THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

11

_ FROM PAGE SIX

REGIONAL OFFICERS’ REPORT

cerned parties to Victoria. Ina
very short lived meeting, the

Labour Minister chastised all

parties for their lack of ability
to conclude an agreement and
“suggested” that we should
continue to negotiate to a con-
clusion. He further
“suggested” that we do this

negotiating in Victoria under -

the watchful eye of two Gov-
ernment mediators Gus
Leonidas and Fred Geddes.
Both the Industry and the
IWA found merit in King’s
“suggestions’’. The Pulp
Unions, who had retired to
another room, also agreed with
the ‘suggestions’. For five
long frustrating weeks the
talks continued. Although
progress, no matter how
slowly, was being made bet-
ween the Industry and our-

selves, the Pulp discussions
bogged down because of CPU
and CPPWC decision not to
alter their original demands
significantly.

It was at this time that the
NDP Government decided to
introduce their back to work
legislation. The forest strike,
the supermarket strike, the
strike by the propane industry
(Teamsters) and the pending
B.C. Rail strike spurred the
Government to take the drastic
and bitterly disliked action
they took by enacting Bill 146.
The Bill essentially gave all
parties 48 hours to conclude an
agreement or be legislated
back to work immediately. The
“cooling off’ period was to last
for 90 days with a rider
allowing for a further ex-
tension of 14 days.

104 DAY MORATORIUM

Faced with a moratorium of
up to 104 days, and with
rumours of wage and price
freezes blowing out of Ottawa,
your Committees and the
employers sat down and
earnestly sought an acceptable
solution. “Eyeball to eyeball”
discussions began (an im-
provement over the shuttle
type) and as the 48-hour time
period approached, it looked
like the honest efforts were
going to go down the chute.
With approximately seven
minutes remaining, we put our
last and absolute position to the
employer. The employer
reacted as expected and the
stalemate became a reality.

Brother Munro requested the
Mediators to seek out Labour
Minister King so that we could
officially inform him of our
failure to come to terms.

The employers held a short
and hurried caucus and then
told the IWA they were
prepared to accept our ab-
solute position.

When King and_ the
Mediators arrived, they were
informed of the 48 hour and odd

minute solution. The
Honourable Minister
congratulated everyone for
having adopted a responsible
posture.

The recommendation of
acceptance was one of
unanimity. The vote that
followed showed the members
in favour by an overwhelming
majority.

‘Most members, if not all,
received their retroactive
cheques prior to Christmas.

From our first negotiating
meeting to our last, a period of
six months plus had elapsed.
Negotiations of this type are a
tremendous strain on all
concerned.

The IWA assessment of
negotiations is, to get the most
for our people with the least
amount of hardship. The
Regional Officers are sin-
cerely sorry for those mem-
bers who were put out of work
by actions of those we have no
control over. It is our firm
belief that the posture taken by
the IWA in these negotiatioins
was the correct one.

S.i. NEGOTIATIONS

The IWA Southern Interior
Negotiating Committee opened
negotiations with Interior
Forest Labour Relations
Association April 16, 1975, and
it became obvious in the first
round of meetings that the
IFLRA was not going to get
serious until a pattern started
to emerge at the Coast.
However, we were able to keep
pace with Coast negotiations,
co-ordinate our efforts as
closely as possible, jointly
diseuss issues and participate
in the Liaison Committee

ings. We were before a
tion Officer at the same
e as the Coast, our

tions to Mr. Justice H.
; Hutcheon were
simultaneous with the Coast,

and even the Hutcheon
Report was accepted by the
‘membership in the Interior,
_ when Interior Forest Labour
Relations a condition-
hg e Government

of the forest products industry
and were included in the
overall picture.

Negotiations with the IFLRA
were not concluded at the same
time as the Coast IWA and
FIR. A Memorandum of
Agreement was not signed
until November 5, 1975. The
settlement followed the same
basic pattern as the Coast with
some improved contract
clauses. For example:

Article I, Bargaining Agency
— added a new Section 3.

Article XIX, Health &
Welfare — Improved layoff

coverage.

Dental Plan — Layoff cover-
age.

Article XXVII, Safety
Equipment — Clause im-
proved.

Article XIII, Vacations with
Pay — Improved clause.

It must be said that
negotiations with the IFLRA in
1975 were the most frustrating
set of negotiations held with
that employer group for some

years.

NEGOTIATIONS —
CANADIAN CELLULOSE
-Can-Cel operations at
Castlegar, Nakusp and

Revelstoke certified to Locals
1-405 and 1-417 bargain in-
dependently from the rest of
the Industry with the Southern
Interior Committee, This year
negotiations have been drawn
out, with the Company by and
large offering the Coast and
Southern Interior terms of
settlement but digging in on
the local issues that affect the
membership. The Company
made a final offer on January
8, 1976, and at the writing. of
this Report, that offer is being
submitted to the membership
by referendum ballot.

NORTHERN INTERIOR
NEGOTIATIONS

Due to the lengthy negotia-
tions on the Coast and Southern
Interior, the North started
their talks later than normal.

The Committees kept in
close touch with the Coast and
Southern Interior and as a
result were successful in
getting the same settlement,
although we were not a part of
the Hutcheon Award.

Negotiations were concluded
and accepted by the member-
ship by the expiry date of the
Northern agreements.

PRAIRIES

Local 1-324

Manitoba negotiations were
concluded in March 1975 with a
clause providing the Coast
settlement. The Committee
met with the Manitoba Forest
Industry in September at

which time the settlement was

changed from a one-year
agreement to a two-year
agreement. Manitoba now has
Coast rates.

Local 1-207

Contracts were also nego-
tiated in Hinton, Lloydminster,
Zeidlers in Edmonton and
Slave Lake, Travelaire in Red
Deer, and Federated Co-Op in
Smith, Alberta. North Can-
adian Forest Products in
Grande Prairie is in negotia-
tions at the present time.
Moduline Mobile Homes in Red
Deer is also in negotiations.

Imperial Lumber at Barr-
head, which is a new certifica-
tion, is a headache. The
Company walked away from
the bargaining table in Decem-
ber. The plant had been shut
down by the Company for five
months in an endeavour to
keep the Union out. The Union
put on an advertising camp-
aign and was successful in
forcing the Company to re-
open the plant but so far has
not been able to get the
Company back to the negotiat-
ing table.

Agreements were also
signed with Swanson Lumber
at Chisholm and Revelstoke
Sawmill at Harlek.

Local 1-206

An agreement was nego-
tiated at Bendix Homes in
Lethbridge. The Union broke
new ground in this one by nego-
tiating a rate determination
program, details of which are
covered in the evaluation
report. At the writing of this
report, the Regional Council is

assisting with negotiations at
Sungold Cabinets in Calgary

and have applied for a media-
tion commissioner.

JOB EVALUATION

We urge the Delegates to
bear in mind that 1959 was the
first year that the Regional
Council became responsible
for the administration of any
such programs, namely the
Plywood Job Evaluation Pro-
gram for 11 plywood opera-
tions in the B.C. Coastal area.

In this section of our Report,
your Regional Officers will
attempt to illustrate the
growing participation and
responsibilities of the Regional
Council with respect to job
evaluation and job rate deter-
mination programs, negotiated
by the various Area Negotiat-
ing Committees.

(a) Plywood Job Evaluation

The administration of the
Plywood Job Evaluation Pro-
gram for all operations
covered by this program is
maintained from our Van-
couver Regional Office. This
program now covers 38 opera-
tions, 8 of which have been
added since the 1974 Conven-
tion.

For the information of the
Delegates, the attached Sup-
plement No. 1 to this Report
gives a Local Union by Local
Union breakdown of the opera-
tions covered ‘by the Plywood
Job Evaluation Program.

(b) Sawmill and Pole Yard
Job Evaluation

The administration of the
Sawmill and Pole Yard Job
Evaluation Program for all
operations covered by this
program is maintained from
our Kelowna Regional Office.
This program now covers 79
operations, 35 of which have
been added since the 1974 Con-
vention.

For the information of the
Delegates, the attached
Supplement No. 2 to this Re-
port gives a Local Union by
Local Union breakdown of the
operations covered by the Saw-
mill and Pole Yard Job
Evaluation Program.

RATE DETERMINATION

The administration of the
Sawmill Rate Determination
Program for all operations
covered by this program is
maintained from our Vancou-
ver Regional Office. This pro-
gram now covers 67 sawmill
operations, 17 shingle mills,
and 9 plywood boom crews, all
of which are covered by the
terms of the B.C. Coast Master.
Agreement, and all of which
have been added since the 1974
Convention.

For the information of the
Delegates, the attached Sup-
plement No. 3 to this Report
gives a Local Union by Local
Union breakdown of the opera-

tions covered by the Sawmill
Rate Determination Program.

At the time of writing this
Report, your Regional Presi-
dent has appointed a sub-com-
mittee from the Coast Negotia-
tion Committee to try to re-
solve with Forest Industrial
Relations Ltd., as part of the
on-going aspects of the Saw-
mill Rate Determination Pro-
gram:

(1) presently unresolved
category rate problems, and

(2) the development of a job
analysis system as outlined in
Section 1, Article VII of the
current Coast Master Agree-
ment. -

OTHER RATE PROGRAMS

In response to requests from
Locals 1-206 and 1-207 since the
1974 Convention, your Regional
Officers provided the required
manpower in the development

_of rate determination pro-

grams for:

(1) the Mobile Home _ In-
dustry, and

(2) the Travel Trailer In-
dustry.

The administration of these
‘programs is maintained from
our Vancouver Regional Office
and presently covers the fol-
lowing operations:

(1) LOCAL 1-206

Bendix Home Systems Ltd.,

Lethbridge, Alberta (manu-
facturers of Mobile Homes)

(2) LOCAL 1-207

Travelaire Trailer Canada
Ltd.,

Red Deer, Alberta (manu-
facturers of Travel Trailers
and Mobile Industrial Units)

Your Regional Officers feel
that the development and in-
troduction of these programs
has not only been beneficial to
our members working in these
operations, but will also be
very helpful in present and / or
future organizational drives by
the IWA in this field.

While your Regional Officers
concurred with the observa-
tions by the 1974 Officers’ Re-
port Committee that ‘“‘as a re-
sult of the expansion of these
programs further seminars
are very important to bring the
membership up to date on
these changes,” we must point
out that Regional Staff mem-
bers involved in the develop-
ment and/or administration
of the afore-mentioned pro-
grams have been kept ex-
tremely busy.

“Essential”? seminars have
been conducted and. your Re-
gional Officers agree that the
best way for our membership
to understand, appreciate, and
support the “‘negotiated’’ job
evaluation and rate deter-
mination programs within the
boundaries of the Regional
Council, is to expand on related
educational seminars in the
coming year(s). However, fi-
nancing and staff assignments
are some of our major ob-
stacles.

ORGANIZATION
As has been the custom for

the past number of years,
Brother Frank Stich, Assistant

See “OFFICERS” p. 12