Companies are pulling the plug on IWA jobs a CHANGES IN FOREST policy that the ‘A warmed about during our forestry town hall meetings in the spring and — Summer of 2002 are starting to have a Major effect on our union’s membership. The legislation has been putin place and already companies are pulling the plug on workers and communities, Following the fire that destroyed the Tolko Industries sawmill in Louis Creck last summer, the government allowed the company to kiss our community SS OPINION BY WARREN OJA goodbye. After all, legislation breaking the tie of timber to communities was right around the comer. Now our unemployed members, some still without an adequate roof over their head, watch helplessly as truck after truck of logs once destined for our community mill go driving on by. All with the complete blessing of the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell! | The North Thompson is controlled by two big companies - Weyerhaeuser and Tolko. Weyco pulled the plug on its Vanvenby mill in anticipation of Liberal forest policy. These companies are now able to swap, chop, slice and dice their licences. People who live in the commu- | nities and own the trees have absolutely no say whatsoever. We've had a few — protests on the issue of fibre supply and _ local MLA Kevin Kroeger has done next | tonothing totakeourconcems tothe gov- | emment The people of Barriere and _ North Thompson have been droppedlike a hot potato. a The government says that timber will | be on the open market with the 20 per | cent cawback. But at the same time, it | allows companies to do what they want on aut control on their remaining 80 per EDITORI PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Voting Yes on the merger is a good move for the IWA And thanks to Brother Haggard for over thirty years of dedication to IWA Canada members BY NORM RIVARD BEFORE I SAY SOME THINGS about our vote on the merger with the United Steelworkers of America, on behalf of our national officers, I’d like to say thanks to former IWA national president Dave Haggard. Brother Haggard has made a very per- sonal decision to run for federal office under the Paul Martin Liberal banner. As IWA Canada national officers we have stood behind Dave following his personal decision. As Dave has said: “There’s a lot of people who believe you have to become a member of a party and stay their until you die.” Well, Dave has decided not to remain in the NDP and he has made a move to become part of a party that may govern after the June 28 election. In any event, I know that Dave Haggard will continue to fight for the communities and the workers he has served faith- fully for over three decades. We wish him well and salute him for leading the IWA to many new accomplishments. We hope to call on him in Ottawa. Under Brother Haggard’s nearly eight years in office the IWA grew stronger under an Organizing and Growth Program he worked hard to kick-start in 1997. We began to organize more in non-traditional sectors all over Canada. Gains were made on the collective bargaining fronts as well as for Women in the IWA and in the field of International Solidarity. In the years ahead we are sure that many members will look back fondly to this period as a time of challenge and acheivement for our union. Dave Haggard served as a strong voice for Canadian workers on the ongoing soft- wood lumber battle with the United States and took the radical green movement head on. He will be missed in our union. As Dave moves on to new challenges so too does the IWA. Starting in the days ahead our national membership will partici- pate in a referendum ballot on joining the Steelworkers. We strongly urge all our members to vote Yes to this merger! As members of the IWA, we have an opportunity to vote ina referendum ballot on merging with the United Steelworkers of America. We strongly urge all our members to vote Yes to this merger! As part of the Steelworkers we will form the largest pri- vate sector union in Canada, with strength in several sectors of the economy. The strength we can achieve with this merger will have few parallels in Canadian and North American labour his- tory. IWA members will become part of a industrial union that will exceed 600,000 strong. In Canada our traditional forest industry-based membership will be the largest in country’s sec- tor at over 55,000, with new resources to educate, organize and mobilize in the years ahead. Like the IWA, the Steelworkers have along, democratic, progressive and militant labour history which will be respected and enhanced by this merger. To maintain our identity a USWA-IWA Council will be created to represent tradi- tional IWA locals. Existing services will be maintained and enhanced. Both sides have negotiated dues arrangements to ensure that IWA members will be entitled to collective bargaining and other services and be able to tap into an Intemational Strike Fund that will soon exceed $150 million USD. Steel will also put an initial $1 million into an organizing drive in the IWA Council’s traditional areas. Locals will have access to Corporate Research, a Legal Department, a Health, Safety and Environment Department anda Communications Department, which offers training to local unions. The USWA-IWA Council will have its own Executive Council and Steering Committee to fulfill many of the same duties ofan IWA national union. Together with Steel we will be stronger. Together Canadian and American workers will band together like workers haven’t done since the great CIO drives of the 30s and 40s. This is a time of challenge and change for the IWA. The writ- ing is on the wall. Corporations are bigger and meaner than ever. We have to get stronger to take them on in the global economy. The events of recent years tell us there are few alternatives. Once again, we strongly urge you to vote in favour of the merger. cent. They will be able to live on overcut- ting or undercutting their crown lands and can stay out of the market altogether or dominate it as they see fit, They will be able to cut the amount that truckers haul or force them into bidding to haul the 20 per cent Is this what the govemment — means by “market forces?” What good | does that do small producers? And can’t the big guys snap up all the wood any- | ways?! | All IWA members should be con: cemed about the growing uncertainty and the direction this government has taken us in. Look at what happened to ‘TFL 46 on southern Vancouver Island. TimberWest is selling off B.C’s crown Jands. Our Local 1-80 membership and the community are affected. I anticipate the situation will get worse as ‘< oa ies exercise their n¢ - ae jet Liberal legislation and. that jn the Fraser Valley, in peas Pemberton and the Sunshine | Satst, on Vancouver Island, and in the 1 Charlottes. Rest assured that there i Que impacts in our Interior ~ It’s time for us to unite ron ojo 1 the fest vice-president of the WA we Local 1-417, whe originates from the Tolko er ‘creek sawmill. EDITORIAL We should all be shaking like a leaf The U.S. Commerce Department is pushing for the right to be judge and jury over the administration of the Canadian forest industry WHEN TWO AMERICAN BIRDS OF the same feather are flying from Canadian province to Canadian province to speak to forest ministry authorities, you know that something is up. And when the U.S. Department of Commerce thinks it has the sole solution to the U.S. - Canada softwood lumber dispute, you also know something is cooking. In April Weyerhaeuser, perhaps disliked by more [WA mem- bers than any other company operating in Canada, and International Paper, a staunch member of the U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, the protectionist lobby group behind the punishing duties against Canadian lumber, toured with provin- cial ministry officials in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. They were there to convince the provinces to negotiate a deal with Uncle Sam, versus continuing the litigation route, which Canada is keeping alive for the time being. The big American multinationals were trying to influence Canadian provinces to get a deal done soon. In recent weeks, British Columbia, which has adopted a series of made-in-the USA forest policies, has even entertained the idea of going it along with the U.S. The B.C. Lumber Trade Council has openly mused about such possibility. After all, the Gordon Campbell Liberals have already tailored policies that the U.S. wants. But the kind of bargain that Uncle Sam is driving has been fig- ured out much of the rest of Canada’s forest industry. In an April 33 letter to International Trade Minister Jim Peterson, obtained by The Globe and Mail, the Ontario Forest Industry Association, Alberta Softwood Council, Quebec Forest Industry Council and Free Trade Lumber Council of Canada, questioned negotiating a deal with the United States when the USDC would have the “sole discretion to judge the sufficiency of provincial reforms.” Over 20 months earlier the USDC put out a CANADIAN FOREST Policy bulletin which says long-term for- est policies in provinces must withstand INDUSTRY standards set by the U.S. itself in order PRODUCERS for their ever to be “free trade” in lum- QUESTION GIVING ber. “Our industry does not find an agreement leaving us entirely dependent AMERICAN CONTROL upon the judgement of the United States OVEROURDECISION Department of Commerce to be accept- MAKING IN CANADA able.” They also said they are “surprised " that the Government of Canada would be prepared to entrust the United States governmental authority to judge the laws and policies of governments in Canada...” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER. | 5.