Te a a Local 1-357

Focus on:

This is the second in a series of feature articles looking at I[WA- CANADA locals across the country. It is our hope that members will familiarize themselves with their fel- low unionists in other jurisdictions.

Situated on British Columbia’s sce- nic lower mainland coast, IWA- CANADA Local 1-357’s (New West- minster) jurisdictional boundaries include areas along the Fraser River and West Bank of the Pitt River. The Local also covers the Municipality of Coquitlam and runs as far north as Port Moody at the head of Burrard Inlet.

Local membership averages be- tween 4,200-4,300 members this year, down considerably from an all time high of over 7,500 members in the early 1970s.

MILLTOWN LOCAL Local 1-357 has 18 relatively large sawmills which employ the majority of its membership. Major employers in the Local are International Forest Products with 3 manufacturing facili- ties (McDonald Cedar, MacKenzie Mills, and Western Whitewood) and Fletcher Challenge Canada (Fraser Mills, Delta Plywood and, until recently, Tilbury Division). However, MacMillan Bloedel’s New Westminster Division has the largest number of employees in the local with 423. Running a close second is Weld- wood’s Flavelle Cedar Mill in Port Moody with more than 393 workers. The large plant manufactures dimen- sional cedar lumber, siding, and in- terior tongue and groove products. Log shipments to the mills are almost exclusively by water trans- port from coastal log markets. Water transportation makes efficient the transfer of the larger diameter species of wood found on the B.C. coast (cedar, fir, hemlock, spruce, balsam). Three plywood mills operate in local boundaries. They are Cantree Ply- wood Corp., Fletcher Challenge’s Del- ta Plywood and a small section of F-C’s Fraser Mills plant which does paper overlay of plywood veneer blanks from Delta Plywood. Delta Plywood employs 240 IWA members on 3 shifts, manufacturing mainly high quality plywood and veneer from fir logs.

New Westminster

© Some of the Local 1-357 staff pose for a picture at union headquarters in New West- minster. L to R are John Vernon, President; Michelle Thompson, Secretary; Bruce Bar- kley, Local newspaper editor; Ed Dubas, 3rd Vice-President; Peter Hayes, Safety Dir- ector; Joe LeClair, 1st Vice-President; and Anne Norton, Secretary.

Safety Council which consists of an elected Safety Director, Safety Council Officers, and elected delegates from each plant in the local.

Delegated safety meetings are held on a quarterly basis to discuss local union policy and common problems. In the months where there is no dele- gated safety meeting there are Safety Council meetings prior to regular monthly general union meetings.

LOCAL SUPPORTS EDUCATION “We send many members to C.L.C. and Labour Council Seminars. In 1989

we sent more than 30 delegates to the C.L.C.’s Winter School at Harrison

Lake,” says first vice-president Joe LeClair.

Brother LeClair says that the local has also been very active in putting on Job Steward Seminars for the membership. New Westminster has gone from a large annual job steward format to a two day intensive seminar format for individual plant commit- tees. The new format has created inter- est for new and younger local union members.

POLITICAL ACTION Most distinctively, Local 1-357

© Boom men Hugh McDonald (left) and Rick Roberge at Flavelle (Weldwood) Cedar in Port Moody. The mill produces 350,000 board feet of high quality cedar products daily.

LOCAL UNION STRUCTURE New Westminster employs six full time elected staff members who serve as Business Agents servicing the local. Its Executive Board includes all the elected local officers and one elected representative from each cer- tification in the jurisdiction. At this time, including local officers, there are 108 members eligible to partici-

pate on the Executive Board.

The Local Union has established a

boasts of a proud tradition of political activism. At present Brother LeClair is president of the New Westminster and District Labour Council. Prior to LeClair’s election this year, Gerry Stoney, now National First Vice- President held that position for 17 years. And prior to Brother Stoney’s presidency, the IWA’s Wyman Trineer was leading the council.

The New Westminster Economic Development Association has seen

present local union leader John Ver- non on its Executive Board. At pres- ent Ralph MacMillan, the local’s Con- ductor, sits on the council.

The IWA-Community Credit

Union, which now has three branches

becomes more hospitable to organiz- ing, we will be better prepared for the future.”

In 1-857 there are a large number of non-union remanufacturers and a sub- stantial portion of sawmill workers to organize.

LUMBER REMANS.

The local views lumber remanufac- turing as an area of growth as mar- kets become more specialized. Howev- er difficulties may lie ahead for future sets of negotiations.

In late April of this year a settle- ment was reached at Allwood Indus- tries after a strike that lasted more than 3 months. Three Vancouver Local 1-217 remanufacturing plants were also involved in the dispute, which showed union solidarity.

Union members were victims of a remanufacturing sector which resorts to cut throat competition. The [WA members refused to accept contract concessions that would gut their @ agreement.

Local president Vernon predicts that there may be trouble in the next set of contract talks.

“T think that the next set of negoti- ations will depend on whether or not. the employers can get their act togeth- er. They’re badly split and we would prefer to negotiate with an industry that has the ability to co-ordinate themselves.”

© On the job at Fletcher Challenge's Delta Plywood Division are Veneer Line Offbearers

Peter Brown (left) and George Hundle. The mill also supplies F-C’s Fraser Mills with

veneer for paper overlay.

in the B.C. lower mainland, was found- ed by IWA members in 1944. In its early years the credit union was run to the benefit of organized labour, but its control eventually faded in the 50s and 60s.

Local 1-357 became active in the financial organization again in the early 1970s and has remained so since. Local president John Vernon is now also president of the credit union, with former local president Terry Smith, now the National Office’s Secretary-Treasurer, seated as the credit union’s Vice-President. Among the goals of the credit union is to participate in union-orientated pro- jects and investments.

The credit union has helped out a great deal in various strike situations, guaranteeing loans to workers in diffi- cult situations.

ORGANIZING POTENTIAL

According to local president Ver- non, the local has a tremendous poten- tial to organize new members. Recent- ly 1-357 has put together an or- ganizing team and has done some training with people in various operations.

Joe LeClair points out that B.C.’s current labour laws make it very diffi- cult to organize and are hard on a local’s resources.

Says Brother Vernon: “Now is the time to do some ground work in organ- izing. If the labour legislation chang- es with the next government and

PENSION BREAKTHROUGHS WELCOMED

The New Westminster Local has in recent years, experienced a series of plant closures and down sizings. With @ early retirement provisions negotiat- ed in the 1988 Coast Master Agree- ment, many eligible employees aged 55 and over have elected to take early retirement.

Local 1-357 has, in some cases, been able to negotiate additional bridging proposals and supplemental pensions for its members. Fletcher Challenge’s recent layoffs at its Fraser Mills and Tilbury Sawmill Division have been softened by the pension improvements.

ALTERNATE SHIFT SCHEDULES

Alternate shift schedules are those which are different from the tradition- al Monday to Friday, 40 hour work week. At three operations (Flavelle Cedar, F-C’s Tilbury Sawmill and @® Interfor’s Western Whitewood) week- end maintenance shifts of 8 hours, 12 hours and 12 hours have been success- fully negotiated for the workers with all the benefits of a regular 40 hour work week.

A new production facility at West- ern Whitewood has negotiated two experimental variations of alternate shift schedules. Joe LeClair points out that any alternate shift schedule negotiated by the local has a short 30 or 60 day cancellation clause.

12/LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1989