INDEX

1B USING LIBERAL LAWS On the
Coast, forest companies have
tried to use laws introduced by
Gordon Campbell to force con-
cessions from the IWA/2

i A TOUGH YEAR The IWA
remains steadfast in its attempt
to get agreements in B.C. with-
out taking job action/3

Gi LETTERS PAGE The Allied
Worker welcomes letters from
|WA‘ers across Canada/4

f@ OPINIONS IWA President Dave
Haggard writes about negotia-
tions on the Coast of B.C. and a
Albertan woodworker questions
Weyco’s substance program/5

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

@ GETTING BACK THE FALLERS On
—» the Coast, workers
| who have lost their
\| jobs to non-union
contractors are
signing up with the
union again/8

@ KELOWNA CONVENTION The
IWA held its annual convention
amid calls for unity in tough
times/ 10-15

{@ A WALKOUT IN CHILE The IWA's
partner, the CTF, participated in
a one day walkout in Chile in
mid-August/ 16

profiles organizer
Fran Borsellino, a

| former hospital
worker who is an
advocate for public
health care/ 17

1 TELLING BUSINESS ABOUT
UNIONS Earlier this year the
IWAss local in Williams Lake, B.C.
became the first union to join a
Chamber of Commerce/ 18

Bi LABOUR LINKED News for IWA
members from the Canadian
Labour Congress and provin-
cial federations of labour/ 20

A YEAR OF CHANGE
IN HEALTH & SAFETY
The Allied Worker
reviews the national
safety report, pre-
sented to conven-
tion delegates/ 21

ALITTLE MORE THAN 60 YEARS
AGO It took a World War for the
B.C. government to grant bar-
gaining rights to
trade unions. In
1943, Local 1-
363 members
negotiated the
first-ever “union
agreement”/ 22

1 WORKING WITH FIRST NATIONS
The IWA and First Nations are
attempting to forge new links
to bring mutual benefits/ 23

I REMEMBER OUR BROTHERS This
summer and fall the IWA lost
two good friends when
Brothers Harold Sachs and) _
Fred Miron passed away/ 24

FRONTN

Just who does FIR really speak for:

THE AGE-OLD ADAGE that money
talks is true and it couldn’t be truer than
if one has a closer look at Forest
Industrial Relations, the bargaining asso-
ciation for Coastal companies.

Virtually everything FIR does has to be
approved by the “Big Three.”
Weyerhaeuser, TimberWest and Interfor
have over 50 per cent of vote, so we know
it is they who have decided to use the
Labour Relations Board to seek conces-
sions from the IWA.

The current FIR board consists of ten
representatives including the following
companies: Interfor, Weyerhaeuser,
TimberWest, Canfor, Mill & Timber,
Doman/Western, Cattermole, Terminal

Forest Products, and Timfor.

Craig Neeser of Weyerhaeuser,
Duncan Davies of Interfor, who is also
chairman of FIR,
and Paul McElligot
of TimberWest are
the “three amigos”
that call the shots on
the FIR board.

Normally every-
J thing that is voted on

by FIR client compa-

nies, must be
approved by a weighted vote at the board.
That's where the “three amigos” hold
power. Weyco, TimberWest and Interfor
hold 52 per cent of the weighted vote at the

Craig Neeser

FIR board. If each individual FIR op
tion gets to vote, there are about 100 0
ations in the association. But

the question.
think a lot d
companies wante
to reach an
ment with the IW,
without _ rollback:

Duncan Davies but they can be
hemmed in by th

‘Big Three,” says IWA Canada p
Dave Haggard. “We know they used th
clout to get our final offer agreeement
rejected.” 7

FIR tries to
use new
Liberal laws

IWA refuted
employers’
association tactic to
test changes in Act

THE IWA SAYS THAT Forest
Industrial Relations’ tactics to use new
provisions of the Labour Relations Act to
wring concessions from the union were
an affront to the free collective bargain-
ing process and an indication that
employers were purposefully avoiding
contract talks. In late August, despite an
order from the LRB, forcing FIR to bar-
gain in a meaningful way with the
union, the employers’ association
applied to the board, seeking an order
that the IWA revise its demands.
FIR used changes
to the B.C. Labour
| Code introduced
by the Gordon
Campbell
Liberals, to try to
force the IWA to
water down its
collective bargain-
ing demands
while FIR itself
refused to table its
own set of
demands at the bargaining table, until
the IWA served strike notice on
September 22. The legal argument by
FIR, which is dominated by
Weyerhaeuser, International Forest
Products and TimberWest, was an
attempt to use part of the code which
says the Board has a duty “to ensure that
the labour relations system fosters or
encourages the employment of workers
in an economically viable business.”
FIR wanted to use code changes to
“encourage participation between
employers and trade unions in resolving

Dave Haggard

win

workplace issues, adapting to changes in
the economy, developing workforce
skills, and developing a workforce and
workplace that promotes productivity...”

IWA National president Dave
Haggard, head negotiator for the provin-
cial negotiating committee, said that FIR
was “chickening out from appearing at
the bargaining table and tried to duck
under the cover of Labour Code changes
introduced by their buddies in the
Liberal government.”

Even FIR’s submission to the board
acknowledged that the whole issue was a
test case. Its legal reps presented three
studies on the state of the Coast industry
as evidence that the union should have
made concessions. They were the ones
put out by Peter Pearce in the fall of
2001, a National Bank Financial presen-
tation in January of this year and a recent
Price WaterhouseCoopers report on the
industry. FIR argued that these industry
-sponsored studies are proof enough that
the union must bargain concessions.

FIR also said that the IWA has not
tried to reduce costs in the industry —
something that Brother Haggard said is
patently untrue. “The IWA tried to initi-
ate a process to deal with the crisis in the
coastal industry over two years ago and
the companies stuck their heads in the
sand.” In the fall of 2001 the national
president and the union brought the
main industry players, contractors and
the industry together to deal with job

= On the Coast, FIR has also been attempting to use the Campbell
Liberals’ laws to force concessions on woodworkers.

losses and indus- q
try costs. The —

ensuing process,
dubbed “coastal —

restructuring” did

not bear r 4
despite two ;

jointly chipped in
on a 2001
with the industry

Harvey Arcand
and goverment which reveals that the —

overall cost issue facing the coast results —
from the inefficient management of cap-
ital and labour and only partly due tothe
cost of wages and benefits paid to [WA
members. 4
In August, then national union first
vice president Harvey Arcand said that
the union had not yet witnessed the
industry in the Interior regions try J0
“wiggle away from the bargaining tab
“There’s no doubt that the Interior indus: :
try was looking at what FIR tried to pull
off but the industry in the south and
north showed up to negotiate with the —
union and they brought bargaining pos
tions to the table like they always have,”
said Brother Arcand. ‘
On the Coast, FIR initially broughta one
year rollover to the table. It also has a post
tion that has the right to bring concessions to
the table in the future. “That was another
Position that convinced us a strike vote was _
necessary,” says Haggard. ‘

2 | THE ALLIED WORKER NOVEMBER 2003