Fraser Valley Local 1-3567 signs up owner/operator truckers On November 20, the B.C. Labour Relations Board granted IWA Local 1-3567 a certification for owner/operator truckers who haul deliveries for Dick’s Lumber, which has lum- ber yards and retail outlets in Surrey and Burnaby, B.C. There are six owner/operators in the stand- alone bargaining unit, employing ten drivers, owners included. The unit will increase in size if more dri- vers are hired. The local already rep- resents about forty workers at both operations. Local union business agents Earl Graham and Brian Lund worked on the organizing drive. The drivers handle anything and ever- thing that the company sells and delivers good to domestic and com- mercial construction sites, including lumber, special beams, windows and hardware items. PHOTO BY ANGELO SANSERVINO = IWA supporters leaflet in downtown Montreal. Tommy Hilfiger and hardwood mill charged at Quebec LRB Local 400 organizer Joe Calcarra ran into a brick wall in two simalta- neous campaigns when union sup- porters were among those fired. As of early December, six workers were fired by the Les Bois Rapid hard- wood flooring plant in Pt. Claire. Four workers were fired at the Tommy Hilfiger distribution ware- house in Montreal, where workers had signed union cards. The |WA filed unfair labour practices against both companies at the Quebec Labour Relations Board. “We had some of our key support- ers, who were working on organiz- ing committees, fired by these employers,” says Brother Calcarra. National organizer Angelo Sanservino, who has helped out in Quebec, is spearheading a fight back campaign against Tommy @ Hilfiger, leafleted a company retail outlet on St. Catherines street on December 19 and 20. Earlier in the week, the employer offered a $45,000 payment to the four fired union supporters to drop the LRB 8 charges and leave the workplace | permanently. “The workers, said no | way! They want their jobs back and ‘they want the IWA to represent PHOTO BY FRAN BORSELLINO = From left to right are Lucy Mitchell, Angie Richardson and Lena Sicipione outside the Hamilton store. WORKERS AT THREE ONTARIO OUTLETS JOIN THE IWA Say hi to Hy and Zel’s IWA AND UNION SHOPPERS in Ontario be aware! Our union’s members are now behind the counter at three Hy and Zel retail outlets in the cities of Newmarket, Hamilton and Niagara Falls. In late November the Ontario Labour Relations Board grant- ed certification to WA Local 7oo. A total of 102 work- ers are employed at the three locations on a full and part-time basis. National organizer Fran Borsellino, assisted for a period by Local 2995's Serge Trudel, who was being trained, conducted the successful campaign, which saw nearly 100 per cent support among the combined loca- tions. The organizing campaign was run simaultan- iously at the locations over a two week period. “It was a fairly straightforward campaign,” says Sister Borsellino. “Workers are underpaid, have no benefits and lack representation. They want to be IWA.” Local 700 president Ron Diotte says the union will serve official notice to bargain after it receives the certifi- cate from the OLRB. The local, which has over a decade of experience negotiating contracts in the food and drug sector, intends to see a consistency of collective agree- ments at the three locations. “We want to see a contract and labour relations climate that show xespect for our new members,” he says. Local 700 also represents work- ers at the No Frills grocery store in Toronto at Jane and Finch and Dominion Store workers in Ajax (see local news story page eight) and Coulter's Mill. Working in the health care sector THEY ARE ALREADY busily electi- ing IWA sub-local job stewards and safety committees. As Local 1-3567 con- tinues to make progress signing up new members in the private health care field (see story page three) the demand for union services is growing at the same time. “We hope to have our membership in private health care bargaining units active in assisting the oper- ating of function- | ing committees as soon as possible,” | says local union business agent Fred Carroll, who is the local union’s Organizational Director in the private health care field. Brother Carroll says that issues that workers face in the private health care — including janitorial, laundry, food and other related services, are the com- mon ones of pay, benefits and working conditions, including health and safe- ty issues. “We're also working to resolve such issues as layoffs and recall,” he adds. “In some areas where there have been issues, companies have said that, if there need to be layoffs, they will dis- cuss how such layoffs might be imple- mented.” Fred Carroll PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA = Brian Harder (r.) chats with new members during election of committees at Morrison Food Services at the BC Children and Women's Hospital. The major private health care service providers are Sodexho, Aramark and Compass, each of which have sub-com- panies. The IWA has collective agree- ments with Sodexho and Aramark in other parts of Canada. Local financial secretary Brian Harder, who is servicing a number of the new units, along with Brother Carroll, says the influx of new membership is a challenge that the local is prepared to meet on a province-wide basis. Bargaining units have or are being established throughout the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Victoria, Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound and Pemberton areas. “We wel- come the new members into our local union and are doing our best to get to know people and deal effectively with the issues they face,” says Brother Harder. As the local has negotiated a dosed shop hiring hall arrangement with the three multinationals, the issue of transferring between bargaining units is occuring. “Workers are requesting better paying jobs, closer to home,” adds Harder. “We are trying to deal with these issues.” DECEMBER 2003 THE ALLIED WORKER ak 9