’s intructed the job stewards.

830 WINNIPEG MB

Expansion of corrugated
operations in Winterpeg
Winnipeg local union president Jack
Alexander reports that both the
Norampac and MBI corrugated plants
are expanding. Norampac hired 6
more workers in October and plans to
introduce new equipment in the
Spring of next year. MBI has cleared a
holding area and is putting in a new
Ward Press and Flexo Press. There are
about 102 workers at Norampac and
166 at MBI.

Meanwhile at the Unisource distri-
bution centre, workers are working less
compulsory OT after meetings
between the company and the IWA.

IWA to renew its lease on an
organizing office in Quebec
A lease has been renewed on a
Montreal office where the IWA is
organizing. It has also set up an organ-
izing committee at the Simmons mat-
tress plant in Kirkland. “We hope to see
an independent Local 400 some day,”
says Vvon Rochon of Local 1000.
Workers from the Stone Container
maintenance garage in Portage du Fort
have been given the option of jobs at
the company’s pulp mill. Of the seven
workers there, three have accepted
retirement, two have jobs in the mill
and two are on the waiting list, says
Local 1000 president Mike McCarter.

2693 THUNDER BAY ON

Collective agreements reached
but problems with Domtar

Local 2693 president Joe Hanlon
reports that the local has recently
reached pattern agreements with
Abitibi Woodlands, north of Thunder
Bay, McKenzie Forest Products in
Hudson, and Gogama Forest Products
in Gogama. Abitibi workers voted 92
per cent in favour of strike action to
obtain a deal. The mills negotiated five
year agreements with wage increase
throughout and some added flexibility.
In late November the local called for a
no board report with Domtar wood-
lands near White River. It went back to
the negotiating table, and was in legal
strike position on December 18, as this
issue went to press.

(8) 700

First contract reached for IWA

kitchen staff at T.O. rehab unit

Local 700 president Ron Diotte reports
that the union has reached a three-year
deal, retroactive to October 1, 2002 for
about 60 kitchen and cafeteria workers
at the Toronto rehab hospital in down-

TORONTO ON

town Toronto. National vice president
Wilf McIntyre headed the negotiating
team at the Aramark bargaining unit.
The IWA got three percent wage
increases, better vacation pay and
increases in shift differentials.

The local is holding joint union/man-
agment seminars at the Bethel sawmill
in Port Colbourne in mid-December
and at Niagara Duty-Free next month.

NORTH CENTRAL ON

Big layoffs hit Tembec lumber
mill in Mattawa Ontario

In early October Local 1000 found out
that 64 of 120 workers at the Tembec
sawmill in Mattawa will be laid off
indefinately on November 25. The
company gave the crew the obligatory
eight weeks of notice. The job losses
are directly related to the softwood
lumber dispute between Canada and
the U.S. The remaining workers will be
running green, rough lumber. Former
local president Joe da Costa says the
union has approached the company to
do what it can to keep a value-added
operation going. “We thought we'd
weather the storm on softwood, but
that’s not the case — before there was a
concern and now things are urgent.”

HANOVER ON

Expansion hits flooring and
receivership hits veneer mill

A mixed bag of news is being felt in
Local 500 in southwestern Ontario.
While the local is pleased that its
membership at the Erie Flooring plant
in West Lorne Ontario has shot up to
220 from 160, its dwindling member-
ship at the Panill Veneer plant in
Kitchener-Waterloo has been shut
down to receivership.

Things are going full blast at Erie.
The membership ratified a new three
year agreement in early September
wage increases of at least 3 per cent in
each year and a defined benefit pen-
sion plan. The deal was approved with
a 92 per cent vote in favour. Mean-

= Local 500 members at Pannil
Veneer in K-W suffered recievership.

while Pannil Veneer, which has seen
its share of ups and downs over the
years, announced receivership on
October 18. As the receiver awaits
potential buyers, the local is trying to
recoup unpaid vacation pay and negoti-
ate a severance package for workers
should the plant not reopen.

KAPUSKASING ON

Local gets agreements with

Norbord, Abitibi and Columbia

Damien Roy, president of Local 2995,
reports that the union had to go to con-
ciliation to avoid a strike with Norbord
plywood in Cochrane. The two sides
reached an deal in late November, set-
ting a pattern agreement.

On December 15, the union sub-local
at the Columbia Levesque plywood plant
in Hearst ratified a collective agreement
following recommendation of accept-
ance by the negotiating committee.
About 320 IWA members work at the
operation. On December 8 the local
reached a four year agreement for over
90 members at the Abititbi Iroquois
Falls woodlands division. The company
agreed to keep out owner operators for
the next four years and signed a letter of
intent to deal with surge hiring issues.

MARIO FORTUNATO eLOCAL 306 ° NEW BRUNSWICK

1 Mario Fortunato (r.) chats with
mill worker Chris Mazerolle.

bles-up his duties in order to build

__ into a union activist some day. His

New Brunswick Local 306 — a local union that has been in
the IWA since the early t960s. The youthful 35 year-old’s
' family background probaby indicated that he would evolve

\ Steelworkers and Mario himself was in and out of the
union as he worked underground at the Heath Steele

IWA local union president doubles as
organizer in old-time IWA tradition

He’s the kind of guy
who has taken on a
modern-day role in an
old-time IWA tradition.
At one time, all IWA
local union presidents

lead/copper/zinc mine in Little River, N.B. Unionism
runs through his veins. After Local 306 organized the
Northumberland Coop in 1999, Mario was asked to
organize 48 part-timers. He toured the province and did

“YOU REALLY

the job. At the local’s first-
ever annual convention in

were organizers. They GET TO KNOW 2000, he was nominated as
did their office paper -_ recording secretary.
work and headed out THE PEOPLE WHO Following the 2001 fire that
into the field to sign up burnt down Nelson Forest
new members. Today WANT TO BE Products, dynamics changed
Mario Fortunato is the IWA MEMBERS” in the local and he became

ion brother who dou- i “T think i
union brother who dou. = MARIOIFORTUNATO president. “I think it helps

the small but emerging

dad and uncle were

to be able to say you're pres-

ident when you meet the members,” he says. “You really
get to know the people who want to be IWA members.”
Recent organizing wins at Baxter Dairy (see page eight)
and Warren Trucking have helped build the local in a very
anti-union province. New Brunswickers are taking notice
that the IWA can put a strong union in their workplaces.

DECEMBER 2002 THE ALLIED WORKER | 7