i DEATH OF A LOGGER In October
a local union lost one of its
most widely-respected activists
in a fatal accident beneath a
helicopter /2

MORE MILLS CLOSE As the
fall/winter season arrives, more
IWA members are losing their
jobs while the softwood lumber
dispute drags on/3

I LETTERS PAGE The Allied

Worker welcomes letters from
|WAers across Canada/4

“1 OPINIONS National president
Dave Haggard and NDP cand-
date Lorne Nystrom write
about the economy/5

i LINKING THE LOCALS Brief bits

and bites of information from
all IWA Canada locals/6-7

1B LIFE BLOOD OF THE UNION The

Allied Worker
reports on New

fy § 3} Brunswick Dairy
5° oj) workers and others.

joining the union

across Canada/8

BB ATASK FOR ACTION The IWA is
utilizing a B.C. logging safety
task force report in its push for
an industry safety association
in the province/ 10-11

BE SOLIDARITY FOREVER Chilean
forest workers are educated
with the IWA‘s assistance and
Local 700 talks union with a
Croatian leader/ 12

BD AFIRST FOR WOMEN The first
woman local union
president, Judy
Anderson, from
Northern Manitoba
Local 324, takes
the IWA‘s oath of
allegiance/13

1 LABOUR AND THE ECONOMY
The Allied Worker adds a new
page, highlighting economic
issues for |WA‘ers/ 14

FORESTS FOREVER Your news-
paper adds yet
another page on
important forest

| policy issues and
| sounds a warning
on upcoming for-
est policy changes
in B.C. and the growing beetle
epidemic/ 15

@ LABOUR LINKED News for IWA

members from the Canadian
Labour Congress and provin-
cial federations of labour/16

1 ON THE WATERFRONT The
SAFER program's small, non-
pleasure craft operator course
is now the national standard/17

I MARKING 65 YEARS Photos
and brief highlights from this
year’s national convention
when the union celebrated its
sixty-fifth/ 17

i PEOPLE AND PLACES We bring
you news about a hockey tradi-
tion tied to the IWA and a story
on the folks who thought up
our newspaper's name/24

FRONT

CANADIAN UNIONS ARE utilizing
Roy Romanow’s Commission on the
Future of Health Care in Canada as a ral-
lying call for all Canadians who want to
preserve the country’s universal public
health care system. The report, which
was issued the last week of November,
calls on all levels of government to pro-
tect and enhance public Medicare.
Following Canada-wide hearings dur-
ing the past year, the former
Saskatchewan premier has highlighted
the public’s concerns to have a system
which is universal, accesible, compre-
hensive, portable and publicly adminis-
tered and delivered. On the day the
report was released, CLC president Ken

Unions support Romanow on Medicare

Georgetti, speaking
at the B.C Federation
of Labour’s annual
9} convention, said “...
} in the end Romanow
comes down on the
side of people,
patients and families.
He called on union-
ists to “rise up and
= RoyRomanow make our voices

heard and use the
Romanow report to ensure federal and
provincial governments get the mes-
sage.” Said Georgetti: “Big business sees
profit in the illness and suffering people
of Canada. They see an aging population

and have dollar signs dancing in their
eyes. But really, they would like nothing —
better than to see Medicare destroyed.”
Governments in Ontario, Alberta and —
B.C. have been leading the charge into
for-profit “public private” partnerships.
IWA members, through their local
labour councils, federations and coali-
tion groups, are taking action.

On December 4 national union
organizer Fran Borsellino, co chair of
the Hamilton Health Care Coalition,
joined a rally outside MP Sheila Copps’
office. She said the Ontario government
has no “ethical or economic legitimacy
to continue to hand over our health sys-
tem to for-profit corporations.”

IWA activist
loses life in
mishap
under
chopper

Squamish union

member falls in

tragic accident

IT WAS A TRAGIC and fatal accident
that sent shock waves through the [WA
and the rural forest community of
Squamish, B.C. On October 9, Local
2171 member Dal Shemko died after he
fell over a rock bluff and into a stream
in the Upper Elaho Valley.

Brother Shemko, one of the IWA’s
most widely-respected activists, was
working to set up a heli-pad for engi-
neers and others to stake out a future
logging bridge site when a 200 foot
line attached to a Hughes 500 chopper
and connected to a 300 pound sling on
the ground, mistakely released and
came plunging down towards him on
the ground.

An investigation by the WCB, RCMP
and Coroner and later by the joint occu-
pational health and safety committee
did not reveal whether Brother Shemko
was struck by the metal attachment on
the wire rope, or whether he slipped or
jumped in reaction.

Dal was found submerged in a fast
moving stream below and extracted by
a search-and-rescue team about five
hours after the accident occured.
Frantic efforts were made by nearby
workers to locate him.

For Local 2171 president Darrel
Wong, the news was extremely upset-
ting. For more than three years, Dal
served as the safety coordinator in the
Interfor Squamish Division office. He
was a faller by trade and a very safety

concious individual. “He was a strong
safety advocate and a hard working and
dedicated committee member for years
who had many friends in the union
and committee,” says Brother Wong.

Local vice president Nick Doubinin,
who serviced the Interfor operation,
said Dal’s loss is personal one as well
as a loss for the labour movement. “Dal
was a soft-spoken individual who
packed a wallop when he spoke,” says
Brother Doubinin. “We will miss his
stability and reason. If we ever needed
anything, we could always count on
Dal.”

Co-workers Robert Otto and Ken
Bayers spoke of their grief.

“Dal was one of the most reasonable
and non-judgemental persons you’d
ever meet. He was a voice of reason on
all the issues we have had to take on,
whether they be environmental, deal-
ing with the company, safety or dealing
with First Nations issues,” says Brother
Otto, the sub-local union chair who
worked with Dal since the mid-1980s.
“Dal was a special friend. All of his co-

= Dal Shamko (centre) pictured at an IWA and community rally in July, 1997,
was a widely-respected man in the community and among fellow workers. He
will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

workers dearly miss him and grieve his
loss with his family.”

Brother Bayers notes that during —
land-use conflicts with radical green
groups in 1997, Dal was a calming
influence during tense times. q

“Dal never had a bad word to say
about anyone. He was a listener and a
thinker and searched for solutions,”
says Brother Bayers. “There were times
(in ‘97) that we were clouded by anger
and Dal would help us put things into
perspective,” he adds. ee

Local union safety director Jim
Parker praised Dal as an excellent indi-
vidual and a superb safety coordinator.
“Tt’s all the more difficult to accept that
it was Dal who was killed,” says Brother
Parker. “He was always looking out
everyone else.”

A memorial service for Dal was
at the Totem Hall in Squamish
Thanksgiving Monday, October 14-
packed hall of over 900 paid tribute.

Dal is survived by his wife Mai
daughter Emily, and sons Mark
Paul. ;

2 J THE ALLIED WORKER DECEMBER 2002