= Brother Michel Tremblay at
Local 2995's biennial meeting this
year. Jacques JEAN

Northern Ontario millworker
killed in Tembec Hearst mill

In early October Local 1-2995
lost a well-respected trade
union activist when 45 year-
old Michel Tremblay died of
massive injuries incurred at
the Tembec Hearst sawmill.
While working to dislodge
some small logs underneath
rollers of a DDM6 small log
machine, hydraulic rollers
from above came down and
crushed him. Brother
Tremblay was pronounced
dead at the Notre Dame
Hospital. Investigations of
the accident have occurred,
with the assistance of the
Ontario Provincial Police.
Local union safety director
Jacques Jean said that the
union is waiting for a report
from the Ontario Ministry of
Labour. Brother Tremblay,
who worked at the mill for the
past 27 years, was a member
of the plant grievance com-
mittee. He is survived by a
wife and two grown children.
“This is a terrible tragedy for
his family and the whole com-
munity,” said Jean. “Michel
will be missed by all those
that knew him.”

= District 3 Director Steve Hunt met with Ted Gramlich’s fiance Debbie Geddes (r.) and friend
at 2006 Day of Mourning march in Vancouver. Ms. Geddes holds a photo of Ted. norman Garcia

FALLER ‘TURBO’ TED GRAMLICH COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED

Inquiry rips failed system

COASTAL LOGGER “TURBO” Ted
Gramlich should not have died as the
result of a falling accident. But he did
because various measures needed to pro-
tect him failed. Gramlich bled to death in
the arms of a fellow faller, on Black Jack
Ridge, near Nanaimo, on November 19,
2005 and became one of 43 BC forest
workers to die traumatically in 2005.

Gramlich’s death sparked outrage by
the Steelworkers and became front page
news.

In late September a five person coro-
ner’s inquiry, following four days of hear-
ings, issued 23 recommendations to pre-
vent such a tragedy from occuring in the
future. The Steelworkers, who attended
the hearings and gave testimony, said
that the coroner’s recommendations are a
“road map for re-regulating the forest
industry.”

USW District 3 Director Steve Hunt
said that the jury's recommendations
have confirmed the union’s concern that

widespread restructuring has down-
loaded responsibilities for safety onto
individual workers and has “created a cul-
ture of desperation in which non-union
contractors find themselves in unsafe
working conditions.”

The recommendations call for
WorkSafe BC to enforce compliance stan-
dards from licensee-landowners to pri-
mary contractors, contractors and sub-
contractors, It also recommends that first
aid and worksite equipment be “once
again covered by regulation.”

No helicopter pad was built on the log-
ging site to evacuate Gramlich, there was
a lack of an escape route, and fellow
workers were unaware that helicopters
were fogged out when Ted died.

“The entire system, which must be
there to protect workers’ lives, failed for
Ted Gramlich,” says Hunt. “Some one
must be held accountable. We owe it to
Ted and all workers, to prevent this from

happening again.”

46 | DECEMBER 2006 THE ALLIED WORKER