El premiums diverted from workers to debt reduction If you really want to know how dol- lars once targeted to help Canadian workers during times of unemploy- ment are being used for other pur- poses, look at what the federal Liberals have done to Employment Insurance. Over the past four years the Chretien govern- ment has trans- ferred some $42.8 billion out of El into general revenue to pay down the federal debt. Over the same time period, tens of thousands of unemployed workers were cut off of benefits and thousands more denied benefits due to increasingly stricter qualification standards.The Canadian Labour Congress has called for changes to El, including the use of surplus funds for worker training, based on the number of years the worker has been in the system, along with a demand for a payroll training tax like exists in the province of Quebec. Out of work PHOTO COURTESY LYNN PONT = Pictured at an early meeting to kick-off the marketing association were (I. to r. ) Forintek’s Robert Guy, association manager Lynn Pont, the IWA’s Wade Fisher, Muriel Dodge of ESP Consulting, and Shane Pont of Custom Wood Fibre Products. Forever in blue pine? ‘Denim Pine’ marketing association sees big potential Workers losing ground even after strong economic year Last year Canada’s official unem- ployment rate dropped by .5 per cent as over 560,000 new jobs were created. However a full 40 per cent of those new jobs were part-time. All wage earners saw wage increas- es averaging a mere 36 cents per hour during the year, while the aver- age part time job paid a paltry $224.17 per week during the busy month of December, 2002. Average weekly earnings for the entire Canadian workforce rose by less than 10 bucks per week while consumer rise rose at over 2-1/2 times the wage increase rate. “The evidence is clear. Employers are not showing Canadians the money the deserve,” says |WA Canada national president Dave Haggard. “We have to organize more workers across this country to get them a better deal as we continue to fight these injustices.” THEY ARE TRYING TO tum an ecological problem into a marketing strategy and economic generator for the B.C. forest industry economy. Some people call it “bug kill” wood - but IWA Local 1-425 president Wade Fisher and others in the province call it “Denim Pine.” In fact, the name has already been trademarked by the upstart Denim Pine Marketing Association, whose founder and manager is Lynn Pont from Quesnel. Ms. Pont thought up the name one day after looking at some blue jeans. “The name just came to me,” she said in an interview with The Allied Worker. “Those who call it ‘bug kill’ wood diminish its value. There’s a growing market for pine with these unique appearances and quality.” Brother Fisher, who sits as a vice chair on the association’s board, also shares Ms. Pont’s enthusiasm for new and potential markets. He says the industry has to look at new ways of marketing millions of cubic meters of the pine, which is stained from a fungus that comes from the mountain pine beetle. “I think that Denim Pine products are like any else — you need time, research and mar- keting to increase market share,” he says. “This thing could be big if it takes off.” Ms. Pont, whose association received a $50,000 federal grant to assist with marketing and other aspects of development, says inquiries are coming in from as far away as China. A client in Japan wants Denim Pine product for a do-it- yourself centre. The association is becoming busy in licensing the trademark and logo and setting up distribution channels. The price is going up and Ms. Pont says “people are willing to pay more.” It’s the outer inches of the log that can give a range of appearance from blue to grey. The wood is structurally sound and can require less drying than reg- ular green lumber. Brother Fisher predicts that large scale industry players will pay more attention to the Denim Pine phenom- enon as markets grow. “I feel good about it. There’s quite a future for it and any time we can get the indus- try to lessen its dependence on the U.S. lumber market, workers can benefit,” he adds. Pont says that if the wood is prop- erly sorted at the primary level, value- added mills will be able to bid on and access more fibre. “This can be turned into a huge benefit for the main industry and create manufac- turing processes across the province,” she adds. The association tested further markets at recent trade shows in Las Vegas and Portland. A LOT OF OUR EFFORTS recently have focused on markets, especially American markets. It’s important to understand why. Most of us, of course, need markets to gain a living. Our products are useful - lumber, plywood and other wood products, services that people buy ABOUT THE ECONOMY BY KIM POLLOCK rather than provide for themselves. Neither we nor our employers can eat lumber, though, so we sell our labour-power and they sell lumber. We buy groceries, pay our mortgages and taxes, raise kids, save for retirement. Hopefully, they invest and create jobs. Much of what we produce is exported — over 40 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product; near- ly two-thirds of forest products. Obviously interna- tional markets are crucial. That’ s why we respond strongly when the U.S. dis- criminates against Canadian products. We market most of our lumber, mostly to Americans. Last year, for instance, Canadian companies shipped 18.4 billion board feet to the U.S., up 8.3 per cent over the year ending in October, 2002, reports Statistics Canada. That happened despite the 27.2 per cent average tariff the U.S. imposed last April. Canadian com- panies simply ramped up productivity, reducing unit costs, then flooding the U.S. with lumber, driving down prices. The most efficient operations went full-out while others closed. Success depends on the dollar and low costs. The dollar, of course, is the real issue. With a low dollar, Canadians are essentially signaling our will- ingness to take less per sale in exchange for increased sales. Americans have a hard time competing. It’s not so much harder to sell cheap lumber with a 68-cent dollar than to sell pricey lumber with a 62-cent dollar and no tariff. The Americans can’t countervail the dollar, so they cry “subsidy” Fair trade mean jobs on both sides of border instead. The tariff actually backfired on the Americans. When uncompetitive Southern mills closed, U.S. hawks were suddenly negotiating. Workers in both countries suffer the tariffs effects. But the Americans still demand harsh terms for a deal. Is it better to cut a deal or argue before World Trade Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement tribunals? Tough call. Certainly, this explains why unions want some sort of a settlement. We all need those markets to survive. IWA Canada recently joined forces (see article on page three) with Canadian and American unions to propose a solution: a sliding-scale lum- ber tax, collected by provincial governments, applied to forest-management changes. We also urged both countries to promote North American products internationally. Workers live off exports. [WA Canada knows that we can only thrive when fair rules ensure a level playing field in international trade. That’s the goal. Kim Pollock is the IWA’s Director of Public Policy and Environment 14 | THE ALLIED WORKER APRIL 2003