@™ CANADA CONVENTION e 10-15 THE ALLIED VOL.68 NO.4 NOVEMBER 2003 NEWS FROM THE INDUSTRIA WOOD AND ALLIED WORKERS OF CANADA IWA calls strike as LRB gives FIR the right to impose terms and conditions AS THIS ISSUE OF The Allied Worker goes to press, the IWA has gone on strike on the Coast of B.C. On November 21, the Labour Relations Board ruled against the union, allowing Forest Industrial Relations the right to unilaterally impose Concessionary terms and conditions of employment on IWA members. The rul- ing resulted in the union calling a coastal strike immediately. Over 8,000 coastal woodworkers walked off the job. @: November 17, FIR claimed that negotiations had been terminated because of the IWA’s one day walkout on November 6, and tried to impose such terms and conditions, sparking walkouts first among Interfor mills in Local 1-3567. That claim was made despite FIR’s call to the IWA to restart negotiations on November 11, following its rejection of the IWA’s final offer. Employers belonging to FIR, the bar- gaining agency for over 60 coastal oper- ators, had voted to turn down the union’s offer for a six-year agreement. On November 1 FIR proposed a three-year deal with measly increases and a list of concessions. Five days earli- er, IWA members on the Coast held a one-day study session to demonstrate their concern over the vote. The IWA’s final offer vote of the com- panies, which was a non-traditional move, presented the industry with proposals (see article page three) to increase workplace efficiencies. “To bring costs down and increase competitiveness, we need to have our members working and we need to have the mills and the logging equipment running as muchas possible, instead of sit- ting idle while companies export raw logs,” says IWA National President Dave Haggard, negotiating committee chair. National union secretary-treasurer David Tones, said the board’s decision undermines the collective bargaining process for TWA members and all B.C. workers. On October 1 the union reached a new pattern deal in the southem Interior and on October 30 a tentative pattern agreements were reached with northern lumber producers (see page three). = National union president Dave Haggard talks to the media outside Weyerhaeuser’s New Westminster Lumber Division on November 6, as members of IWA Local 1-3567 look on. IWA PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA members on the Coast walked out the day FIR members voted on the union’s offer for a settlement. Searching for a merger National Convention delegates unanimously adopt a resolution directing the IWA’s National Officers to aggressively pursue a merger with a larger union WIT the growth of worldwide capi- talism, says the WA, Canadian governments are increasingly unwilling or unable to protect the rights of workers, the secu- rity of communities and the well-being of local, regional, provincial or national economies. The IWA is being hit with difficulties in protect- ing and improving the lot of its membership across the country. To counteract this dangerous trend, delegates at the national union’s 17th Constitutional Convention in Kelowna unani- mously adopted a resolution directing national officers to “aggressively pursue a merger with a larger, compatible union.” “This means that we are actively looking for a possible merger with another union, either a Canadian union or an international organiza- tion,” says IWA Canada national union president Dave Haggard. National officers are meeting with other orga- nizations to find out how the IWA might fit into their structure. Recommendations will be made to the national executive board before any refer- endum ballot would be taken to the membership. “This doesn’t mean we are necessarily merg- ing — it means we are looking for the right con- ditions for a possible merger in the future,” says Brother Haggard. The resolution passed stated that the union is proud of the work it has done and that it is determined to carry on the work of organizing. (See convention highlights pages 10 - 15). CANADIAN AND U.S. UNIONS REQUEST PARTICIPATION AS CRITICAL STAKEHOLDERS Labour offers assistance in softwood THERE’S NO RELIEF in sight with the ongoing softwood lumber battle and a coalition of trade unions, including the IWA and the CEP in Canada and the IAM and PACE in the United States, have offered to play a role in resolving the trade war. On November 12 the unions sent a letter to Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew and U.S. Undersecretary of Trade Grant Aldonas to offer the unions as a consultative group in the negotiations between the two countries. The letter requests participation in the negotia- tion process as “critical stakeholders in the soft- wood lumber industry on both sides of the border.” It adds that continued litigation is costing jobs and offers no permanent solution. IWA National President Dave Haggard says the coalition of unions have some sound ideas to settle the dispute and restore economic stability in the industry and to the lives of workers and communi- ties in both nations. In early 2003 the unions pre- sented a framework for a comprehensive settle- ment to Pettigrew and Aldonas. By early November, the protectionist U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, which has effectively ignored both World Trade Organization and NAFTA rulings, proposed a settlement which would limit lumber tariff-free imports from Canadian provinces to a mere 30.5 per cent of the U.S. market. Currently Canadian producers have about a 34 per cent market share, paying an aver- age 27.2 per cent in countervailing duties. As part of the settlement, the Coalition wants to slap crippling tariffs of $225 US per 1000 board feet of lumber imported, if the shipments exceed a 30.5 per cent market share — effectively shutting out Canadian lumber producers from the U.S. market with the additional tariffs. On November 14, Ottawa proposed a variation that said Canadian shipments should reach a 32.0 per cent market share with lower duties on additional shipments for a five year period.