Or PRINCE GEORGE BC

Local slate wins election in
northern B.C. local referendum
A new slate of Local 1-424 officers will be
sworn into office on July 6 following a
referendum ballot held in May. It will be
headed by president-elect Frank Everitt,
who served as local president from 1983-
95. Other elected officials to be sworn in
are Brian Croy (first v.p.), Randy
Holubosh (second), Shannon Euverman
(third), Brian O’Rourke (fin-sec.), Alf
Wilkins (rec.-sec.), Glen Dunn
(conductor), Paulo Ferreira (warden), and
Don Malchow (trustee). “We look forward
to working with all of the membership to
unify the local for the struggles that lay
ahead,” says Brother Everitt. “We will be
going through a transition period that will
take some time as changes take place.”

© 4-425 | WILLIAMS LAKE BC

Local poring. with Cariboo
communities for safety net
Local 1-425 president Wade Fisher says
his local union has been working with
local communities, including the
Williams Lake City council and the
Cariboo Regional District to lobby the
provincial government on the issue of
maintaining a social safety net in the
Forest Act. “Any changes the Liberals
make to forest policy must see timber tied
to communities. The public’s forests
must benefit the people,” says Brother
Fisher. “Our communities, local
businesses and labour, are concerned that
the Liberals are rushing into making
changes just to please the Americans on
Nne softwood lumber tariff fight and are
going to leave communities high and dry
without any social safety net.”

© 41-3567] FRASER VALLEY BC

Local union holds annual and

endures temporary closures

Local 1-3567 held its AGM on May 31
where the issue of contracting out was
a hot topic. “We're seeing contracting
out issues affect both our logging oper-
ations and some sawmills,” says local
president Sonny Ghag. “We are also
faced with employers pushing alternate
shift arrangements that our members
do not accept.” Some Interfor mills in
the local union have been up and down
due to the softwood dispute. In other
news, the J.S. Jones sawmill in Boston
Bar opened its planer mill which was
down for the last 16 months. It has dis-
assembled its small log side, which it
termed uneconomical.

830 WINNIPEG MB

Union clashes with Unisource
as Normac talks to start-up
The consolidation of Inner City paper
into the Unisource distribution centre
in Winnipeg has not gone smoothly.
‘The company created new jobs but
tried to bump a longtime employee
after it introduced two supervisors, The
union has filed grievances. Local 830
president Jack Alexander says contract
talks with the Norampac corrugated
plant should start by mid-June follow-
ing the exchange of agendas in late
May. At the Smurfit MBI corrugated
plant, nine workers are still awaiting
the introduction of new equipment
they successfully posted for in January.

400 QUEBEC

IWA adds organizer in Quebec
Brother Mario Malenfant, an IWA Local 400
member from the Simmons mattress plant in
Kirkland, has been added to the union’s
organizing efforts in Quebec. In late April,
Malenfant joined organizer Karen Humphrey
foratrial period. They will be working to pursue
leads in the greater Montreal area, with some
focus on value-added wood industries.
National second vice president Norm
Rivard notes that the newly-elected Liberal
government of Jean Charet claims that it
will not make any changes to the Quebec
labour code.

© 2693 THUNDER BAY ON

Closure hits Domtar White River
and layoffs hit Dubreilville mill
Local 2693 reports that Domtar will
close its White River plant on June 20
for a period of six months to one year.
Local president Joe Hanlon says the
closure, which affects 260 mill and
bush workers, is a complete shock.
“Our guys are really upset,” he says.
“Many people made purchases thinking
employment would be stable.” Last fall
Domtar and the IWA signed a longer
term agreement which the company
asked for, even though there was some
resistance from the crew. In other news,
185 members are out of work in mill and
bush operations at the Buchanan Forest
Products mill in Dubreilville, starting
late May. One of two shifts has been
closed for an extended period of time.
The company wants to renew the

contract with a three year wage freeze,
which the crew rejects, says Hanlon.

700 TORONTO ON

Local strikes Benson plant and
gets ready for Dominion store

Local 700 president Ron Diotte reports
that workers at the Benson
Architectural Moulding plant in
Ontario went on strike on June 3 to put
on pressure for a second contract.
About 35 workers hit the bricks. The
local struck the plant about two years

ago to get a first collective agreement.
The crew has been downsized since the
plant lost contracts with Home Depot.
Other U.S. buyers are refusing to buy
Canadian products. “We've been told
companies are refusing Benson prod-
ucts because Canada refused to join the
invasion of Iraq,” says Brother Diotte.

306 NEW BRUNSWICK

Local ratifies two agreements

Local 306 president Mario Fortunato is
pleased to announce that collective
agreements have been ratified at the St.
John-based Baxter Foods Limited and
Warren Trucking, based in Rexton,
where fifty and thirty-five members are
employed, respectfully. The union fixed
scheduling problems at both plants and
negotiated seniority provisions, griev-
ance procedures and the Rand Formula.
Baxter employees get a 1 per cent wage
increase in each year of a two-year deal.
“We're happy to reach these first con-
tracts,” says Brother Fortunato. “They
are good for the IWA in New Brunswick
as it’s been an uphill struggle here. We
can build and strengthen these collec-
tive agreements in the future.”

500 HANOVER ON

Goderich plant closes doors
and local fights for workers
Local 500 members at the Dufferin
Games Ltd. plant in Goderich were
served some bad news on April 25, when
their plant closed. The union later
learned the company had filed for credit
protection to allow restructuring.
Employees, assisted by the local union,
have been paid their final week’s pay and
are waiting for vacation pay. Local
president Bruce Weber and sub-local
chaiperson Deb Littlechild arranged help
from the local EI office and resource
persons were available. Then in late May,
the employer called back 13 of 25 workers
to finish off an order. “We're hoping that
there will be a potential buyer in the
wings,” says Brother Weber, who signed
a back-to-work agreement with
bankruptcy trustees.

PHOTO COURTESY IWA LOCAL 2995

= Local 2995 president Guy Bourgouin
(r.) and Kirkland Lake members.

@ 2995 KAPUSKASING ON

Local mills temporarily close
and members protest shortage
The IWA’s northeastern Ontario local
has been hit with temporary closures.
The Tembec Inc. sawmill in Cochrane

went down for five weeks in June while
the Weyerhaeuser Chapleau sawmill

also went down in June for a minimum
of six weeks. In other news, union
members and supporters rallied outside
the Ministry of Natural Resource’s
office in Kirkland Lake on May 9,
protesting the lack of wood supply from
the Temiskaming forest areas and
Abitibi forest limits in the Iroquous
Falls area. Only 16 workers remain at
the planer. They have been affected by
the closure at the Tembec Cochrane
mill. Also, the Uniboard particle board
plant in New Liskheard, shut down for
one month starting June 2.

RICK WANGLER ¢ LOCAL 363 ¢ COURTENAY B.C.

® Local 363 president Rick Wangler
| rose to presidency of Island Local.

company found out the teenager from Comox didn’t meet the
__ age requirement of 19, he was laid-off! Then he went to the
Tahsis Gold River Logging show, working on grade and boom-
ing crews and became active on grievance and safety commit-

He’s been in and
out of the IWA so

Former trucker and equipment operator
bounced around and into leadership role

Woss, Campbell River and Moses Inlet. He became an
owner/operator and saw, first hand, the problems those work-

many times he’s ers face and was actively involved in the 1990 strike by the
lost count. Local Western Owner/Operators and Teamsters. By ‘92 he worked
363’s president ae for contractors Ted LeRoy and
Rick Wangler start- 1 THINK IT’S then Lemarre Lake Logging, as
ing working in‘75- || MORE IMPORTANT tucker. Then, by ‘95 there
’76 at the Tahsis was steady work at
mill. Once the THAN EVER....TO —TimberWest. A nomadic exis-
THER.” _ tence has allowed Rick to see
SCE IGE how issues, like safety and
~ RICK WANGLER speed-up, effect all types of
PRES. LOCAL 363 workers. After “opening his

tees. After a short stint at MacBlo’s Port McNeil division in

' ‘79, breaking in on off-highway logging trucks, Rick, like

_ many thousands of workers in the industry, got laid off. In the
early 80s Rick drove freight trucks throughout B.C. and

_ Alberta. During much of the 80s he bounced between camps,
getting union jobs when he could, and working out of such

_ places as Harrison Lake, Beaver Cove, Scott Cove, Port Hardy,

mouth” at union meetings,

Rick was elected as a conductor in ‘98 and then first v.p. in
2000. Now he’s a member of the provincial negotiating com-
mittee. Rick says his experience as a worker has taught him
about unity. “I think it's more important than ever for the
union to stick together,” he notes. “When workers try to nego-
tiate individual agreements, it’s a race to the bottom.”

JUNE 2003 THE ALLIED WORKER T 7