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Wood Council adopts revised forest policy
Tying globalization and tenure to sustainability

OUR WOOD COUNCIL continues
to be a key part of the Steelworkers
when it comes to forest policy. At
this past October's council confer-
ence it introduced a newly-revised
policy which delegates unanimously
approved.

That policy, entitled “Sustainable
Forestry: The Way Ahead,” gets
tough on forest management issues,
the globalization of the industry,
and creates an opening for potential
dialogue with those environmental
groups that share the same values as

© Local 1-425 officer Terry Tate, delivered the
new policy at Council conference. norway GaRciA

the union, on a case-by-case basis.
The policy lashes out at a tenure

system which allows contracting out

and high grading of forests. It is also

critical of improper planning and
harvesting techniques which threat-
en environmental standards and
neglect preservation of ecosystems.

The union remains committed to
participating in land-use standards
and sees government as playing an
important role in determining the
use of forest for societal needs.

The policy is critical of companies
that take profits earned in Canada
and invest them in unsustainable
industries abroad, while abandoning
sustainable practices in this country.

= Second growth logs being processed on Shoal Island. Government policies permit
and encourage exports of raw logs. NORMAN GARCIA

Union calls for action on log exports

THE UNION IS concerned that a log
export review report, issued in mid-
December by former deputy minister
of forests Don Wright
and former Western
Forest Products officer
Bill Dumont does not
fully deal with how to
encourage or finance
Bob Matters investment in the indus-
try, as the government continues to
encourage log exports from BC.

Wood Council chair Bob Matters
says some of the report’s ideas and pro-
posal bear further consideration. It calls
for higher fees on log exports in lieu of
manufacturing and says there should
be a more transparent surplus test to
allow domestic lumber producers to
more easily bid on logs. “Certainly no
log exports should be allowed if domes-
tic bidders have not had a chance to bid
on those logs without fear of reprisals

for blocking export sales,” he says.

Viable forest industry policies
exist for Ontario’s forest industry
Delegates to the IWA Council's annual
conference were shocked to hear that
the Ontario forest industry has
recently lost over 9,000 jobs. There are
viable policies that need to be put into
play, said Ben Parfit, researcher with
the Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives. With over
i] 4.5 million cubic

} meters of annual cut
taken out of milling
and processing, the
Ontario government
can re-allocate that
wood, said Parfit. He said that value-
added producers are desperate for
wood and that growing skill shortages
in Canada and the U.S. are seeing a
need for assembling of pre-fabricated
building components that can be
assembled on site. “The Crown has to
exercise its control,” says Parfit. “It
needs to take the wood back and give
it to companies that are prepared to
work with it.”

22 | DECEMBER 2006 THE ALLIED WORKER