Sixty-five years of very few disputes

WHEN YOU LOOK BACK at th
history of association bargaining in
British Columbia, there has been
decades of relative labour peace. In
over six decades, there have been
only three province-wide strikes (one
of which was selective) and five
regional strikes in the industry,
involving the WA.

“Over the years, association bar-
gaining has created a tremendous
amount of stability in an industry
that has been up and down like a yo-
yo, economically,” says TWA national
president Dave Haggard. “That, in
turn, has created a lot of stability in
our communities. History has
shown that the IWA has done its
level best to avoid strikes and we
haye only done so when we were
absolutely forced to.”

Currently, the union is faced with
the spectre of a coastal forest indus-

try, represented by Forest Industrial
Relations (FIR), contracting out [WA
jobs as fast as it
can. The relation-
ship between the
TWA and FIR goes
back to the 1940s.
“Association
| bargaining on the
Coast is at risk, if

3 the industry con-
Dave|Haggard tinues to contract

out and drive in that direction, the
only result will be conflict and insta-
bility and the loss of a level playing
field for all.”

Since the 7os basic pattern agree-
ments were set with FIR, then repli-
cated in the Interior regions with such
players including the Council on
Northern Interior Forest Employee
Relations, the Interior Forest Labour
Relations Association, Canadian

Forest Products, Weldwood Canada
and Northwood (now part of Canfor).

The last strike took place on the
Coast three years ago when the IWA
struck FIR for nine days, forcing con-
cessions off the bargaining table.

The longest provincial strike took
place in 1986 when the union won a
4-1/2 month selective strike, primarily
over the issue of contracting out. This
year the Coast is faced with a very sim-
ilar scenario (see article below).

A province-wide strike in 1946 saw
the International Woodworkers of
America establish the 40 hour work
week in B.C. Following that was the
1953 strike in the Interior, a 1959
Coast strike, the 1967-68 Interior
which established near parity between
the Interior and the Coast, a 1972
wildcat strike on the Coast and a 1981
province-wide strike during a period
of hyperinflation.

IWA ARCHIVES
= In 1986 striking woodworkers went on a province-wide walkout to stop contracting out in the B.C. industry.

Is it 1986 revisited?

IWA Canada Coast Locals are witnessing the same
types of events that led to one of the union’s longer strikes

THERE IS AN FEELING of deja vu
on the Coast of B.C. these days. For
IWA local unions there are eerie
reminders of events which led to the
4-1/2 month strike in 1986.

“Some forest industry companies
are treating workers in much the
same way they did back then,” says
national union president Dave
Haggard, who worked at MacMillan
Bloedel’s Franklin River logging divi-
sion at the time. “They are laying our
guys off and starving them out in
favour of contractors.”

Local 1-85 president Monty Mearns
says the Port Alberni local is witness-
ing much of these symptoms. “Some
of our members are sitting at home
while Weyerhaeuser is hiring small
contractors to do the work they used
to do. We file grievances and the
company continues to do it anyways.
It’s almost like they are asking to
push the IWA into a strike scenario.”

“Our members don’t deserve this
as they have worked hard to reduce
costs and keep their operations going
through difficult times,” adds Brother

Mearns. The local negotiated a deal to
transfer the bargaining unit at
Franklin River to Hayes Trucking but
still has problems at Sproat Lake divi-
sion (see local union news
page six).

Local 1-3567 presiden’
Sonny Ghag says the lo
is seeing a “repeat of no-
nonsense contracting out,”|
both in logging and i:
some sawmills, mostly i
maintenance.

“Our workforce remembers the
events that led to the ‘86 strike —
many are senior members and I
think they will go out again to stop
contracting out and the imposition of
unreasonable shifts by employers.”
Local 2171 president Darrel Wong
says Weyco is being very aggressive
on the issue as the local is fighting a
case in front of the contracting out
umpire to stop them in Pt. McNeill.
“] believe if they (company) continue
in that direction, there’s a potential
strike on the Coast and I don’t think
the rest of the industry wants to go

«COMPANIES ARE
TREATING WORKERS IN
MUCH THE SAME WAY... Rick Wangler, whose
= DAVE HAGGARD
IWA PRESIDENT

there.” The union has negotiated agree-
ments with Interfor to deal with
members’ concerns but Brother
Wong says that the company and
TimberWest are inter-
ested in contracting out
where they can.

Local 363 president

local has been devastat-
ed by Weyerhaeuser on
Vancouver Island, says
the union’s demands for
better severance and seniority reten-
tion can go a long way into keeping
the companies from “starving out
and forcing our people to leave the
bargaining unit.”

Local 1-80 president Bill Routley
says Weyco is forcing the contracting
out issue to the LRB as it continues to
exit logging. “They are challenging
the union by forcing us to the Board
to defend against them contracting
out our bargaining unit jobs.”

“The threat by Weyerhaeuser is
real and the possibility of a strike over
the issue is real too,” says Routley.

Local 1000 members walk
out at Produits Forestieres
Workers at the Produits Forestieres
hardwood and softwood mill in Ft.
Coulonge hit the bricks on May 5 to
put pressure on a employer who
kept cancelling bargaining sessions.
Local 1000 president Michael
McCarter says that the company
cancelled three planned meetings in
April, provoking the crew to take
strike action. Fifty-two of 75 union
members were working at the time,
with one shift laid off. “Our mem-
bers are serious about achieving
better wages and benefits and fixing
up some contract language,” says
Brother McCarter. “They said
‘enough is enough’ and decided that
was it!” The workers, who are com-
ing off a six-year collective agree-
ment, are seeking a short-term deal.
The bargaining unit, which joined
the IWA in 1994, produces high
quality lumber products from abun-
dant hardwood species from
Eastern Canada and the United
States, and local softwood species,
mostly pine.

Lockout ends with Skeena
Cellulose in Terrace B.C.
Local 2171 members at the New
Skeena Cellulose mill in Terrace
voted in favour of a new collective
agreement in late May. Local presi-
dent Darrel Wong says that while
the agreement accepts less than
coast master rates, the union was
able to maintain over 90 per cent of
the contract and has negotiated
seniority retention up to 36 months.
The mill, which has 180 |WA‘ers on
the seniority list, plans to start up on
September 15. Those not rehired
will be entitled to full severance. All
seniority is to be reinstated and the
local negotiated a “poison pill”
clause whereby each worker will be
paid $1250 if the mill doesn’t open
on that day. Workers will participate
in profit sharing based on return on
capital employed and are guaran-
teed separate payments of $1250
after 30, 60 and ninety days. Upon
expiry of the agreement, pay rates
and vacation scheduling will revert
to coast master levels.

Bowater crew continues strike
Striking woodworkers maintain their
picket line outside the Bowater cor-
poration sawmill in Ignace, Ontario,
about 300 kilometers west Thunder
Bay. They have been out since
August of last year to pressure the
company to renew an existing col-
lective agreement with the IWA at a
mill it purchased. Local 2693 presi-
dent Joe Hanlon notes that the com-
pany, which has just built a non-
union mill in Thunder Bay, is
already paying that workforce more
than the wage demands set out by
union members in Ignace. Another
serious issue at hand is the compa-
ny’s insistence that yard and mainte-
nance work be contracted out.
“Those are jobs that have to be in
the IWA bargaining unit and covered
by the collective agreement,” says
Brother Hanlon. “The company is
trying to chisel away at the contract.”

JUNE 2003 THE ALLIED WORKER | 9