ww’ ORGANIZING AND GROWTH

Organizing out in Alberta

IWA organizer Gordie Macintosh has
been dispatched to the prairie
province of Alberta to cultivate con-
tacts in the forest industry in three
or four locations. “There are some
places that we now need to check
out to see if there is interest in join-
ing the union,” says MacIntosh, who
notes that wages and working con-
ditions in the non-union workforce
still lag behind their unionized coun-
terparts. Brother MacIntosh has
been utilizing the IWA’s New
Members’ Kit and Our Union CD-
Rom in his organizing drives.
“These are great tools and | hope all
IWA organizers use them in their
campaigns,” he adds. Gordie, from
the Fraser Valley, B.C. Local 1-3567,
has been a full-time organizer for
the past four-five years, helping out
in various IWA locals in B.C. and the
prairie provinces.

KML homes goes Local 500
The IWA’s southwestern Ontario
local, Local 500, is pleased to
announce that in mid-February
about 50 former Carpenters mem-
bers at KML Homes in Cambridge
joined the union. Eastern Canada
organizing coordinator Mike Hunter
conducted the campaign, renewing
contacts that he made previously.
The modern plant, which produces
prefabricated modular homes, using
steel and aluminum studs in place
of lumber, is a stable operation
which has developed markets in
Canada and the United States.

Heli-logging crew joins IWA
Local 2171 reports that 30 workers
at the Squamish-based West Mount
Helilogging Ltd. have been certified
to the local union. Local union busi-
ness agent Bill Owens was joined by
Sonny Rioux, who is working as a
national union organizer. The volun-
tary certification was granted in
mid-March. The company, which
operates as a coastal helicopter log-
ging contractor, has ground crews.
The local union represents numer-
ous employers in the coast helicop-
ter logging industry, which has
grown in recent years.

Local 2995 applies for truckers
In late February IWA Local 2995,
based in Kapuskasing, Ontario,
applied to represent five truckers
hauling from the Excel Forest
Products sawmill in Opasatika. All
five are owner/operators. Two of the
truckers haul chips from the mill to
the the Spruce Falls paper mill in
Kapuskasing while one hauls bark to
the same destination. The other two
truckers haul rough lumber to the
Hearst Tri-Cept planer mill in Hearst.
Local union business agent Jacques
Jean, who originates from the Excel
mill, conducted the organizing cam-
paign on behalf of the local union.
The company is contesting the certi-
fication and a hearing at the Ontario
Labour Relations Board is set for
early April.

Pau

PHOTO BY CURTIS BOUCHER,

= WA Canada Local 1-424 has made a breakthrough by organizing a group of casino workers in Quesnel, B.C.

CASINO WORKERS JOIN NORTHERN B.C. LOCAL

Betting on the union card

THE UNION SCORED A FIRST in early January of
this year when workers at the Billy Barker Casino in
Quesnel, B.C. were certified to the IWA. The local
union representing them is Local 1-424, based out of
Prince George. Although the ballot was taken last
October, it took over three months of delays at the
Labour Relations Board of B.C. to get a final decision.

“We welcome the casino workers into our local
union and look forward to working with them for bet-
ter wages and working conditions and for dignity on
the job,” says Local 1-424 president Fred Carroll.

The organizing campaign was conducted by Local
1-424’s Curtis Boucher who works in the nearby
Weldwood operation and Local 1-3567’s Gordie
MacIntosh, assisted by union members Joe Clements
and Claudio Salgarra. According to Brother Boucher,

it was a “textbook campaign’” where workers approached
the union, and an inside committee was set up to do the
sign-up. “We've got a good, strong core group in there,”
adds Boucher.

Since the certification the employer has been playing
anti-union games with the crew. Workers are being
intimidated by pro-company employees and hours have
been cut and changed without notice.

“If the employer spent as much time and money on
the crew as they do on lawyers and shenanigans, there
could be a collective agreement reached without any dif-
ficulties,” says Brother Boucher. The members, who are
are dealers, cash cage operators, slot machine attendants,
and security staff, are sticking together for better wages
and conditions, fairness, a clothing allowance and wage
equality.

Women commit to build WA

UNION WOMEN ARE getting ready
to organize the unorganized. A
group of western Canadian IWA
activists participated in a week-long
leadership and organizing course at
the union’s national training centre
in Burnaby, B.C. between March 3-7.
Twenty-two of the twenty-three
women that participated, have made
a commitment to take some of the
skills that they picked up in the
course out into the field to actively
organize the unorganized.

“Tt was an invigourating experi-
ence to have so much talent and
energy together for one week,” says

instructor Brenda Wagg, chair of the
IWA national women’s constitution-
al committee.

PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

March's education class was a first in the IWA’s new training centre.

“I’m sure that
out of this
process, further
commitment to
grow our union
was acheived.”
“It was a spe-
cial occasion for
our organiza-
tion to host IWA
unionwomen in the facilities,” says
national secretary treasurer David
Tones, who co-instructed parts of the
course. “It was a good turnout and it
was wonderful to see the commit-
ment that women have to build our

David Tones

organization in the future.”

Delegates from ten B.C. locals,
Alberta and Saskatchewan were in
attendance at what was the first-ever
educational course held in the
union’s .training centre within it’s
new office in Burnaby.

Course content included such
areas as preparing a campaign, gath-
ering information, organizing the
bargaining unit, developing the
union’s message, the certification
process and the representation vote.

“We think that leadership and
organizing are vital parts of the edu-
cation culture for IWA women,” says

Sister Wagg. “Our collective focus
will be on organizing workplaces that
have a predominance of women in
them, but we will organize any com-
bination of workers.” Wagg says
some who have taken the course are
starting to develop leads. To support
organizers in the field, the women
have formed geographical organiz-
ing teams on the B.C. Coast and
Interior regions and the prairie
provinces. “We need to keep in con-
tact with one another to see how our
women organizers are doing and pro-
vide assistance and support to each
other when necessary,” she adds.

8 | THE ALLIED WORKER APRIL 2003

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