We ain’t really a
labour movement —
without them

WHETHER OR NOT MANY IWA
members conscientiously think about it
on a day-to-day basis, we are joined at
the hip with struggles for social and eco-
nomic justice. And the guidelines are
right there in our constitution!

Sure, most of us don’t walk around
with it in our pocket and the vast major-

ity of IWA members do think and act
progressively. We instinctively want
equality among workers, better wages
and working conditions, high quality

OPINION
BY DAVID TONES

education and medical services, and
secure pensions when we retire.

Even though hard economic times
are hitting our membership, most
IWA’ers have been blessed to have
inherited good living wages and work-
ing conditions, fought for by previous
generations and they are struggling to
maintain and build upon them. And
that’s not meant to ignore the current
struggles that many of our union sub-

locals and members face in the uphill ©
battles just to achieve what other senior ~

TWA collective agreements have.

OUR CONSTITUTION, HANDED
DOWN THROUGH THE
GENERATIONS, EXHORTS
US TO BDO MORE

Our constitution, handed down
through the generations, addresses these
issues and exhorts us to do more in the
realm of social and economic justice.

It is not only the responsibility of this
union to aid workers in securing
improved wages and conditions by
extending the benefits of collective bar-
gaining. It is also the responsibility of
the IWA and its membership to pro-
mote dignity, equality and respect with-
in the union and the workplace.

Says our constitution: “We encourage
all workers without regards to race, sex,
creed, colour, martial status, sexual ori-
entation, disability, political or religious
belief or place of national origin to unite
and share equally in the full benefits of
union organization under the jurisdic-
tion of IWA Canada.”

Weare a union that takes our respon-
sibilities seriously and must practice

what we preach. We encourage you as —

members of our union, to step up to the
plate with us on issues of dignity, quali-
ty and respect and reach out to the
diverse membership in your workplaces
and communities, as our Canadian soci-
ety becomes even more diverse.

‘Those are issues that help clearly
define us as trade unionists. We ain’t
really a labour movement without them.

In future issues of The Allied Worker,
we will continue to deal with issues tied _
jnto social and economic justice. In this
issue, you'll notice a new page that we

will be running, from time to time, to
deal on these topics. Check it out and let
us know what you think.

David Tones is the WA Canada’s National
socretary-Treasurer. E-mail: dtones@iwa.ca

DITORIA

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Some employers are

out to score a victory
on the TWA

Some thinly-veiled union busters are
out to take down the IWA
by contracting out logging sector
BY DAVE HAGGARD

IT APPEARS THAT SOME COASTAL EMPLOYERS are
out to take on the IWA on the Coast of British Columbia.

Some industry big guys are looking for the opportunity to
put the flying scissors on the [WA membership and score a
big take down. But in the interim they are taking smaller
shots, starving out and laying off our members for extended
periods of time, even when lumber markets have picked up
and they can operate profitably.

In short, some major companies are out to forever tilt any
level playing field, as they continue to nakedly and aggres-
sively contract out IWA bargaining unit jobs.

Not happy with current levels of profits, Weyerhaeuser is
throwing caution to the wind as it attempts to contract out
IWA bargaining unit jobs wherever they can, however they
can and whenever they can. They are contracting out job after
job and are taking our local unions to the wall in trying to
bleed them dry with high legal costs.

In early July, Weyco and Interfor brass joined with
TimberWest to push the anti-labour Liberal government to
take further legislative action which would bust up the IWA
on the Coast region. Citing B.C. premier Gordon Campbell’s
commitment to have 2003 as the “Year of the Forest
Industry,” this triumverate of companies is hovering for the
future opportunity to contract out the entire Coast, piece-by-
piece. That means busting up union bargaining units so the
IWA won't be able to recognize them any more.

And the Liberals, even though they have not yet gone as far
as these corporations would like them to go, have laid the leg-
islative grounds which looks more like a minefield for the
IWA. Companies are pushing the legislative envelope to
allow them to carve up forest licenses like private property
and pawn off investment risks and responsibility for foresty
compliance standards to contractors.

The logs they’d cut would no longer be tied to the mill in
your community in any way whatsoever. It would be a “free
market” and logs would be driven on by your front window
and community, on a larger scale than is already taking place.

And who do you think would have the money to set the
“free market” prices, purchase, bundle and ship those cheap-
ly-produced logs? The small guys, or Weyerhaeuser? And
what if Weyerhaeuser and Interfor unilaterally decide to
close any mill(s) they please. How long will the Liberals, the
people who are selling off B.C. Hydro, BC Rail and tried to
sell off the Coquihalla be able to force forest companies to
process those logs in B.C.? Or does anyone really think they
would even try?

The IWA does believe in a more diverse industry — one
which would have regional and local log markets where tim-
ber is traded for access by local manufacturers and smaller,
diverse manufacturers including First Nations, who join us
and have vested interests in creating new value-added indus-
tries and the community stability that large companies just
don’t care about.

These are very tough times for our members on the Coast.
Some of our guys have been laid off permanently. Thousands
of IWA members are sitting on lay-off as the company con-
tract outs and they are watching their seniority run out, week-
by-week. It’s easy to understand the backlash that is building
against Weyerhaeuser. Some people on the Coast believe
they shouldn’t be around any more in any way whatsoever.

But it’s Weyerhaeuser and others that believe the IWA
shouldn’t be around any more in the bush and they are doing
their best to take away everything we have gained.

That’s why solidarity in the IWA and through the ranks is
so important at this phase of our history. It’s going to prove
just as important on the Coast as it is in the Interior regions.

EDITORIAL

Bowing down and out for Uncle Sam
The Gordon Campbell Liberals have stayed out front and centre in

accommodating the interests of U.S.

EASY IN AND EASY OUT. The B.C. Liberals are greasing
the skids for U.S. corporate investment in Canada. Buy, sell,
swap and chop — corporate U.S.A. intends to have a field day
with our public lands as forest policy changes introduced by
the Gordon Campbell Liberals make it easy and possible for
current tenure holders to auction off timber licenses to the
investors with the big dough — the Americans.

As U.S. timber producing regions head deeper into timber
shortages in the future, the big players will be able to invest
to take control of Canadian forests to assure that their inter-
ests maintain market share in the American forest products
market — and increase corporate concentration in the sector.

And they will close mills! You better believe it! The litmus
test of the new policy changes will be just how many mills
can close down, how rapidly. Amalgamations, pull-outs, and
the pursuant devastation of communities will be the proof in
the pudding for the Liberals and their corporate buddies.

In exchange, no meaningful accountability clause is to be
put into place when mills close. Only platitudes about a

_ clause that would require companies to “consult” about pend-

ing mill closures. Companies would still go ahead in their

__ unfettered way, anyways. No union present? No consultation!

Airy-fairy promises of a consultation process from this
Liberal government is not something that workers and forest-

corporations at the expense of B.C.

dependent-communities can take to
the bank.

The IWA and the CEP have joined
to send a clear message to Victoria
that this wanton sell-out to Uncle
Sam is unacceptable. It is unaccept-
able to go down the path of accepting
the Americans dictating our forest
policy and surrendering our sover-
eignty over future decision-making.

Present and future generations will
perpetually pay the price for grave
and massive sell-off now being com-
mitted. It is a one way street with no
turning back!

PRICE FOR THE GRAVE That’s why our two unions have
‘AND MASSIVESELL- been on the Town Hall Circuit to pub-

licize the made-in-America forest
OFF NOW BEING policies. Whereas the Liberals have
COMMITTED been flagrant in their Americanization

of the industry, Alberta and Ontario
have been less forthright, sneaking around with the same basic
policies (see page three). That is why the IWA is calling on gov-
ernments to take their policies to the stakeholders.

AUGUST 2003 THE ALLIED WORKER | 5