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‘@) 1-363 COURTENAY BC

Local dealing with contracting out
Local 1-363 president Rick Wangler reports
TimberWestis contracting out Oyster River
Division to Roga Contracting of Kamloops.
About 130 company jobs, from stump to
ip, are being affected. The local is
rking for the best agreement possible.
Also, Weyerhaeuser intends to downsize its
union crew as part of the 20 per cent
clawback for its North Island Timberlands
TFL. The company was trying to speed up
the process to get rid of unionized workers
as very little, if any, non-union crew are
affected by the takeback. ‘The company is
realizing there is much work to be done
before the trust fund will agree to pay
severance for workers,” says Brother
Wangler who adds the union has objected to
the number of jobs Weyco says will be lost.

O 1-425 | WILLIAMS LAKE BC

@ember is killed on icy highway
Workers at the Weldwood 100 Mile
House sawmill and in the local union are
grieving the October 19 death of
Valdemiro Farias, killed suddenly when
an oncoming SUV and trailer swerved on
an ice covered Highway 97 near 103 Mile
Hill. The 59 year-old brother was less than
a year from retirement. The union
demanded meetings with the local mayor,
town council and road contractor “Interior
Roads,” and members leafleted motorists
to alert them to winter driving conditions
and call for better road maintenance. In
other news, the local has reached a three-
year agreement for 32 health care workers
at Retirement Concepts in William Lake,
with a wage re-opener in the third year.

(@) 4-3567| FRASER VALLEY BC
Agreement reached at Lytton mill

Local 1-3567 Sonny Ghag reports the mem-
bership at Lytton Lumber, a small mill
employing about 6o workers, voted to
accept a six-year collective agreement on a
final offer vote held on December 20. The
agreement pays ©, 0, 3, 2, 2, and 4 per cent,
effective back to July 1, 2003. During nego-
tiations the union pushed for and had Jan-
guage on the table which would have cov-
ered employees for severance pay in the
nt of a partial closure. Although the
rroyer agreed to the language, he with-
drew it prior to the final offer vote. Brother
Ghag says it is imperative to achieve Jan-
guage covering partial closures, as compa-
nies lay off workers and let their seniority
run out, thereby escaping responsibility for
severance payments. “We will continue to
push for that in our contracts,” he adds.

Ce) 1-830 WINNIPEG MB

Local gears up for Unisource talks
Local 1-830 president Jack Alexander
reports that the local is getting ready for
negotiations with Unisource in
Winnipeg, where 22 Steelworkers are
ployed. A five year contract expires on
ber 31, 2004. The union will be
aiming for a wage pattern settlement
established at its two other operations in
the city: the Smurfit-MBI and Norampac
corrugated plants, where four-year agree-
ments, with increases of 3, 3, 2, and 2 per
cent have been reached. Meanwhile
things have been buzzing along at both
corrugated operations. “We're glad to say
it’s the first time in a long time that
there’s been nobody laid off at
Christmas,” says Brother Alexander.

(6) 4-400 | QUEBEC

Talks start at Mercedes operation
Local r1000 Financial-Secretary Yvon
Rochon reports the union started
negotiations with Mercedes Textiles in
Kirkland, Quebec on December 21. The local,
which services the Quebec membership,
surveyed membership demands in early
December. Negotiating priorities include
better wages and an increase to employer and
employee RRSP contributions. In other
news, local union member Darlene Jalbert,
who works at the Simmons mattress plant in
Ville de Saint Laurent, joined the
Steelworkers in October to lobby for changes
to Canada’s bankruptcy laws.

‘@) 1-2693 THUNDER BAY ON

Local in forest industry talks

Local 1-2693 president Joe Hanlon
reports the union has exchanged
contract proposals with the Nakina
Forest Products sawmill. The mill
started up five years ago and the local
will be negotiating a second agreement.
Brother Hanlon says there are a large
number of issues to be dealt with.
Elsewhere, in November, the union
exchanged contract proposals with
Atway Transport of Thunder Bay, where
it represents about 30 log truck drivers.
Hauling rates, hours of work and other
issues are scheduled to be addressed.
Meanwhile the local is in negotiations
with the Solid Wood Products reman
operation in Kakabeka. Wages and
working conditions are important
issues. A recent fire in the Reman 2
plant resulted in a two day layoff for
about 60 workers. A further 30 workers
remain on a longer term layoff.

6) 41-700 TORONTO ON

Series of settlements are reached
Local 1-700 president Ron Diotte reports in
early December the union negotiated a
strong agreement at the Niagara Duty Free
shop at Niagara Fall. In addition to
achieving most contract language
demands, the local achieved a pacesetting 15
per cent wage increase over 3 years. Among,
the gains were that workers will be paid an

extra day for their birthday! Elsewhere the
local and Benson Mouldings in Toronto
reached a one-year rollover agreement as
the plant finds new markets. A three-year
deal with wage and benefit increases was
teached for 120 full and part time workers
at the Dominion Store’s Ajax outlet

© 4-1000| NORTHCENTRAL ON

Local to continue talks with Canusa

Local 1-1000 president Michael McCarter
reports that a pre-Christmas appeal for
striking members at the Produits
Forestier Colonge sawmill in Fort
Coulonge has resulted in some dona-
tions by local unions. “We sincerely
thank those locals which were able to
send assistance, especially in these tough
economic times,” says Brother McCarter.
The company is in receivership as
Tembec and another company look at
purchasing the assets. The local has been
working hard to keep the timber alloca-
tion tied to the mill and has received
excellent support from Steelworkers
District 5 Director Michel Arsenault who
has been lobbying the provincial ministry
to maintain the tie between the timber
license and assets of the company.

©) 4-500 HANOVER ON

Local reaches collective agreement
Local 1-500 president Bruce Weber
reports that a three-year agreement has
been reached for 10 Aeroguard Security
workers at the Breslau/Waterloo
airport. The contract will pay between 2
- 2.5 per cent increases to the workers
who were certified to the local in mid-
May. Meanwhile 40 Aeroguard workers
at the John C. Munro airport at Mount
Hope, near Hamilton, rejected a
proposed settlement. Both bargaining
units were certified under the Federal
Labour Code. The union hopes to get
back to the bargaining table soon.
Brother Weber notes the local is gearing
up for contract talks with TDS’s
Tilsonburg operation early next year.
The local represents between 250-450
workers at the operation which
produces containers for auto parts.

IWA FILE PHOTO

= Local 1-2995 is negotiating anew
contract at Uniboard in New Liskheard.

(©) 4-2995| KAPUSKASING ON

Several sets of contract talks on go

Local 1-2995 president Guy Bourgouin
reports that contract talks for mill and
bushworkers at the Olav Haavalshrud
Timber Company in Hornepayne are
progressing slowly. At the top of the
union’s demands are wages and benefits
and preservation of the bussing agree-
ment for woodlands workers — an agree-
ment which has been in place since the
‘70s. The contract expired on August 31,
2004. Elsewhere the local is in the
midst of negotiating a new contract for
some 75 members at the Uniboard parti-
cle board plant in New Liskheard. Two
new managers are pushing for major
concessions on wages and benefits. “We
told them they are going to wind up in
conciliation and eventually a strike situa-
tion if they want to keep this up,” says
Brother Bourgouin. The local has also
scheduled further talks for Excell truck
drivers, three of who haul for the com-
pany’s Oppasatika sawmill and six to
eight who haul logs between the wood-
lands and the sawmill.

BILL DERBYSHIRE ¢ LOCAL 1-425 e WILLIAMS LAKE, BC

@ Bill Derbyshire is the president of
_ Local 1-425 in the Cariboo-Chilcotin.

made the big move to Williams Lake in 1978. There were job
__ openings at the new Weldwood Plywood plant in the Cariboo

city. Since 1973 he worked at the Weldwood Timberland plywood
operation on the Fraser River, across from New Westminster. “I
could see the writing on the wall as the plywood industry on the
coast looked like it was winding down,” he recalls. His wife preg-
nant with their second child at the time, Bill and family made the
jump. “I’ve never have regretted the move and have made some
great friends here over the years.” Up in the Cariboo country,
Brother Derbyshire got involved in the union during a sit-down
strike. A fellow worker’s partner was in the hospital and the com-

Plywood mill worker undergoes journey
from the big city to Cariboo country

Born in the old mill pany wouldn’t give him time off. Then local union officer (and
town of New now IWA Council officer) Wade Fisher challenged Bill to
Westminster and become a steward. He did and the restis history. Bill became a
raisedinthe urban _ board member and worked his way up as a ranking officer. In
sprawl of Surrey, April, 2004 he became local
Local 1-425 presi- “WEHAVETOFIND president when Brother Fisher
dent Bill Derbyshire became a national officer. Over
was like a fish out of HES OF EADS: the years the influence of fellow
water when he WITH CORPORATE officers like Harvey Arcand,
CONCENTRATION...” Wade Fisher, Brian Symmes
and Terry Tate, have had their
- BILL DERBYSHIRE, impact on Bill. “They have
been a fairly interesting bunch
PENS ttermlin’ Ineyeien JN

times I’ve been left speechless!” Over the years, he witnessed
the impact of recessions, battles over land-use issues and now
the impact of Liberal forest policy. “I’ve never been so con-
cemed as now,” he adds. “We have to find ways of dealing
with corporate concentration in the forest industry and its
impact on our membership.”

DECEMBER 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 7