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LABOR

By JOE LYCHAK

Six weeks ago, on July 26, Forest Indus-
trial Relations (FIR) said ina full-page ad in
the Vancouver Sun that an IWA strike
“makes no sense.” The ad claimed that the
fores: industry is just beginning to recover
from recession and a strike “would jeopard-
ize the economic stability of British Colum-
bia.”

Woodworkers aren’t buying that line and
neither should any other trade unionist.

Every day, it is becoming clearer just how
crucial the current strike has become if the
IWA is to continue to exist as a strong
union in the forest industry.

And the IWA’s stand against contracting-
out is just as important if the trade union
movement as a whole is to prevent employ- _
ers from using the contracting-out weapon
as another means of union-busting.

According to Doug Evans, president of
Local 1-217 of the IWA, some 8,000 jobs
have been lost to contracting-out over the
last five years. The evidence is everywhere.

In B.C. Forest Products’ Blackwater log-
ging division, there were 200 loggers in
1982. Now all those jobs have gone to phase
contractors. What’s worse, most of them
are non-union companies, which is an indi-
cation of what would happen if WA -
members were to accept the contract lan-
guage proposed by FIR.

In the Kootenays, there were 500 loggers
in 1982 but all of them were finally forced to
buy their own equipment and become
owner-operators. Now most of them are
broke. There are no loggers left working
directly for the forest companies.

In the mills, it has begun with the
contracting-out of maintenance work and
millwrights’ jobs. Unless they are stopped,
the employers will extend the practice to
other areas, wherever it is profitable to use
contractors rather than maintain regular
employees. :

Public sector unions have traditionally
been those most affected by employers’
contracting-out. But the practice has
recently become a new weapon for employ-
ers in the private sector to erode the strength
of unions and to cut labor costs.

By forcing the burden of buying and
maintaining equipment on to small contrac-
tors and owner-operators, the big forest
companies can cut costs and reduce their
own payrolls. With several contractors bid-
ding for the work, the major companies can
whipsaw contractors into accepting lower
and lower contract prices. Finally, the
employees working for those contractors
are forced to accept concessions on wages
and hours of work as the price of saving
their jobs. :

In many cases, loggers who have brought

their own equipment and become owner-
operators have had to work 12 to 14hoursa
day just to make ends meet. The long hours
and low wages that were long ago elimi-
nated are being brought back again by con-
tractors.
For the employers, the demand for “flex-
ibility” means having the unchallenged
right to farm work out to whatever contrac-
tor has the cheapest price and whose labor
costs are the lowest. ;

A recent issue of Economic Notes, pub-

lished by the Labor Research Associationin -

New York, reported what has happened
with contracting-out in the U.S. The article
stated: “Subcontracting — also known as
outside contracting, contracting-out or out-
sourcing — has become a scourge to union-
ized workers in America .. . It has become a
key way for employers to cut labor costs,
eliminate jobs, increase speedup and
weaken unions, all in the name of ‘man-
agement flexibility.’ ”

Even here, the problem of contracting-
out isn’t restricted to the forest industry. In
the garment industry, hundreds of compan-
ies farm out work to people working at
home for piece rate. Labor costs are forced
down tothe lowest possible level and union
organization is almost impossible.

“Labor movement crucial in IWA strike

a

12. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 17. 1986

IWA Local 1-80 members Rick Schillington (1) and Bob MacKenzie at Mayo Forest Products picket line in Nanaimo: as

over basic job security.

The same is true in manufacturing.
Companies contract-out work on various
components to small companies and then
force the contract price down over a period
of time. Jobs that once brought union rates
of pay and a collective agreement with the
parent companies either go non-union or
disappear altogether.

The extent of contracting-out can be seen

in other disputes now in progress. Members °

of the United Mineworkers Local 7292 at
Westar Mining’s Balmer mine are fighting
the same issue of contracting-out. In. the
USS., 45,000 Steelworkers have been locked
out by the giant USC corporation (formerly
U.S. Steel). The key issues are concessions
and contracting-out.

It’s clear that the IWA’s fight against
contracting-out is a fight for job security for
all trade unionists. If the forest industry is
able to force woodworkers to accept sub-
contracting of their jobs, it will open the
door to widespread contracting-out in every
industry.

Regional president Jack Munro made it~

clear what the issue is when he talked to
reporters before the meeting with Premier
Vander Zalm. He said: “Either we win and
our members get job security or we lose and
the employer can do whatever the hell he
likes.”

This strike isn’t just another strike or just
a fight on economic issues. It involves basic
issues of job security and union security and
whether or not the employers will be able to

_ do “whatever the hell they want” with thou-

sands of [WA jobs.

The hardnosed position taken by Keith
Bennett and Forest Industrial Relations
shows how serious the major forest com-
panies are in forcing the [WA to accept
contracting-out. They have spent an esti-
mated $300,000 in ads to mislead public
opinion. They are also prepared to forego
some of the record profits they have made
over the last six months rather than give
IWA members some job security. Obviously
they expect a much bigger return if they
force contracting-out on the union mem-
bership.

Unionists shouldn’t underestimate the

at

determination of employers on the con-
tracting-out issue. It was just six years ago
that members of the Lumber and Sawmill
Workers in northern Ontario went out on
strike against Boise-Cascade which was try-
ing to force loggers to become owner-
operators. The strike was finally lost and
now the union has almost disappeared in
northern Ontario.

But unity, a fully mobilized membership
and the involvement of the whole trade
union movement can insure that won’t
happen here. A victory for the [WA would
strengthen every union’s stand against
contracting-out.

The IWA membership is solidly behind
the strike. The union has also won a lot of
public support around the issue. But much
more needs to be done to make this a fight
for the whole labor movement. It should be
a fight in which all unions, labor councils
and the B.C. Federation of Labor as well as
the total membership of the TWA are
actively involved.

‘The fact that the biggest private sector

union in B.C., with locals all over the pro-

vince, is on strike over the key issue of
contracting-out provides an opportunity
for the labor movement to make this strike
a landmark campaign.

With the assistance and co-operation of
IWA locals, labor councils could assist in
organizing support meetings and rallies for
the IWA. Those rallies could also involve
other unions and highlight the threat of

contracting-out to the entire trade
movement.

Support rallies could also provide
to involve all the membership of the 1¥
both those who are working and those¥
are on strike. With an issue this impo:
the union can’t afford to have anyone
the strike.

The brochure put out by the
office has done a great deal to win
support for the strike. But there is st
for a broader publicity campaign b
locals, labor councils and the B.C.
tion of Labor to give support to
and to emphasize the importance
stand against contracting-out.

The IWA leadership also ne
the B.C. Federation of Labor int
to demonstrate the importance 0
to all unionists. Whatever its st
union can’t, and shouldn’t, fight tht
on ‘its own.

In 1981, a co-ordinated campa
federation helped the Telecommut
Workers Union win a long, tou!
by B.C. Tel. A campaign by the
in conjunction with the IWA W
only help the union win some job se
would be a signal to all employ:
province that the trade union mov
taking a stand against cantracting

Joe Lychak is a member of Local:
the IWA and is the chair of the Wood
Committee of the Communist Part

co

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