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PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA,

= Pictured at the podium during the first conference of the Steelworkers-IWA Council were (r.) Council chairman Norm Rivard and Council officer Wilf Mcintyre,
who will take on the important job of coordinating organizing throughout council-affiliated local unions.

We are united to focus on

Steelworker-IWA Council affiliated locals held their first-ever conference to
find out more about how the union will prepare to take on key issues
including collective bargaining, organizing, politicial action and safety

HAVE A
Steelworkers and we are united!

The four major issues the conference, held between September 20-23, addressed
was how the IWA Council will focus to assist the new Steelworker locals with
Collective Bargaining, Organizing, Political Action and Occupational Health and
Safety.

ice are not the only issues that we deal with but they are the key issues and
they are the things that the Council will be focussed on as we build our union for
the future,” said Brother Rivard. He acknowledged that the last set of negotiations
in British Columbia were very tough and that there were divisive times.

“Tt is now our challenge to make the best of the agreements we got,” he said.
“We have got to keep the industry’s feet to the fire. And, most of all, we have to
learn and build from the experience so that we get a better agreement next time
around.”

“The IWA Council will be challenging locals to prepare strategically for bar-
gaining,” he added. “We want to identify these key sets of negotiations, do our
homework in terms of corporate research and develop an overall forest industry
bargaining strategy, as well as company strategies and regional strategies.”

On the Weyerhaeuser front, Rivard said the union is moving ahead with its
Weyerhaeuser corporate campaign. Prior to the merger the IWA met with the
Steelworkers and PACE (the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy
Workers Industrial Union) to begin to plan an international strategy to take on the

STRONGER UNION,
Former IWA members
are now an essential part of the Steelworkers in Canada
and plans are underway to make progress on important
issues — ones which are in the forefront. Steelworkers - IWA Council
chairman Norm Rivard informed over 180 delegates at the council’s first-
ever conference, held in Richmond, B.C. that the work is just beginning.

Weyerhaeuser corporation. And since the
September conference, the Steelworkers have
held regional meetings with Weyerhaeuser
locals to receive input for the upcoming cam-
Paign.

At the conference the Steelworkers’ i
Olthius, gave a presentation on how the
builds power for collective bargaining - the
main area where union members judge the
union’s effectiveness. In addition to under-
standing the members’ needs and demands,
the Steelworkers collect and research informa-
tion on corporations and where those corporations source production. Alternatives to
strike action also have to be developed.

Core bargaining issues - like pensions, benefits and contracting out issues are
strategized ahead of time. The union does not support two-tiered benefits arrange-
ments. The Steelworkers offer local unions guidance on building first agreements for
newly organized bargaining units.

On the fundamental issue of organizing, Brother Rivard said that former IWA
locals, which have been part of successful organizing campaigns in the past, will be
able to learn from the Steelworkers — the most successful union at organizing in
Canada.

“We will be able to use the Steelworkers’ benefit and pension plans to get vel ;
first agreements,” Rivard told the delegates. “We will incorporate organizing into our
strategic campaigns, like we are doing with Weyerhaeuser.” 4

As part of the merger agreement with the Steelworkers, an initial $1 million is to
be spent on organizing in areas traditional to former IWA locals. Delegates to the
convention were informed that Wilf McIntyre, former first vice-president of IWA
Canada, is taking on the job of directing organizing activities in Steelworker-IWA
Council affiliated local unions (see story page seventeen). ;

There will be ongoing commitments of substantial resources to build successful
campaigns. Most importantly, the Steelworkers intend to increase unionization rates

we are

10 T THE ALLIED WORKER DECEMBER 2004