, Srp Rh EN SRN Abe ALEX SMITH PASSES AWAY Alex Smith, former Presi- dent of Local 1-184 IWA, Prince i Albert, passed away in Sas- ()) katchewan, August 20, follow- y » ing a long illness. For part of his eight years as | president, Alex was also ad- ministrator of Local 1-324 IWA, until the Local Union office was established in The Pas in 1972. ' Employees at Salmo Forest _ Products, Salmo, B.C. have ' Called upon Premier Bennett y and the Provincial Govern- \ 4 ment to take over the Company to insure a stable employment '. base in the community. The re- ' quest is in response to the » Companie’s plan to lay-off one _ shift on Friday. The Company had planned to sell the Salmo Operation to Louisiana Pacific _ Forest Products but the sale | Was disallowed by the Foreign Investment Review Agency of the Federal Government. As a result, the parent company, ' Idaho Forest Products claimed it had to cut back on its man- | ning in order to maintain the ' Small Business status which ' guarantees it preferential ) access to Public Timber for its » American Operations. ‘The employees in their peti- » tion to the Premier pointed out ‘that Salmo is already a de- area due to the clos- ures of the mines which were ‘once the mainstay of the local economy. poke _ 1.W.A, Local 1-405 Financial { S retary, Don Davidson, §) commented; “The Local Union vi in full support of the em- Ployees petition. The operation i$ a sound investment and ©) through the vehicle of the B.C. Resource Development Cor- poration the government has a nique opportunity to stabilize mployment in the area. © Furthermore, the Salmo J Operations can be integrated ith those of Can-Cel and ‘eotenay Forest Products, al- eady owned by B.C.R.D.C., to the benefit of all. j i i __ AUGUST — SEPTEMBER, 1978 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER UWURKE WELDERS’ CONFERENCE HELD By GARTH BROWN IWA Regional Council No. 1 held a Welder’s Conference chaired by Wyman Trineer, Regional Secretary-Treasurer and attended by 25 members representing 10 Local Unions on Wednesday, August 9, 1978 in the Board Room at Wood- workers’ House. The purpose of the con- ference was to review the pro- posed changes to Welders’ Certifications and the Interim Report No. 1 of the Welding Code Committee Task Group on Welder Training and Quali- fication in British Columbia. The morning session of the conference heard reports from Brother Trineer and Brother Hugh Robinson, Apprentice- ship Training Co-ordinator for the Regional Council on the background to the changes to Welders’ Certifications and the Interim Report. The rest of the morning was spent examining the proposals for a new Welders’ Training and Qualification Program. PROPOSED. TRAINING PROGRAM The Interim Report recom- mends a three step training program for welders. The first year of the pro- posed program would include 200 hours of theory and 1000 hours of practical work planned to dovetail closely together. The Task Group re- commends that the Stage I training be taken at a voca- tional school or in a welding school with an equivalent course and that it take one year. The course content pro- posed would be similar to that of the present 10 month course. Welders who sucessfully com- pleted tests on theory and practice would be awarded a “C” certificate. It should be noted that the certificates mentioned in the Training Pro- gram are not pressure welding tickets. They merely indicate the level of training the welder has received. The entrance requirements for the second stage would be a “C” certificate. The second year would include 100 hours of theory with the balance of the year in either an approved school or ‘‘on the job.’’ The proposed course content would include advanced shielded metal arc welding, plasma arc welding and cutting, sub- merged are welding, brazing, flux cored are welding, gas tungsten arc welding, layout fabrication and materials. The Task Group recognizes that many industries would not pro- vide the opportunity to use or practice part of the course con- tent and that facilities would have to be made available elsewhere for the student to obtain the necessary training. Upon completion of theory and practical tests the student would be awarded a ‘B” certificate. Entrance requirements for the third stage or ‘“‘year”’ would be a “B”’ certificate. The proposed content would be between 50 and 100 hours of theory including basic metal- lurgy, governing codes .and more depth in material covered in the first two stages. The practical or ‘‘on the job” part would consist of a variety of options weighted to industry specializations and might in- clude equipment touble shooting and maintenance. Successful completion of tests on theory and practice plus a satisfactory school and / or industry report would result in the student being awarded an ‘‘A”’ certificate. The certificate ‘‘C’’, ‘‘B’, and ‘“‘A’”’ would be lifetime qualifications attesting to training and experience. They would not be pressure tickets. In order to perform any pres- sure welding a welder would have to obtain a suitable ticket from the Chief Boiler In- spector. The Interim Report recom- mends that holders of present DPW Tickets be granted re- cognition within the new quali- fication grades (C, B. and A). This recognition would not be a direct transfer from a DPW class to a new certificate. Training and experience would be taken into account and a procedure would have to be set up to assess welders and issue the appropriate certificates. BOILER INSPECTOR’S PRESSURE TICKETS The afternoon session was attended by Mr. Brian Cole, Chief Boiler Inspector, Depart- ment of Highways and Public Works, Province of B.C. and Mr. Ron Gowland, Boiler In- spector with the Ministry. Mr. Cole explained that the present DPW certification procedure is in conflict with the Boiler Pro- tection Act and that it does not comply with Section IX of the A.S.M.E. code. A new certi- fication procedure is_ being prepared and it is hoped that eventually welding certifica- tion will be standardized across Canada and tickets is- sued in B.C. will be accepted in other provinces. Jurisdiction of the Boiler Inspection Department is re- stricted to pressure vessels and piping. Certification by the Boiler Inspection Department will only cover various kinds of “pressure ticket.”” He added that the Boiler Inspection De- partment will have significant input into the proposed Welder’s Training Program. Mr. Cole also stated that welders wanting to obfain any “pressure ticket’’-from his de- partment would have to have an ‘“‘A”’ certificate as proposed by the Interim Report No. 1. There are five welding pro- cesses that will be of interest in the wood products section of the Forest Industry, Fuel Gas Welding, Shielded Metal Arc Welding, Submerged Arc Welding, Gas Metal Arc Welding and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding. Within each process there will be different proce- dures specifying position, thickness, type of electrode and material. The Chief Boiler Inspector is discussing a set of standard procedures for the Wood Pro- ducts section of the Forest In- dustry with Forest Industrial Relations. A welder who ob- tained a pressure ticket for a particular process and proce- dure with one employer would be able to move to another em- ployer and have his ticket re- cognized so long as he can show that he has been welding with the same process within the past 90 days. It must be re- cognized that the Chief Boiler Inspector can require any welder to re-test for a ticket at any time if he deems it neces- — sary. A welder moving to a dif- ferent industry would have his ticket recognized if he met the above mentioned requirements and if the process and proce- dure required by the new em- ployer were the same as in the Wood Products sector of the Forest Industry. Secretary-Treasurer Trineer summed up the conference by saying that the Regional Coun- cil would approach the B.C. Welding Code Committee to add a representative from the IWA to the Welding Code Com~ mittee Task Group which is preparing the proposed Welder’s Training Program. INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY Committee Members meeting | LUM NEW { | ORGANIZER Benny Lum, a member of Local 1-80, IWA, Duncan, for the past twenty-four years, has been hired as a Regional or- ganizer. Benny has been very active in the Union. He was a commit- tee member at the Saltair Lumber Company for twelve years and plant chairman for the past five years. He is married with two children and resides in Na- naimo. with Jim Bury, Canada’s Labour Attache in London, to discuss what countries in Europe the Committee should visit to examine how industrial democracy works there. The Committee comprised.of [WA officers and B.C. forest in- dustry officials was formed to investigate the feasibility of setting up some form of industrial democracy in the forest industry. Top picture shows from left, Roger Stanyer, _ President of Local 1-80; Wayne Nowlin, President of Local 1- 405; Don Muirhead, President of Local 1-424; Lorne Scoft, President of Local 1-363; Bob Blanchard, Regional 1st Vice- President. Bottom picture from left, Frank Paul, Forest Industrial Relations; Larry Rogers, Weldwood Company and Committee Chairman; Jim Bury; Gordon Cameron, B.C. Forest Products, Missing from pictures are Gerry Stoney, President of Local 1-357; and Fred Mills, Evans Company, who is representing the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association.