@ INDEX

@ IWAHIT HARD The union has
been taking it on the chin all
over the country as the soft-
wood dispute drags on/2

I UNIONS UNITE The IWA and
CEP have gotten together to
speak out against Liberal forest
policy changes in B.C./3

WH LETTERS PAGE The Allied
Worker welcomes letters from
I\WA’ers across Canada/4

@ OPINIONS National president
Dave Haggard talks about the
Liberals stooping to please
Uncle Sam and Local 306 presi-
dent Mario Fortunato writes
about promoting youth/5

1 LINKING THE LOCALS Brief bits
and bites of information from
all IWA Canada locals/ 6-7

@ DOING OUR PART to organize,
the IWA’s objectives
are the same as the
CLC’s - to grow a
strong and vibrant
Canadian labour
movement/8

i LOOKING FOR YOUR SAMPLE
The IWA says Weyerhaeuser's
new alcohol and drug testing
program is no way to go/ 10-11

A YEAR OF ACTIVITIES The CTF
and IWA are heading into the
next year of activities at their
education centre in Chile/12

WA women are
holding their annu-
al education con-
ference in Thunder
Bay as the
women’s commit-
tee marks progress and hopes
for more in future years!/ 13

@ LABOUR AND THE ECONOMY
The union calls the B.C.
Liberals on their gutting of the
apprenticeship systen and the
IWA’s Kim Pollock writes on the
follies of tax cut mania / 14

i RAISING THE BAR
FOR BLOCKADERS

In April Local 2171
members won
compensation for
lost wages and
benefits incurred
when Greenpeace blocked local

loggers from going to work in
1997/15

1 LABOUR LINKED News for IWA
members from the Canadian
Labour Congress and provin-
cial federations of labour/ 16

I REVISITING SAFETY Your
National Safety Council and
local union safety reps got
together to review and enhance
the union’s OH&S programs/ 17

1 THE PENSION PLAN TURNS 30
On June 15, the |WA-Forest
industry Pension Plans cele-
brated three decades of
progress and growth/ 19

{@ PEOPLE AND PLACES The IWA’s
favourite cowboy, Brother Neil
Menard, ain't retired yet! He is
dedicating himself to programs
that care about people / 24

IWA CANADA LOCAL 1-80 is sad to
announce the death of one of its mem-
bers, a truck driver for Chemainus-
based Paul Trucking. In early April
Brother Ted Towe, from Duncan,
British Columbia died as the result of
massive head injuries, resulting from
an accidental fall from the end of a
semi-tractor trailer.

While walking backwards to secure a
cover on a load of chips at the Jemico
Enterprises logging company, in the
Chemainus business park, he fell about
five metres to the ground.

Brother Towe was pronounced dead
upon arrival at the Cowichan District
Hospital in Duncan.

FRONTNeEWS

Vancouver Island trucker falls to death

“It was a real
shock for us to
hear the news of
this tragedy,”
says Local 1-80
union officer
Rick Whiteford,
who acts as the
local _-union’s
safety represen-
tative for manu-

Ted Towe
facturing operations. “This type of acci-
dent is very rare. In most operations
there are fall harness systems and
other prevention systems available to
avoid such an accident. It is a terrible
tragedy that may have been prevented.”

Brother Towe was a well-respected
individual, in the community and
regarded as a good family man, father
and grandfather. He was also a former —
member of the North Cowichan volun-
teer fire department, which he joined
in 1977. He served as department chief
for a three-year period in the late
1980s, and was regarded as one of the —
better chiefs in recent years.

He is survived by his wife Helen.

Local president Bill Routley termed —
the accident “an incredible loss forTed’s
family, friends and fellow workers.” 7

It was the first fatality suffered this —
year by Local 1-80 which has over3,000
members.

IWA hit
hard on
lumber case

Mills suffer closures

as softwood dispute
with Americans

sees no end soon

THE IWA HAS BEEN taking it on the
chin all over the country as the effects of
the softwood lumber tariffs and the ris-
ing Canadian dollar have pushed opera-
tions out of the market.

Temporary, indefinite and permanent
closures have clobbered the union
membership (see local union reports page
six and seven). The latest closure hit the
IWA Local 1-207 crew at Weyerhaeuser’s
sawmill in Grande Cache, Alberta on
June 2 when 140 full and part-time
workers were laid off for a month. There
are fears that a permanent closure may
occur in the future.

Local president Mike Pisak, accompa-
nied by mill workers Kevin Gramm,
Steve Redknap and some members of
their familes, expressed concerns in a
well-publicized press conference.

Brother Pisak took occasion to state
the union’s worry that government, in a
tush to appease U.S. interests, will adopt
made-in-America forest policies (see let-
ter to the editor on page four). That could
result in the consolidation of milling
facilities and the closure of operations
such as Grande Cache.

“All across the country, certain mills
in our locals are starting to feel the effects
more and more,” says national IWA pres-
ident Dave Haggard. “Local unions in
B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
and Ontario are taking hits.”

Interfor mills, including the
McKenzie-Seizai operation and Western
White Wood, have been up and down, as
Local 1-3567 members have felt the pain.
The same goes for Interfor Squamish
Lumber in Squamish, B.C. where 127

PHOTO COURTESY OF EDMONTON SUN - PRESTON BROWNSCHLAIGLE

= At Local 1-207 press conference in early July, IWA member Kevin Gramm
(I.) shared his concerns over Weyco Grande Cache closure with son Brayden,
wife Sandra and daughter Kaylee present.

workers have been on EI since April 17
and there is no sure sign they are going
back to work soon. The list goes on.

Meanwhile, as the IWA ploughs
through negotiations in the B.C. forest
industry, there appears very little
progress being made in the Canada -
U.S. softwood lumber dispute. Most of
the Canadian forest industry is under the
extreme burden of a 27.2 per cent tariff.
By late May the Canadian forest industry
had paid over $1.5 billion in tariffs.

On May 27 the World Trade
Organization made a preliminary ruling
that the United States’ calculations of
anti-dumping duties (18.9 per cent of
the 27.2 per cent tariff) can not be based
on cross border comparisons of
stumpage systems the two countries. A
written decision, which can be appealed
and drag on for years, is due in July.

The Americans say the decision
allows them to recalculate their anti-
dumping duties, which they vow to do,
even if they lose every stage at the WTO.

Canadian International Trade
Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that the
decision favours the country and should
get the Americans back to the negotiat-
ing table.

On May 29, Pettigrew was joined by
CEO’s of major forest companies in B.C,
at Alberta to put forward a new quota
system to the Americans.

Under the proposal, which is reminis-

cent of the much-maligned Softwood
Lumber Quota Agreement of 1996 -
2001, Canada requests to ship up to 17.1
billion board feet of lumber a year to the
U.S. tariff free and then pay a variable
tariff rate, across the country, up to 19
billion board feet. After that, a tariff of
$100 per thousand board feet would
apply. The deal would be for two years,
as provinces would agree to implement,
soon-to-be released, U.S.-dictated bench-
marks for so-called “market-based” tim-
ber pricing reforms to allow “free trade”
in lumber exports.

Two weeks earlier, the U.S. asked for
an 18 per cent tariff on all Canadian lum-
ber shipment to the U.S. on the first 16.1
billion board feet and a 33 per cent tariff
on any lumber imports about that level.

Any softwood lumber agreement
along the lines that Canada proposes
would hurt those that don’t have access
to tariff free quota. There would be the
“haves” and the “have nots.”

In January, the IWA joined the CEP
and CLC in Canada and the IAM, PACE
and AFL-CIO to propose a workers’ solu-
tion to the dispute. It includes the impo-
sition ofa graduated export tax, collected
in Canada, which would change,
depending on lumber prices. Provincial
governments would exercise their right
to change timber fee and/or structures.
The proposal also calls for a binational
panel to market North American lumber.

ue i -THE ALLIED-WORKER.JUNE 2003