ede

PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
= Forestry is an economic engine.

Critical resource sectors need
new strategies says USWA

British Columbia largely depends on
vibrant resource sectors for much of
its export earnings and government
revenue. Not enough is being done
to protect jobs in these critical sec-
tors, says Steelworkers Canadian
Director Ken Neumann.

“You don't have to be a rocket sci-
entist to figure out that these are
good jobs and they are union jobs
which we can't afford to lose,” he
says. “They are also jobs that pay for
education, health care and other pub-
lic programs and infrastructure that
all British Columbians rely on.”

Whether they are jobs in logging,
mining or resource manufacturing,
Brother Neumann says that govern-
ments and industry are paying too
little attention to long-term competi-
tiveness issues that will maintain
jobs, a strong tax base and commu-
nity stability. The resource sectors
account for some 75 per cent of the
province's exports and one-third of
its economic output. Resources pro-
vide the government with about $3.5
billion a year in royalties, not includ-
ing income and property taxes.
Resource sectors account for about

180,000 direct jobs. The forest indus-
try provides nearly 100,000 of them.

“Our challenge is to get govern-
ment and industry to work with
labour to provide more training and
investment in new product lines and
new markets,” he says. “If we value
our way of life, our social programs
and our communities, we must work
together in critical resource sector
industries.”

PHOTO COURTESY PETER BOYLE

= Steelworkers on Parliament Hill included 1-1000's Darlene Jalbert and 1-2171’s Allan Chesterman (fifth and eighth from left).

From the last to first in line
Bill C-281 calls for reform to Canada’s bankruptcy laws

STEELWORKER-IWA COUNCIL confer-
ence delegates heard about the
union’s latest and formidable cam-
paign to change Canada’s bankruptcy
laws.

Ken Neumann, the Steelworkers’
Canadian Director outlined the issue
in straightforward terms. “Today,
when bankruptcies occur, workers’
rights take a back seat to almost every-
thing else,” he said. “This means con-
tracts are voided, pension funds are
liquidated, and workers end up with
basically nothing.”

“I know that IWA members have
experienced this and we are launching
a campaign to make changes to law to
see that workers’ rights will be pro-
tected in bankruptcy situations,” said
Brother Neumann.

Prior to and following a national
conference in Ottawa on October 27,
the union cranked up its lobbying of
the federal NDP, Bloc Quebecois and
independent Conservative and Liberal
politicians to support legislation
favouring workers.

“We are saying it’s time to put the
workers from the bottom of the pile to
the top of the pile where they belong,”
he said.

The Steelworker-led campaign is in
full swing. The union is lobbying the
federal government to change the
Companies Creditors Arrangement
Act (CCAA) which governs the
process companies facing financial
distress use to restructure, avoiding
bankruptcy and liquidation. On
December 3, New Democratic MP Pat
Martin from’ Winnipeg; introduced a
private member’s legislation entitled
the “Workers First Bill” C-281 which
calls for workers to be first in line to
recover lost wages and pensions from
the assets of a bankrupt employer.

To support the Steelworkers’ efforts
to change the CCAA, the union has
launched a national letter faxing effort
to send a message to Prime Minister
Paul Martin, asking where the PM
stands on laws that would protect
workers and pensions. A form letter
has been prepared for faxing to

Martin’s office.

The letter mentions that, each
week, there are dozens of companies
that declare bankruptcy and close
operations. In 2003, there were some
8,844 commercial bankruptcies in the
country — 800 of them in manufac-
turing industries. By the end of June
this year, there were 462 bankruptcies
in manufacturing industries and
4,980 overall.

The letter to Martin says that not
only do workers lose their jobs and
pay during a closure but they also lose
termination pay and severance. Group
benefits can be lost and, if their pen-
sion plan isn’t fully-funded, pension
cutbacks take place.

“We've seen this happen time and
time again,” says Steelworkers-IWA
Council Chairman Norm Rivard.
“Creditors carve up the assets and
workers are left out in the cold. Our
union’s campaign can be a success
and we can put workers first in line.”

For a copy of the letter to the PM,
visit www.uswa.ca

P Hello Ottawa! We've got a serious problem here!

THE BALL IS IN OTTAWA’S COURT. And so far
the response has been unimpressive. A few days before
Christmas, the U.S. Commerce Department sent
Canadian wood-sector workers a big lump of coal in the
form of its latest revision of duties on Canadian lumber
exports to the American market.

ABOUT THE ECONOMY
BY KIM POLLOCK

Although Washington had widely been expected to
cut in half the punishing duties on Canadian lumber,
Commerce instead cut it by a piddling 6 per cent. That
_ means that in spite of warnings, decisions and rulings
‘by North American Free Trade panels and the World
Trade Organization, the Americans still refuse to yield.
Even though the method of calculation Commerce
ed to set the duties at about 22 per cent has been
ule illegal by a NAFTA panel, the U.S. is holding

n to its discredited claim that Canadian lumber pro-

ducers are subsidized by Canadian governments.
That's where the federal government comes in. Is it
not about time to apply trade sanctions and to link U.S.
harassment of Canadian lumber exports to other issues,
for instance Canadian energy exports? Is it not time to
send tougher trade and diplomatic missions to
Washington? Is it not time we made common cause
with other countries that are being bullied by U.S. pro-
tectionism? Because it is obvious the U.S. simply won't
listen to legal arguments, polite persuasion or economic
reason. The only argument for them is the big stick.
‘That stick has to be energy, which they desperately need.
Instead, itis clear that the American position is driven
by politics. Period. The Congress is nearly evenly split
between Republicans and Democrats, especially the
Senate. Every state has exactly two Senators, regardless of
population. Nothing can get done and no legislation
passed ifa substantial bloc of Senators are off-side.
Many of those Senators are especially dependent on
powerful regional interests, including about a dozen
whose main backers are timber companies. Many of
those companies are members of the Canada-hating
Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports. Prior to the recent

Commerce ruling, interestingly a dozen Senators in fact
wrote to the administration demanding the rate applied
to Canada stay above 18 per cent. Presto.

"Whole countries' fortunes are prisoner to a handful
of Senators who are owned by a handful of big compa-
nies," Steelworkers-IWA Council president Norm
Rivard told reporters. “This is a travesty."

Now it's up to Ottawa. Somehow the Canadian gov-
ernment has to find the strategies and the muscle to
fight much more effectively for the settlement that forest
workers, their families and their communities deserve.
Canadians are growing weary, after all, of fighting an
uphill battle against unfair duties and tariffs. They're
tired of struggling to stay ahead of the careening price of
lumber and the gyrations of the Canadian dollar. After
all, left to our own devices, Canadian workers can com-
pete with anyone. We don't need government subsidies
— and we have proven we don't receive them. And we
don't need to be kicked around by George Bush and
Uncle Sam. What we need is fairness. Over to you,
Paul Martin.

Kim Pollock is a Steelworkers Staff Representative

DECEMBER 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER [ 15

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