We can do more for youth in and out of work

BOTH THE FOREST INDUSTRY AND LABOUR can work
together more to promote the wellness of our youth and the
younger workforce itself. A radically-restructured industry
is taking a toll on school-age kids and young men and
women entering the workforce.

A UBC study published this year indicates that school
aged youth (up to
the age of 16) with
parents exposed to
adverse psychoso-
cial work condi-
tions, have greater
odds of attempting
and/or completing suicides. The study, examining a period
of 250 such incidences, between 1985-2001, shows that low
duration of a fathers’ employment has a strong association
to a greater number of suicide attempts.

When young workers enter the workforce, they are also

ABOUT
YOUR

COVERAGE

BY GERRY SMITH

confronted with raising their young families in a world less
secure, Both younger and older workers with kids are now
confronted with alternate shifts that cut deeply into family-
supporting activities and, at the same time, face seasonal or
uncertain work schedules.

I suggest we can do more. We need a return to con-
ventional shift arrangements to provide workers time
with their kids. We should also look at “family leave” pro-
visions in collective agreements, to provide for quality
family time and employers must openly share informa-
tion on future work scheduling so that workers can plan
for alternative employment, to support their families, in
periods of low employment.

And we have to develop and maintain progressive sub-
stance abuse policies that can reach workers and families of
all age categories.

Gerry Smith is a USW Staff Representative

Steelworkers Trusteed Benefit Plans available

IN MOST SMALL AND MEDIUM
sized bargaining units, getting a
comprehensive benefit plan togeth-
er can take years and some tough
slugging. For over 12 years the
Steelworkers, predominantly in
District 6, (Ontario and Atlantic
Canada) and District 5 (Quebec)
have negotiated some good benefit
packages, for current employees
and even retirees, through a multi-
employer, union-trusteed plan
known as the Steelworkers Trusteed

banked hour system to deliver pen-
sion plan and extended health care
benefits to workers.

McKinnon says that local unions
can contact the plan to receive costing
out of benefits during collective bar-
gaining. Locals can ask for a complete
array of packages or add-ons to their
existing benefit programs. The plan has
also developed unique methods for pro-
viding retiree benefits.

“We're here to help provide a solu-

tion,” says Brother McKinnon. “To us

Benefit Benefit Plan (STBP).

Alex McKinnon, a staff represen-
tative, who works out of the USW’s
Canadian National office in Toronto,
is a former tradesperson with Stelco
Local 1005 and 8782 (Hamilton and
Lake Erie) serves as the plan’s
Executive Director.

The plan has gone from having
about goo members in 1994 (when it
began in the security guard industry)
to well over 15,000 members today.

= Alex McKinnon is a former Stelco
worker in southern Ontario. norman Garcia

Today the United Steelworkers rep-
resents between 5-7,000 _ security
guards and airport screeners, mainly
employed by such companies as
Securitas, Guarda, Initial and
Aeroguard. In the security industry,
for instance, workers can be sent to
multiple sites and work under differ-
ent contracts. The STBP operates a

that means working with local
unions, whether they are stand alone
units or amalgamated locals, to seek
out the best deal we can.”

The Steelworkers’s national staff
representatives, staff technicians, sup-
port staff and retirees have several
benefits covered under the plan.

“We're more than happy to help out,”
says McKinnon, who works with trustees
from each Steelworker district. You can
contact him: amckinnon@usw.ca

26 | DECEMBER 2006 THE ALLIED WORKER