@ INDEX

fl MERGER TALKS The IWA
National Executive Board has
approved a plan to negotiate a
merger with the United
Steelworkers of America/2

i MEDIATED NEGOTIATIONS The
IWA and FIR are being assisted
by a mediator on the Coast and
Interior locals report on con-
tract talks/3

i LETTERS PAGE The Allied
Worker welcomes letters from
IWA’ers across Canada/ 4

@ OPINIONS IWA President Dave
Haggard writes talks about
important considerations for
merger talks and Scotty Lunny
writes on contracting out/5

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

i STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS Local
2693 members from the strik-
ing Bowater
a "e's a7 Ignace opera-
jae) tion leafleted
near a compa-
ny mill in
Thunder Bay,
pointing out
that the com-
pany is chipping good sawlogs
while it by-passes forest com-
munities like Ignace /8

1 WORKING IN HEALTH CARE |WA

Local 1-3567 is growing at a

rapid rate in the private health
8 care services

"94 sector as it
reaches out to

new member-
ship through
partnership
agreements/9

1 TWO OR THREE COMPANIES?
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell
says legislation was made to
allow for mergers - the affects
are already taking place/ 12-13

@ CREDIT FOR THEIR UNION In
Westbank B.C. IWA Local 1-423
women have
endured a
decert cam-
paign and are
currently in

| negotiations
E) with a very
anti-union employer in a credit
union workplace/14

@ AN IWAPIONEER Last December
logger and millworker Erni Knott
passed away at
age 84. He was
one of the last
remaining sur-
vivors from a
generation who
founded our
union in 1937, in the era of the
Great Depression/ 18

Bl UNITING THE WAY The IWA
has a long history of support
British Columbia

for the United
9,
and elsewhere in

Way of the
the country /20

Lower Mainland
and other United
Way charities in

FRONTNeEWS

Ontario labour law changes under ¢

ONTARIO’S LIBERAL porenenent
appears to be moving in a positive direc-
tion as Minister of Labour Chris Bentley
has informed the Ontario Federation of
Labour that changes
to the Employment
Standards Act and
Labour Relations
Act are in order.
The government
has already raised
the minimum wage

yy thirty cents per
hour in each of the
next four years. “It’s not that significant
but we welcome the move after seeing
the minimum wage frozen ($6.85 per

Norm Rivard

hour regular and $5.85 per hour for
liquor servers) for nine years under the
Tories,” says national first vice president
Norm Rivard.

The governmentis also doing away with
with legislation that says a 60 hour work
week can be negotiated. Employers were
forcing workers into such agreements.

In addition, employers will no longer
be allowed to post instructions on how
to decertify unions as, under the
Conservatives, bosses were instructed to
put up big posters to guide workers in
how to do so. “The posters didn’t have
much affect on our union because we
educated our members on what it was
all about,” says Brother Rivard.

Another change coming will be
the OLRB will automatically certify a

bargaining unit when their emp

have committed gross violations of
unfair labour practices. And the Liberals
say they want to reinstate “n mn.
ship” to vice-chairperson ap
at the OLRB. Under the
pro-business appointments were the
order of the day, notes Rivard. Y
“While all these are small steps, we may _
see a more positive labour relations dli-_
mate in Ontario as a result,” he notes,
“Workers have suffered a long time under
Tory rule and there is a long way to go to

have our collective rights resestablished —
with this new Liberal government.” 7

IWA Canada
to hold

merger talks

National Executive
Board votes to

negotiate with
Steelworkers union

THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE Board
of the Industrial, Wood and Allied
Workers of Canada (IWA) has decided
to commence merger negotiations with
United Steelworkers of America.

The move comes as a result of a reso-
lution passed at the IWA Convention last
September, instructing the union leader-
ship "to aggressively pursue a merger
with a larger compatible union." The
IWA's national officers held preliminary
discussions with a number of national
and international unions and recom-
mended that a committee of local union
and national union representatives
begin hammering out details with the
Steelworkers. The IWA National
Executive Board endorsed the recom-
mendation in late February.

"Our national officers looked at the
options and came to a unanimous con-
clusion that the Steelworkers are the most
compatible union for the IWA and there
is the most potential to put together a
merger with Steel that benefits our mem-
bership now and into the future," said
IWA President Dave Haggard.

Haggard acknowledged there is still a
lot to do before the merger takes place.
The union is holding a conference of its
national and local officers and staff in late
March to provide input to the negotiating
team. Following that a merger agreement
will be negotiated. If those negotiations
are successful and approved by the
national executive board in late April, a
second conference will be held in May to
explain the agreement and ultimately a
referendum of all IWA members in
Canada will be held in June.

= A plan to seek merger with the USWA was passed at the IWA national

executive board in late February.

“We are excited about the opportunities
that this presents, but we know there is a
lot of work yet to do," said Haggard. "The
IWA isa proud, strong union and so is the
USWA. Together in Canada we will have
250,000 members and with that kind of
strength there is no end to what we can
achieve in the workplaces and in the com-
munities where
we live."

David Tones,
national secretary-
treasurer, says the
union’s negotia-
tion team will be
looking for the
best possible deal
to maintain and

= increase services
DavidTones to the IWA’s
membership
That includes support of local unions,
education and organizing. “We have to
have input from IWA local unions from
across Canada to air their concerns about
the merger. We think a merger with Steel
is our best option in a rapidly changing
economy — especially in the traditional
forest sector.” Steel also has forest work-
ers, primarily in the province of Quebec
and Ontario.

Lawrence McBrearty, the National
Director for the USWA, said “we feel our
memberships are very compatible in
terms of our history and our shared val-
ues. We will do everything we can to acco-

PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

momodate IWA members and create a J
merger that works in the interests of
everybody.” Meanwhile International
president Leo Gerard said the IWA would
strengthen the union’s agenda on partic: —
ular issues, like international trade. “We
intend to work as hard with IWA mem- —
bers on the softwood lumber issue, as we
have with our members to safeguard the
steel industry in North America.” Steel
has full-time lobbyists in both Ottawa and —
Washington.

The USWA has 12 geographical districts —
in North America. In Canada there are
three: Western Canada and the territories
(District 3), Ontario and Atlantic Canada
(District 6), and Quebec (District 5).

IWA national first vice president Norm
Rivard says Steel's presence in Ontario,
Quebec and the Maritimes, would give a —
combined union even more strength.
Wilf McIntyre, the
IWA’s _ national
third vice presi-
dent, notes that —
Steel will create a
woodworker

Wilf Mcintyre *PP°

USWA has more than 600,000
in North America.

2 | THE ALLIED WORKER MARCH 2004