f@ VALLEY LOCAL BACK ON TRACK
Put under administration
by the international
union, Local 1-3567 is
rebuilding and is seeing
positive results. /6

@ STUMP TO FINISHED PRODUCT
Local 1-424 expanded its
presence in the Winton
Global production chain,
recently organizing and
negotiating a collective
agreement at Spruce
Capital Homes. 15

1 WOMEN OF STEEL GET TOGETHER
In October, Steelworkers’
women activists from all
over Canada
held a confer-
} ence in
Toronto.

Sd Former IWA
Canada Women played
an active role. /18

1B LOCAL JOINED IN LEGAL ACTION
Local 1-2995 has been
joined, by forest depend-
ent communities in north-
ern Ontario, in taking
legal action against the
Ontario government. /2

I SUPPORTING TELUS WORKERS
The Steelworkers stood
firm in support of strik-
@ ing TWU
members at
Telus, in their
5 month battle
with an
employer hell-bent on
shipping Canadian jobs
overseas.” /31

OUR NEW DEMI-TAB

Here's the first issue of the
IWA Council's national
publication, The Allied
Worker, in a demi-tab

format with more pages,
shorter articles, more pho-
tos and more sections.
We hope you enjoy our
new look!

FRONTN ews _

Union raises funds for Bes ne victims

STEELWORKERS MEMBERS have been hit
hard by Hurricane Katrina, which devastated
the U.S. Gulf Coast in late August. Union dis-
tricts and local unions all over North America
have sent in donations which are being used
to help union members in need.

Hundreds of union members and many of
the operations they work in, including oil
refineries, steel mills, paper mills and other
manufacturing facilities, were damaged and
closed by the storm (see pages 32-33). Later,
Hurricane Rita wrought more devastation.

Rank and file Steelworkers and staff repre-
sentatives have lost jobs and properties.
Further assessment is taking place to get a grip
on the scope of the human tragedy, damage to
the economy and property losses.

A Katrina relief committee has been struck
consisting of Region 9 Director Connie
Entrekin, Region 5 Vice President Don

= USW Local 752L member Mike Thacker is seen on

rescue boat in New Orleans usw PHOTO

Langham and Region 6 Director Gary
Beevers, along with local presidents in
the areas affected. The USW’s U.S. and
Canadian offices made initial donations of
$100,000. Please make cheques payable
to the “Steelworkers Charitable and
Educational Organization.” Address: c/o
Secretary-Treasurer, United Steelwokers,
Five Gateway Centre, Pittburgh, PA 15222

Contracting out is
major issue for the
Steelworkers

Comprehensive strategies required
to protect family-supporting jobs

IN MANY PARTS OF OUR
UNION, employers are looking
for more aggressive ways to con-
tract out our jobs. No group of
workers can appreciate this fact
more than Steelworkers in the
forest industry, who have wit-
nessed contracting out on an unrelenting
basis, in woodlands operations and forest
products manufacturing.

From the wood and steel industries, to pri-
vate and public sector services and beyond,
corporate restructuring and globalization is
seeing the contracting out and dismantling
of vital jobs for Canadians.

This past May more than 200 Steelworker
delegates got together in Toronto to discuss

and debate better ways to get a grip on
these issues. Contracting out is seeing a
drop of family-supporting jobs that pay
comprehesive benefits while providing job
security.

Employers often try to contract out jobs
when new technologies are introduced and
work processes put in place. It can happen
to manufacturing jobs, in regular and over-
load maintenance work, or during the intro-

Num] duction of special
UTC couipment’ or

DIRECTOR'S technologies.
MESSAGE There was a
strong overall

BY KEN NEUMANN

consensus in
Toronto : unless
we constantly have our guard up and ana-
lyze what's coming down the pike from the
employer, we are going to continue to get hit
by more contracting out.

And unless our union negotiates protec-
tive language, and develops further com-
prehensive strategies, our members’ jobs
are susceptible to being undercut and
undermined. Your union is in the forefront
of the battle to prevent this from happening.

2 | DECEMBER 2005 THE ALLIED WORKER