i.

FOREST AND ENVIRONMENT

Is B.C. Minister listening with a ‘tin ear?’

FOR DECADES TIMBER LICENSE holders in B.C.
have been bound by the Forest Act to look after work-
ers and communities. But new legislation passed on
May 26, eliminates that “social contract.”

POLICY PERSPECTIVES
BY SCOTT LUNNY

Changes enacted by Gordon Campbell’s Liberal gov-
emment, under the guise of “Forestry Revitalization,”
amount to little more than revisiting the proposal
made to the Americans in softwood negotiations
almost two years ago. The U.S. has argued that
changes to our forest policy are necessary to allow
“market forces” to control who harvests what, when
and where.

Since taking office, the BC Liberals have offered up
a variety of policy changes to appease the U.S. industry.
Now they have given up the ability to hold companies
accountable on public land. And there is still no soft-
wood lumber deal.

‘The IWA is concerned about both the Campbell gov-
emments negotiating strategy and many of the policy

changes that are being pursued. The changes need to
be debated and should have been debated by the work-

ers, industry and communities involved in the industry.

That’s why when the Liberals introduced their
forestry legislation, the TWA and CEP, along with First
Nations representatives, immediately called for the
government to hold off and consult with industry
stakeholders. The two unions have also held town hall
meetings where our members, contractors and the
public told us they are as concerned as we are.

Our major concerns are, first, the move to standing
timber auctions. The government has announced a
20% tenure take-back and “jump-ball” auctions of that
amount of timber to set stumpage on the remaining
tenure. Given the failure of the existing timber sales
program, the concern is how the Liberals will imple-
ment auctions without displacing existing logging
crews with cut-rate operators; without creating uneco-
nomical logging volumes; and without allowing the big
players to manipulate the system to suit their long-
term fibre needs.

Second, we are concerned about the elimination of
cut control, appurtenancy and the mill closure review.
Without these provisions in the Forest Act, there is
nothing to hold companies accountable. The IWA pro-
posed an alternative that would provide industry the

flexibility to respond to markets, but would require that
their decisions be transparent and take into considera-
tion the impact on workers and viability of communities.

On a number of occasions, IWA president Dave
Haggard has raised these concems with the Minister
of Forests. At the last meeting, Minister de Jong
expressed interest in the idea of a “new” mill closure
review process. However, the catch is that the govern-
ment is not prepared to use the threat of tenure reduc-
tion to keep companies in line. In other words, a com-
pany curtailing or closing an operation will have to pro-
vide notice and consult with the union, but it ends
there. The union would then be left, along with affect-
ed communities, to hold the companies accountable.

So, while it seems the Minister is finally listening to
the concerns of the forest workers and forest-depen-
dent communities, it may be too little too late. Under
the Liberal’s new forest policy regime, mills will close.
Operations will curtail. Companies will consolidate.
There will be enormous disruption in the industry
and Victoria must ensure that companies can’t run
roughshod over workers and communities.

Hopefully the Minister is doing more than listening;

hopefully he hears our message.

Scott Lunny is the WA's Director of Policy and Information Services

New Brunswick unions call
for debate on land-use

The New Brunswick Federation of
Labour is taking note of the pulp and
paper industry's recent efforts to
influence the provincial government
on the future use of Crown forest
lands. Large pulp and paper manu-
facturers, including UPM Kymme,
Irving, Bowater, Weyerhaeuser and
Frasers are trying to get the govern-
ment to allow them to convert sixty
per cent of future plantations into
softwood-only species and double
the annual allowable cut over the
next 50 years. That would feed their
pulp mills, but might jeopardize

FILE PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

& In the summer of ‘97 IWA members picketed and captured Greenpeace vessels on the Vancouver-waterfront.

future hardwood timber supplies,
say some New Brunswickers.
IWA Local 306 president Mario

Raising the bar for blockaders

Local 2171 members win court case for lost wages

IT TOOK ALMOST SIX years for the
IWA to score a victory which may help

Berman and
Tamara Stark

anybody hurt.”

Brothers Wild and Poslowsky

Fortunato said the union movement
is concerned about all of the issues
surrounding such a large scale con-

stop future blockades in B.C. forests.
In late April, a judge from the
Supreme Court of British Columbia
ruled that Greenpeace Canada must
compensate four IWA members for
lost wages and benefits incurred in
the summer of 1997. For ten days in
May, Greenpeace protesters put their
banners on heavy equipment and
blockaded logging roads at Roderick
Island in the mid-Coast area. The
long-awaited victory sends a message
to those planning future blockades.
“We hope this decision will prevent
Greenpeace and other radical envi-
ronmental groups from trying to stop
our members from going to work,”
says IWA national president Dave
. “We think the courts will
take a very dim view of any future ille-
gal actions.”
Greenpeace organizers Tzeporah

were fined
about $5,000 to
compensate for
losses incurred
by Local 2171
members Rod
Plosz, Clint
W OrEllere ;
Richard Wild
and Terry Poslowsky, employed by
Hayes Forest Service. Brothers
Verchere (a log loader operator) and
Plosz (a hook tender) ceased opera-
tions when six Greenpeace protesters,
four dressed in white overalls, arrived
in their work area.

“Our members were concerned
that somebody was going to get
injured or killed,” says local union
president Darrel Wong. “Although
they were pretty distressed at being
put out of work, they did not want

stopped working on another site and
were flown home, losing consider-
able wages and benefits.

“We think the court decision is
good news,” says Wong. “I believe
this raises the bar for future logging
blockades — Greenpeace and others
will think twice if they want to
impact our members and their fami-
lies in the future.”

Brother Wong thanks the IWA
national office and other local unions
for their contributions to helping the
workers with their court case.

In late June and early July of ‘97 the
IWA picketed and then captured two
Greenpeace vessels on the Vancouver
waterfront in retribution for actions
taken against IWA members and for
the environmental group’s call for an
international boycott of old growth
wood products from B.C.

= Mixed species forest in N.B.

version, in terms of both economic
and ecological impacts.

“We are concerned about jobs in
all parts of the industry, on the
hardwood and softwood side and in
all parts of the province,” says
Brother Fortunato. “The New
Brunswick Federation of Labour is
trying to spur public debate happen-
ing around public land-use issues
and over both short-term and long-
term sustainability issues.” .

Fed president Danny King says
both major and small forest compa-
nies are licenced to operate on
Crown lands, which amount to
about 30 per cent of provincial
forests. Other forms of tenure
include freehold lots and woodlots.

JUNE 2003 THE ALLIED WORKER | 45

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