Attention must be paid to training younger workers WEARE HEARING ALOT more these days about safety certification procedures for loggers in British Columbia. There is a Certification program which has been Put in place for fallers. There will soon be a new program for rock truck drivers and other phases will be brought into the picture. All of that is good if pro- grams are run effectively and there is adequate follow-up. The company I work for — Interfor — has done a good job and is doing proper follow-up with Sa OPINION BY NICK KAUWELL both company crews and contractors under its wing. I hope it stays that way as the coast industry goes through more phases of contracting out. The Munro binding mediation report says that con- tracting out must be done on a stump- to-dump basis. That should give our safety activists the chance to stay togeth- er and on top of safety and proper train- ing down the line. Many of us are aware that there are a lot of bad contractors out there who are not the least bit interested in promoting safety as a priority. At the same time the industry is fac- ing a looming shortage of younger workers to replace the older ones who | will be retiring in the next 5-10 years. — ‘Yes, we are a graying workforce and it is getting harder to attract younger work- 5 ers into the industry. Work years are too short and the yearly take-home pay isn’t \ i what it used to be. Skilled jobs like plumbing and electricity trades can offer youth more promising careers. Things were different when workers in broke in the industry during the Gos and 7os. There where many large crews around. A worker became a chokerman, then chaser or rigging slinger and moyed on up and so forth. We had an opportunity to learn from the experience and wisdom of senior crew members. | All of that has changed for today’s _ youngsters, of which there are too few in the industry. Crews are smaller and there isn’t the same opportunity for picking up work experience. In my opinion, today’s industryhasto | designate and utilize qualified, experi- enced trainers who have knowledge on several phases of the industry. Younger workers have to be taught how to work safely and not take short | cuts to boost production. That means | they need to be allowed to spend nec- . essary time working with experienced trainers. Senior workers can help edu- cate our youth in how to do the job both f ively and safely and this industry has to create the opportunities to allow | that to happen. ie With more ees raser4 ; pressures to boost pi luctivity aan eosts, safety can easily go on the back burner. It’s time for all of us to take a not pay lip service to safety. Experienced workers know it and young workers deserve the best training possible. Nick Kauwell Is an IWA Canada Local 2171 member ‘and logger who works at Interfor's Cypress Division ‘on the contra B.C. Coast region. EDITOR CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE Let’s move on with the fighting spirit of trade unionists There is a new force to be reckoned within Canada following the merger of our two great organizations BY NORM RIVARD IWA CANADA MEMBERS across Canada have voted in favour of merging with the United Steelworkers of America. Now we are Woodworkers and Steelworkers — united together! This makes sense in a world where the Weyerhaeuser corpo- ration is selling real estate, Jimmy Pattison owns a huge chunk of Canadian Forest Products, and West Fraser Timber just bought Weldwood Canada from International Paper. And, when you come right down to it, our union surviving in an increasing- ly competitive and global world is what this merger is all about. There is no doubt about it. Activists in our union have known for some time that the future has been a choice between growing on our own and/or merging with other like-minded organizations; between progress or dying on the vine. We have spent a decade organizing, diversifying, educating and fighting to protect our jobs and communities in the face of international trade wars, battles with radical environmentalists, growing globalization and misguided government policies, pushed by right wing governments in Canada. We have fought and, make no mistake about it, there remained a lot of fight left in the IWA leadership and membership. But we had become a union of some 50,000 members. And we are up against the right wing Gordon Campbell Liberals and their destructive policies which took their toll on the traditional IWA membership. We are up against Weyerhaeuser, a company that generated $20 billion in worldwide sales last year. We are up against the very protectionist United States of America when it comes to selling our softwood lumber into the biggest market in the world. Bigger isn’t always better, but it certainly is in this case. Steelworker International President Leo Gerard, a Canadian himself, has put forward a vision that I and the majority of our members fully support. Brother Gerard wants to fight the big multinational corpora- tions where it matters the most — not just on the shop floor and on the picket line but also in the boardroom, on Bay Street and on Wall Street. He wants to make sure workers are heard by politicians and other decision-makers in Ottawa and Washington, D.C. so that we can find a lasting solution to the U.S. - Canada softwood lumber dispute, one that works for work- ing people on both sides of the border. This is a modem, sophisticated approach to trade unionism that is revitalizing our union and revitalizing the trade union movement in North America. Without this new approach our union will stagnate After all, trade unionism is about standing together. Trade unionism is about fighting for what's right — on the job, in our communities and around the world. Better yet, as Steelworkers we won't just be talking about the fight, we will be taking it on in the workplace, provincially, nationally and globally. IWA leaders and activists at the national level and in the vast majority of IWA local unions from the coast of British Columbia to Miramichi, New Brunswick have fully supported this merger. We further urge our members to continue to support the merg- er because it makes sense — for our members and for the labour movement in general. Combined, we are now the largest industrial union in Canada, with some 245,000 members from B.C., to the northern territo- ties, to the prairies, to Ontario and Quebec, and to the Maritime provinces. When we speak with one voice, governments and companies will listen. To governments and companies that are trying to hold us down: look out! There’s a new force to be reckoned with in the labour movement and its coming soon to Canadian mills, plants and workplaces near you! A new day has been borne! EDITORIAL Transferring their profits out of Canada Despite public promises of a “New Vision” for British Columbia, the “Three Amigo” forest companies show no signs of investing on the Coast THEY DID SUCH A GOOD PUBLIC relations job on selling their 2003 report entitled “Embracing a New Vision: Rebuilding the B.C. Coastal Industry” that International Forest Products, Weyerhaeuser and TimberWest won an award from the public relations industry. They did a tour of forest-dependent commu- nities on the coast and even got some city and town councils to embrace their so-called “vision” in which they said they would invest between $750 - $r billion to help rebuild the industry over the next decade. Leaders from the “Three Amigos” said all of that investment, would depend on forest policy reforms and lowering labour costs. Duncan Davies, CEO of Interfor, was very clear: “Industry, workers, the IWA, contractors and government must work together like they never have to create a future that will benefit all British Columbians.” Well, that was then, this is now. In early September Interfor spent $100 million to purchase three sawmills in the U.S. Pacific Northwest — in Port Angeles, Washington; Maryswell, Washington; and Gilchrist, Oregon as it announced the permanent closure of its Squamish Lumber Division, eliminating nearly 120 Local 1-2171 jobs. And all of this is investment south of the line is taking place despite massive changes in forest policy awarded to the industry by the Gordon Campbell Liberals last year and by the pro- employer changes to the IWA-FIR collective agreement dished out by government-appointed mediator Don Munroe in late May of this year. And now that industry is set-up to ship their logs wherever they want, shut down any facility they want and imple- ment any shift they please, there are still no signs of investment for British Columbians. In late June, TimberWest announced its plans to contract out logging jobs from company employees, by using the changes introduced by Mr. Munro. “We INTERFOR HAS are the first out of the box...” said com- INVESTED SOME $100 any CEO Paul McElligot. Not the first MILLION TO ACQUIRE to invest those hundreds of millions — THREE MILLS IN THE but the first to use changes to the collec- tive agreement to contract out. U.S. PACIFIC Weyerhaeuser, despite enjoying NORTHWEST WHILE increased earnings and near record lum- JAMISH ber prices like the other companies, is taking its profits elsewhere. They haven’t announced any spending projects for the Coast. Pubic relations gigs are good for the image of forest companies. But the tre intentions of the “Three Amigos” are all too apparent! SEPTEMBER 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 5