Meet Michael RCMP award Canada’s game Who this man is changes depending upon who is talking about him\NEWS A112 Philip Lincoin’s being recognized for his part in a unique journey\COMMUNITY B1 Local young hockey players get to. brush up on their skills and... training\SPORTS BS —- WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 1998 By JEFF NAGEL _ SKEENA SAWMILLS workers have voted overwhelmingly to go back to work next Tuesday on a federal work-sharing program that would see them accept smaller paycheques to avert layoffs. Without the proposed work-sharing program, West Fraser general manager Lou Poulin said the company could only afford to operate one shift employing just 65 workers. The nearly 90 remaining employees would be laid off indefinitely, If the work-share application is appraved by Human Resources Development Canada, all 150 sawmill work- ers wiil retum to work, ending a three-month shutdown. Half their wages would be paid by the company and most of the other half would come from employment insurance. “It would work out to around 80 per cent of what they normally make,” Poulin said. “But this way we have close to the 50 working.” Half the workers’ pay is limited to the maximum employment insurance rate, so a worker earning $25 an hour would see their monthly pay drop from about $4,300 to less than $3,100 per month. IWA local 2171 members here voted 85 per cent in favour of the plan on Sunday, Poulin said. Company and union representatives are making the joint application for the work-sharing program to Human Resources Development Canada officials this week, If approved, the program could last for up to the maximum of 30 weeks, although that could be reduced because employees there have already drawn down their employment insurance benefits during the mill shut- down over the last three months. TERRACE STANDARD TANDARD = awmill workers vote to work-share “This is good stuff to sce,” said IWA local 2171 vice- president Bob Freer, adding he's already signed off the paperwork for the union. “It saves a bunch ofpeople from being laid off." Freer said work-share plans are good solutions in situations like this, “N's normally not as bad a hit as a lot of people think,” he said. “It keeps everybody working. And 936 PLUS 7¢ ast . VOL. aL L NO. 21° said Monday. Besides keeping people working and preventing the loss of skilled people, Kimery said there are olher bene- fits to work-share pians. Employees who keep working maintain their physical ‘and mental fitness for work, she noted, while those who ‘endure extended layoffs are often much more suscepti- ble to workplace injuries when they return, what's also really important-is it:keeps everybody's benefits going and their pension contributions going.” Human Resources Development Canada’s Shirley Kimery was optimistic the plan could be quickly approved. A condition of the program is that-the company file details of its situation and a plan.to deal with the diffi-. culties and eventually resume normal work. a “We're certainly going to be talking to them about it and hopefully we can work something out,’ Kimery ‘a So look way up THAT'S KEITH Connar from Wayne Watson Con- struction working on the roof as part of the city _ cillty is closed for the duration of the wark. RADICAL MEASURES to overhaul the ail- ing northwest forest industry are being urged in a series of recommendations prepared for the cily, The 38- “page : Fotest Industry Development Strategy envisions. a more business-friendly bureaucracy, incentives to promote new value- added producers, and a general shift in empha- sis from large indusiry to smaller operations. . ‘The future here is in small busihess, it isn’t in the mega-corporations,” said Skeena Project Services consultant and former forests minister Dave Parker, the main architect of the report. City council plans to take the report and push for government action, hopefully with support of other northwest mayors and MLAs. |. - The report calls for wide-ranging tax-incen- tives, markeling assistance, training assistance and other options be considered to encourage value-added producers to set up. A number of recommendations _focus on what to do about the region’ § rotting stands of timber. The report calls for decadent insect-prone timber in the Nass and Kispiox areas to be treated as one big salvage project that would be chopped down and replanted in -one giant, gradual progressive clearcut, ~ Governments should provide research money to help identify products that can be made with decadent hemlock and balsam... council Monday night, Parker told councillors In outlining his recommendations to city SCI stops logging SKEENA CELLULOSE halted logging operations” around Terrace for three weeks effective Monday, - Company officials again blamed market conditions for the decision to curtail logging. - _ Skeena Cellulose’s Don McDonald said Sperations are scheduled to resume Sept. 21. Sawmill operations are not affected by the. logging shutdown. City urging aid — | for forest industry he sees dire times ahead for the northwest. He said he expects to see West Fraser close its Skeena Sawmills operation permanently and the government to sell off Skeena Cellulose, leading to permanent Closure of its pulp mill. “When we are back on an even keel there _ won't be more than one sawmill operating in this town,” he predicted, Asked, by- mayor Jack Talstra what, should be. done if the worst happens, Parker said licences of any companies that do shut down. indefi- “nilely should be yanked immediately, - “If they're. not going to operate, pull the licences,” he said. That would then set the stage, he said,. for government to embark on a major. transforma- tion of the forest tenure system, including: a possible consideration of forest privatization, Other recommendations included in. the report: B Merchandising yards be set up where tim- ber would be brought, sorted and sold. This _ would be @ market for wood liquidated through large salvage operations. And it would give small producers a place to buy the wood they need without having to embark on logging operations theniselves. Mf Silviculture work should be offered on long-term multi-phase contacts, and local, bid- ders should be offered a right of first refusal on ‘Continued Page 4 A2. . Local road scipany heads out on Hwy16 NECHAKO Northcoast is moving its equipment and storage operation from an aging yard on Park Ave. to land being sold by Bell Pole on Hwy 15 West. The highways maintenance company is building a $1 million com- — pound and will move as aquatic centre's major renovation project. The fa- soon as that's finished and a water line is extended there by the city of Terrace. We're moving as rapidly as you can in something like this,”’ said Nechako Northcoast president John Ryan. “‘If we can be in the new building by the begin- ERNIE KUEHNE and other workers at Nechako Northccast's yard on Park wan't be there much longer now that ihe highways maintenance company is building new facilitias on the highway. Store to stay closed on stats RCMP HAVE taken some of the responsibility for the opening on B.C, Day of the Real Canadian Wholesale Club here. The opening on a statutory holiday has now been determined to be in clear contravention of the provincial Holiday Shopping Act but RCMP weren’t sure of that when the store manager made inquiries prior to opening, says RCMP Sergeant Darcy Gollan. ‘There was some uncertainty on what was to be done and we weren’t sure, but we are now,” said Gollan last week, He said the store has now been cautioned that any future openings on statutory holidays will result in « police inves- tigation. “The manager did make due diligence prior to opening up but we were unable to provide him with proper direc- tion,’* said Gollan of the B.C. Day opening, — . Based on that information, Real Canadian manager Al Jeffrey says the store will not be open on any future statutory holidays. “We won't be taking this any farther,’” he said. ning of 1999 that would be really good,’’ The Park Ave. yard is The Holiday Shopping Act regulates openings based on: owned by the province and size of store and services it provides. This act at one time banned Sunday openings by large stores but that section was struck down after a court action in the late 1980s, Municipalities can, if they wish, introduce their own by- laws governing statutory holiday shopping. But Terrace. is one of a few municipalities which hasn't done that so the provincial legislation is then applied. Safeway public relations official Mark Stortz did note the Vast majority of municipalities in B.C. do have by-laws permitting statutory shopping. “Our experience is that there are a lot of customers who would want a chojce to shop on a statutory holiday,” he sail. That includes tourists requiring food and other services while passing through on holidays, Stortz added, _ was once occupied by the ‘highways ministry but it was lIcased to Nechako when it secured its first con- tract to maintain arca roads and bridges in the late 1980s, The provincial govern- ment's real estate arm — the B.C. Buildings Corpora- tion — has wanted to end commercial activity at the site for some time. “That yard right now is in ‘the wrong location,’’ said B.C, Buildings Corporation (BCBC) portfolio manager Tony Young. “‘It’s adjacent to a residential area. It’s ald and obsolete. It’s just very inefficient and it has been creating some conflict with the adjoining owners.”’ “Is best to relocate to a more operationally efficient yard on the outskirts of town.” The land is zoned for high-density residential and the “Official Community Plan designates it for multi- family townhouses. ‘But Young says there are several ateps to bé taken yet before putting the property . on the open market. First, the agency determines whether the land is needed for any other government use. Another consideration be- fore any attempt to market it will be — environmental cleanup of the site, which was used by trucks for years, Young said the land was used as a highways yard for ‘upwards of 50 years”’. “It’s. pretty ancient,’ he sald, ““We will have t un- dertake. an environmental Cont'd Page A2