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DUNCAN BC

Local union Weyco picketers
say ‘Buy Doman - Buy B.C.’
Local president Bill Routley says the
membership’s dislike for Weyerhaeuser
grew to a fever pitch prior to and during
the IWA Coastal strike against FIR. IWA
members who set up a picket camp, out-
side the Weyco Northwest Bay entrance
road near Parksville, erected a sign that
read “Buy Doman - Buy B.C.” Brother
Routley says that, in some respects, the
coastal strike shaped up to be a conflict
between uncaring ~ multinationals
(Weyerhaeuser, TimberWest and
Interfor) and smaller B.C. dedicated
businesses. “Our union members sup-
ported Doman negotiating a collective
agreement with the IWA so the company
would not go broke and be gobbled up by
the likes of the big companies driving the
FIR bus,” says Routley. “They realize
these companies can be like vultures.”

1-85 PORT ALBERNI BC

Large turnouts on picket lines
Local 1-85 president Monty Mearns says
membership showed-up in large num-
bers to support picketing action.
Members picketed 24/7 at
Weyerhaeuser Alberni Pacific Division,
Weyco’s Somass Cedar, Weyco Sproat
Lake and at Hayes Forest Services,
which runs Franklin River Division.
Coulson Manufacturing, which is not
part of FIR broad bargaining, was oper-
ating on a one shift basis. In the north
end of the local union (TFL 19), Doman
operations were on layoff, as the IWA
sought to get back to the bargaining
table. “This strike all boiled down to
which side you are on,” says Brother
Mearns. “Workers see the IWA is the
only organization that will stand up.”

} 1-207

ALBERTA

Local geared up for negotiations

Local 1-207 president Mike Pisak reports

the contract talks are underway for four
employees of the town of Grimshaw,

near Peace River. The contract expires
on December 31. Talks are also
underway for seventy woodlands crew
members at the Weldwood Hinton
operation, the agreement having expired
on November 30. The local has slated
negotiations with Tolko High Level for
late January, 2004 and is arranging talks
with Canfor Hines Creek. Contracts at
those major sawmills expire by the end
of February.

© 1-184 | SASKATCHEWAN

Big River sawmill avoids shut
down and Cab-Tek talks stall
Local 1-184 president Paul Hallen says
hard work by the plant committee and the
local have assisted in preventing a tempo-
rary shutdown at the Weyerhaeuser Big
River sawmill. In early December the
company announced that the mill would
operate until at least January 31, 2004.
“Our members have been working hard
to help increase efficiencies,” he says. In
other news, negotiations with the Cabtek
Manufacturing Inc. cabinet plant in
Regina, certified over a year abo, have
reached a stalemate. The local has applied
to the LRB fora mediator, to help reach an
agreement. A hearing is set for February
of next year.

LOCALNeEWS

Oech) LOCAL 306 MIRAMICHI NB

PHOTO BY MARIO FORTUNATO

= Atthe Nelson Forest Products mill site is Local 306 member Wayne Butler.

Plywood mill reconstruction starts

THERE’S SOME OPTIMISM in the air in Miramichi, New Brunswick as
IWA Local 306 members are witnessing the rebuilding of the Nelson Forest
Products plywood operation which burnt to the ground during an accidental
fire in July, 2001. In early December, the footings for a new operation began

to be poured and, by mid-month, log supply was accumulating in the

0)

2, yard. Company owner Robbie Tozer is looking for a new collective
) agreement with the IWA. Meanwhile, both Weyerhaeuser, which
{J has a nearby OSB plant, and pulp and paper giant UPM-Kymme are

opposed to Nelson going back into operation with the fibre supply it

wants, citing potential conflicting timber supply issues. “It’s no surprise to
us,” says Local 306 president Mario Fortunato. “Both these companies have
been trying to get their hooks into more wood for themselves at the behest of
others.” The Nelson site is the historical heart and soul of the IWA in the
province. It was known as Burchill Brothers Forest Products when the union
first organized there in 1963. For local union member Wayne Butler, the
rebuild signifies the culmination of a struggle that he and others led, putting
pressure on the government to hold Nelson accountable to create local jobs in
exchange for cutting rights. Tozer hopes to capitalize on hot plywood markets
and get the new mill up and operating in the spring of 2004. The facility
should provide 50-60 jobs and increase if and when it operates on a continu-
ous shift basis. Brother Butler hopes the mill will produce a wide array of
products, including popal sheathing, spruce and pine sheathing and value-
added harwood veneers on softwood stock. Tozer purchased a hardwood mill
in Napadogan which could supply the veneers. Brother Fortunato says the
membership hopes that Tozer will build an additional laminated lumber
veneer mill on the same site, which would employ additional Local 306 mem-
bers. “Wherever it may be built, we want to be there as a union,” he adds.

© 1-424 | PRINCE GEORGE BC

Union holds votes in operations

Local 1-424 president Frank Everitt says
that more contract votes will take place
in the local in the New Year. Votes have

VANCOUVER/LOGGERS

Loggers and millworkers picket

from Vancouver to the QC Islands
Local 2171 president Darrel Wong
reports that local pickets stretched from
the Lower Mainland to the Queen
Charlottes. Among the mills strikers
appeared at in the Lower Mainland
were Terminal Forest Products, West
Coast Cellufibre and Sawarne Lumber.
On the Island there were members
picketing most major access roads
from Port McNeill to Port Hardy and
beyond. Canfor and Interfor operations
went down. Stump-to-dump contract
crews struck with full force up and
down the coast and up in the Queen
Charlotte Islands where J.S. Jones and
Edwards and Associate crews picketed.
They walked out in the Terrace area
where layoffs have been heavy. “Our
members helped each other out all over
the place,” says Brother Wong. He also
extends the local’s thanks to workers
from Doman, Doman-Western and
Western Forest Products operations.

“Every member that continued to work
and paid a special assessment felt strong-
ly that they wanted to be on the picket
line with their Brothers and Sisters to
create greater solidarity in the WA.”

324 THE PAS MB

Manitoba local strongly speaks out
against softwood arrangement
Local 324 reacted strongly against the
proposed softwood lumber deal which
would cap Canadian exports to the
United States at 31.5 per cent of the U.S.
market share. Local business agent Chris
T. Parlow said it’s an unfair deal “in what
is supposed to be fair trade.” He also
questions an agreement that would see
the lumber industry in Canada be able to
sell and purchase any quota they are allo-
cated. “Quotas will become more valu-
able than the resource,” said Brother
Parlow. The local has joined with the
provincial NDP government and the
CEP to oppose the deal. Most of it mem-
bers are employed in Tolko Industries,
directly and through Tolko’s contractors.

Individual agreements are slated to
negotiated at West Fraser Fraser Lake
sawmills, and Stella Jones, Carrier
Lumber and Northwest Wood
Preservers in Prince George. Brother
Everitt says that some agreements haye
been rejected, largely on local issues
(Weldwood Quesnel and Takama Forest
Products in Ft. Nelson) and others

ly on main table issues (Canfor Houston
and Slocan Quesnel Forest Products),
He says that many members have been
frustrated about this year’s negotiations,

© 1-405 | CRANBROOK BC

Local preparing for negotiatioN.
Local 1-405 is gearing up for contract
talks with the Tembec finger-jointing
operation in Cranbrook, where the
agreement expires on March 31, 2004.
Between 40-45 members work at the
operation which has seen a tumaround
since it went to a greater hand sorting of
blocks. A wage and contract survey will
take place in January and the local hopes
to start negotiations in mid-February.
Financial secretary Doug Singer notes
that the plant was only built after the
previous NDP government forced
Tembec to or lose five per cent of its AAC
when it bought Crestbrook’s licence -
something that would not occur today.

© 1-417 | KAMLOOPS BC ‘

Local expresses concern over
future of Louisiana Pacific mill
Local 1-417 president Joe Davies says that
Louisiana-Pacific, which operates a cedar
mill in the community of Malakwa, says
|
i

taken place at several CONIFER
operations, Canfor and We

that if can’t run the mill at a profitable
enough rate, it will sell the operation by
the end of March, 2004. There are
currently about 60 IWA members
operating on one shift. In the United
States the company has divested itself of
sawmills as it concentrates on the lucrative
oriented strandboard market. Logs
from the Revelstoke TSA, where the nv
non-union Gorman Downie Street millin
Revelstoke has bid up prices. |

© 1-423 KELOWNA BC

Local is busy searching for
solution to. Interior issues
IWA Local 1-423 officials are wor

with the local union membership to
with regards to southern Interior forest
industry negotiations. In November, the
local union membership rejected #
tentative agreement with the Interior
Forest Employee Labour Relations
association — the second rejection
pattern agreement, of which has G
accepted by Locals 1-405 and 1-417- The
local has between 1,200 and 1,400
members employed in the industry 2
sawmills, planers and plywood
operations. It has a total membership of
about 2,500 members. Officer Ben
Landis says that the local is :
through a process which it hopes will
resolve the outstanding concerns that
the local membership has. :

6 | THE ALLIED WORKER DECEMBER 2003