@ A CONFERENCE OF TRANSITION
This month will mark the merg-
er of the IWA into the United
Steelworkers of America as an
IWA Council conference is held
in Richmond, B.C./2

@ TAKING ON WEYCO In July a
historic meeting took place
between the IWA, PACE and
USWA, to begin to plan a strat-
egy to take on Weyerhaeuser
on both sides of the Canada -
U.S. border/3

Gi LETTERS PAGE The Allied
Worker welcomes letters from
members across Canada/4

i OPINIONS IWA Council chair
Norm Rivard writes talks about
the merger with the USWA and
B.C. coastal logger Nick Kauwell
speaks out for the provision of
increased training opportunities
for younger workers/5

LINKING THE LOCALS Brief bits
and bites of information from

all Steelworker locals that par-
ticipate in the IWA Council /6-7

Wi STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS Local
1-306 members hit the bricks in

: 2 June and
reached a five-
4 year agree-
ment which
includes sig-
nificant pay
increases for
some part-time workers and pro-
tection against contracting out /8

1H PREPARING FOR CHANGES On
the coast of B.C., local unions
are facing a myriad of alternate
shift arrangements being
pushed by the industry, some
of which are a potential threat
to the health and safety of their
membership/ 10-11

A GREAT INDUSTRIAL UNION
The United Steelworkers of
America have
deep roots in
| Canada and

within the
North
American
labour move-
ment. We've joined a great
industrial union/ 13

Hi WOMEN OF STEEL Many of the
United Steelworkers’ Women of
Steel mandate
items have a
great deal in
common with
the functions
and policies of
the IWA
Council's Women’s Committee/ 14

@ NATIONAL OH&S CONFERENCE
This June IWA delegates gath-
ered in Nanaimo for the union’s
annual OH&S conference/ 16-17

1H APLACE FOR WORKERS’ HISTORY
Former IWA Canada president
Jack Munro is
heading up a
unique project
to build a
Labour
Heritage Centre
in the city of
Burnaby, British Columbia/24

IT’S NOT A TYPICAL get together this
year. When Steelworkers meet at the Best
Western Richmond Inn _ between
September 20-23, they will be marking a
significant turn in the history of the
Canadian labour movement. There will
be the first-ever IWA Council conference.

On September 1, following the nation-
al referendum ballot approved by over
6o per cent of voting members, [WA
Canada locals merged into the United
Steelworkers of America. To preserve
their unique identity, all locals are able to
take part in an IWA Council within the
USWA, as Steelworker locals.

The short and long of it is that we are
all officially Steelworkers now. At the
same time the IWA Council is charged
with various duties under the merger
agreement hashed out between the
USWA and the IWA Canada. Union
members will find out more on how all
the bits and pieces fit together at the
conference. The council will, among
other activities: coordinate collective
bargaining efforts; assist former IWA
Locals in becoming part of Steelworker
Districts; assist and support
Steelworkers in lawful strikes; organize
the unorganized; establish a legislative
agenda; participate in Steelworker com-
munication programs and hold confer-

FRONTNeEWS

= Pictured (front) at last year’s convention in Kelowna were Alberta delegates,

ences. The former IWA structure to work
on health and safety issues, especially in
the forest industry, will be maintained.

The IWA Council Chairman is Norm
Rivard, former national IWA president.
Starting in 2006, the chair will be elect-
ed every three years. The council has a
steering committee of former IWA
national officers and three USWA reps.
The executive committee has council
officers and one member from each for-
mer IWA local.

This first conference’s activities will
reflect the key functions of the Council:
collective bargaining strategies, health
and safety programs, political and leg-

FILE PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

islative action; and organizing. Delegates
will receive reports for each of the coun-
cil’s functions with an overall report
from the steering committee. A commit.
tee will be struck to attend to each of the
Council’s primary functions.

A resolutions committee is to be
struck to deal with resolutions submit-
ted, with an exception of safety resolu-
tions that will go over to a special safety
resolutions committee.

Remember it’s a conference, not a
convention. In the future, all locals will
be able to send delegates to District and :
National conferences and the USWA’s F
international convention. ;

4
.
;
E

We're now
a USWA
publication

As Steelworkers we'll
get information from a

variety of sources

HOLD ON TO THIS edition of The
Allied Worker! It’s a collectors’ item.
Why? Because this issue of Canada’s
longest-running consecutively pub-
lished trade union newspaper is now an
official Steelworkers’ publication.

As you'll note on our mast head, The
Allied Worker has evolved into the “official
publication of the IWA Council of the
United Steelworkers of America.”

In the weeks and months ahead,
union members will get their informa-
tion from a variety of sources within the
United Steelworkers of America’s com-
munications network,

As part of the merger agreement, the
IWA Council will have input into
Steelabour, the international union’s
publication based in Pittsburgh. The
publication will give appropriate cover-
age to news from the Council.

You can also visit Steel’s two major
websites from Canada and the United
States: www.uswa.ca and www.uswa.org
for up-to-date information. Your IWA
Council will also be have a presence on

PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA

= Our newspaper has undergone many changes since its first issue was.
published in 1931 by the Lumber and Agricultural Workers’ Industrial Union.

these widely-viewed websites.

Most importantly, the Steelworkers
offer local unions and staff with special-
ized assistance and training on conduct-
ing “campaign style” communications
strategies.

When negotiations are taking place or
there is a hot political or legislative issue,
the union offers a wide variety of com-
munications tactics, including informa-
tive leaflets, letters to the membership,
use of local publications, direct contact
with membership at meetings and e-
mail lists.

“We're looking forward to a dynamic
communications strategy,” says David
Tones, an IWA Council officer. “The
Steelworkers give us the resources and
the training to do that.”

We become part of the USWA’s Rapid
Response and Canadian Communications
Network (CCN), a system that encourages
and enables members to voice their opin-
ions. In addition, local unions will have
access to communications i
through the United Steelworkers Press

Association, which has an elected repre-
sentative in each district.

“We are becoming part of new strate-
gy, building on modern communications
technologies,” says Brother Tones. 5

The Allied Worker was first published in
September of 2002 as the successor 7 the
IWA Canada Lumberworker. In 1931, the :
B.C. Lumber Worker was established “7
publication of the Lumber oa
Agricultural Workers Industrial Union of
Canada. Over the years itvent a :

Z

evolution as the _ International
Woodworkers of America’s B.C. Lumber
Worker, the Western Canadian Lumber
Worker, the IWA Canadian Lumbenworker,
and then the IWA Canada Lumbenworker. —

“Ithas been a great honour to work on
our newspaper,” says editor Norman
Garcia, who was hired on in February of
1989. “There’ s a permanency of record
with our newspaper. It has a timeless
connection to the pioneers of the IWA,
the struggles that union members”
underwent through the decades, and
who we are as Canadian workers.” :

2 I THE ALLIED WORKER SEPTEMBER 2004