CTF in second year of its
national newspaper
Just as the USW-IWA Council

partner, the CTF. Published
since the spring of 2005, E/
Forestal has become one of
the Chilean labour move-
ment's more important

Rosa Arias with the CTF's
Maccomputer Own
Mcintosh

desktop computer system,
purchased by the IWA
Council's International
Solidarity Fund. The newspa-

and the es own policies
and program

In the summer of 2004 CTF
president

Part of that visit ene

newspaper is distributed
nationally and is widely read
Me southern Chile, where

most ci the country’ 5 forest,

= CTF president Sergio Gatica (F. ) and

officer f Chevy Luv
Pick-up. ctr

Car purchased for
CTF organizers

THE NATIONAL Confederation of Forest
Workers of Chile (CTF) - IWA Council
International uae pee Se a
v milestone th i pickup
race ae Schad for
rie organizing and educational
CiF activities. The machine, a
2004 Chevy Luv, comes wi
a crew cab so the CTF can pack passen-
gers and gear.
CIF president Sergio Gatica and the

their continued

the presence of organized labour in the
Chilean forest sector

ck will be used to organized in
southern regions of Chile where bush
operations and mills dot the landscape,
separated by significant geographical dis-
tances.

During the past few years the CIF has
been playing an increasing role in repre-
senting workers with activists and organ-
izers that have grown the organization.

Most have been trained by the joint

F-IWA Council Education Project,
a kicked off its first class in the
spring of 1999. Since then some 550
union members have taken educational
courses, many becoming new leaders and
activists within their union.

During 2006 th F executive is
going to all of its affiliate unions to raise
funds for a new national office and edu-
cation centre in the industrial city of El
Coronel, about 40 km from its current
headquarters and centre in Concepcion.

The IWA Council will be seeking to
provide a significant contribution to the

uilding of the centre, ee a sizeable
fandraising effort by the
tica sends his. thanks 5 tiie USE

IWA Ci

Confederation presents sectoral
demands to Chilean Minister
IN LATE MAY CTF President Sergio
Gatica and members from the Ei
Region in Chile presented a list of four
demands to Labour Minister Osvaldo

Andrade Lara.

The CTF requested the Minister estab-
lish a Forestry subsecretary to attend to
sectoral needs and take input from work-
ers; that adjustments be ne to salaries
of forest workers, given enormous profit-
taking by companies; that forest Sian
be allowed to retire before age as they are

= CTF president Sergio Gatica (middle) and
members met with Labour Minister. ctr

being worn out due to heavy work and
adverse climatic conditions; and that a tri-
partite _comumittee, i deal with sectoral

issues,

THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2006 | 37