The Allied Worker - USW | United Steelworkers

MEETING WITH STEEL • PAGES 10-11
IWA Canada members to decide on joining up with one big union
WHEN IWA MEMBERS cast their ballots
this summer, they will be voting on
whether or not to join what has become
one of the world’s most diverse and
dynamic unions, with a rich history and
tradition rooted deep into the North
American labour movement.
The Steelworkers have over 600,00
members in North America with over
190,000 of them in Canada. When combined
with the IWA’s 55,000, Steel will
become Canada’s largest private sector
union. The forest industry will become
Steel’s largest manufacturing sector in the
country, joining with a diversity of workers
in sectors that include wood, mining,
metals, transportation, trades and services.
Founded as a constitutional body in
1942 following six years of organizing
drives under the auspices of the
Steelworkers Organizing Committee of
the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
the Steelworkers made many first time
gains in the mills in the World War II and
post-war period. The Aluminum Workers
of America merged with them in 1944.
Since the late 1960s, many international
unions have joined with Steel: including
the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers
Union in 1967; the United Stone and
Allied Product Workers in 1971; the
United Stone and Allied Product Workers
in ‘71: the Upholsterers International
Union in 1985; the United Rubber,
Cork, Linoleum, Plastic and Aluminum
Workers in 1995; the Aluminum, Brick
and Glass Workers Union in 1996; the
Canadian division of the Transportation
Communication International Union in
Merger deal to go to vote
IWA Canada and Steel negotiating teams reach
tentative settlement to combine two
great industrial trade unions
IWA
members across Canada are voting
on a merger agreement reached
between the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers
of Canada and the United Steelworkers of
America. The historic agreement, which was
signed on May 28 in Toronto (see photo above)
was ratified by the union’s National Executive
Board on June 21.
The balloting will begin on July 12 and will be
final counted by August 27. Each IWA member
in all seven provinces where the union has local
unions will have a chance to cast their ballot. “We
are strongly encouraging all our members to
carefully look at this merger and vote Yes!” says
IWA National president Norm Rivard. “This
V OL. 69 NO. 2 JUNE 2004
NEWS FROM THE INDUSTRIAL, WOOD AND ALLIED WORKERS OF CANADA
PHOTO BY JOHN MOUNTAIN
USWA International president Leo Gerard shakes hands with IWA national president Norm Rivard on May 28.
merger will guarantee that our union’s membership
will be protected and will grow in the future,
together under the banner of the Steelworkers.”
The merger will provide IWA locals with assistance
in planning and coordinating collective bargaining
and strike assistance, grow the union
through increased organizing, provide increased
educational opportunities, provide research and
lobbying (in both Canada and the U.S.), provide
legal assistance to locals, render quality programs
on health, safety and the environment, and provide
programs on political action, civil rights,
women’s issues and assist older and retired workers.
The USWA is one of the world’s most diverse
union’s with over 600,000 members.
1999; and the American Flint Glass
Workers Union in ‘03. Like the IWA
Canada, a descendent of one of the great
industrial unions in North America (the
International Woodworkers of America),
the USWA has agressively organized. It
has entered into a strategic alliance with
the Paper, Allied-Chemical and Energy
Workers (PACE). The Steelworker-PACE
Alliance has over 900,00o North
American workers in it, with 175,000 in
the forestry, wood and paperworkers sector
– by far the largest in North America.
SUPPORT IS NATION-WIDE FOR MERGER
OF THE UNION INTO THE STEELWORKERS
IWA national
executive OK’s
Steel merger
YOUR UNION’S NATIONAL Executive Board has
ratified a merger agreement with the United
Steelworkers of America, one of North America’s
largest and most powerful and respected trade
unions. On June 21 the IWA Canada national executive
board approved a final merger document
which will go to national referendum ballot of the
union’s rank-and-file membership.
“Our two unions are joining to form Canada’s
largest union in the private sector,” says IWA
national president Norm Rivard. “This is a milestone
in both Canadian and North American labour
history that we can all be proud of being an integral
part of.”
National union secretary-treasurer David Tones
says support for the merger “is growing nationwide.”
A national officers and staff conference, to
explain the merger document, was held in
Vancouver on June 22. It was the second conference
on the merger.
The officers of both unions agree the merger represents
a “dramatic demonstration of labour solidarity
at a time the the Canadian and U.S. labour
movements are under attack in vicious anti-labour
propaganda campaigns by right-wing organizations
and by the anti-labour activities of employers bent
on blocking the organizing of the unorganized and
frustrating collective bargaining in their behalf.”
The Steelworkers’ structure guarantees the
autonomy of IWA Canada locals and allows for both
geographical locals and large, single plant locals.
The merger will protect the assets of locals and
ensure they have the resources to maintain and
expand services to their membership.
An USWA - IWA Canada Council is being created
that will exist of all IWA local unions with their
current and future operations covered by collective
agreements. All forestry, woodworking and related
industries in Canada and the U.S. will be invited to
be involved in the council’s activities.

I N D E X
■ NAILING DOWN A DEAL IWA
negotiators fromthe national
office and six IWA locals were
able to nail down an tentative
merger agreement the United
Steelworkers of America/ 2
■ MEDIATED COAST AGREEMENT
Government-appointed mediator
Don Munroe’s binding contract
on IWA Coast members
has significantly changed the
Coast Master Agreeement/ 3
■ LETTERS PAGE The Allied
Worker welcomes letters from
IWA’ers across Canada/ 4
■ OPINIONS IWA President
Norm Rivard writes talks about
the benefits of joining the
USWA and Local 1-417’s
Warren Oja talks about the hits
IWA members are taking due
to B.C. Liberal forest policies/ 5
■ LINKING THE LOCALS Brief bits
and bites of information from
all IWA Canada locals/ 6-7
■ STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS Local
2693 members have concluded
their lengthy strike against the
Bowater corporation and have
achieved important gains/ 8
■ MEETING WITH STEEL In March
and June, IWA members from
throughout
the country
met to air
concerns over
the proposed
merger and
then discuss
the contents of the negotiated
merger agreement approved
by the IWA/ 10-11
■ AN ORIGINAL ACTIVIST IWA
Local 500’s Mary Lou Scott,
from Stratford,
Ontario, has
been a union
activist for
nearly 20
years. She’s
also the first
vice chair of the IWA’s National
Women’s Committee /14
■ NO MORE DOMAN One of the
B.C. Coast’s best-known companies,
Doman Industries, is being
restructured and it looks like IWA
jobs will be maintained/16
■ LITTLE TOMMY DOUGLAS Just
over 60 years ago, CCF leader
Tommy Douglas was elected as
Saskatchewan’s
premier and
continued on
a course that
would see the
introduction
of public
medicare and the expansion
of workers’ rights/18
■ THANKS BROTHER ARCAND
One of the IWA Canada’s most
respected and capable officers,
former national
first
vice president
Harvey Arcand,
was roasted
upon his
retirement
earlier this year/24
2 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
FRONTnews
Haggard resigns to seek political office
AT A PRESS conference announcing
his resignation as IWA national president
on May 18, Dave Haggard, who ran
as a Liberal for the New Westminster-
Coquitlam riding, in the June 28 federal
election, said he was running to “make
sure B.C. is represented in Ottawa inside
government – to make changes so necessary
for the communities I’ve represented
for the last 30 years.”
Stepping up to the plate as the new
national president, Norm Rivard termed
Haggard’s move as “a huge loss to the
organization but we think that (if elected)
he can do a very good job for working
people in Ottawa.” Rivard added that
“we are confident Dave would not only
be able to represent us, but also working
people across Canada.”
Brother Haggard said he has fulfilled
his mandate as the national president,
where he has served since being elected
in 1996 and that the final move was
working towards a merger with the
United Steelworkers of America. He
said that although he decided to run as a
Liberal, he supports the B.C. NDP leader
Carole James and drew a clear distinction
between the Paul Martin Liberals
and the Gordon Campbell Liberals. “It is
our loss to lose such a strong leader,” says
IWA national secretary-treasurer David
IWA and
Steel nail
down deal
Union negotiators
reach merger
agreement to
combine forces
IT’S AN IMPRESSIVE agreement
between two great industrial unions that
will strengthen the lot of workers in
Canada and the United States. On May
28, the IWA negotiating team consisting
of national president Norm Rivard, first
vice president Wilf McIntyre, secretarytreasurer
David Tones, Local 1-184 Paul
Hallen, Local 2171 president Darrel
Wong, Local 1-3567 president Sonny
Ghag, Local 1-405 president Bob
Matters, Local 1000 president Michael
McCarter and Local 2693 president Joe
Hanlon reached a proposed merger
agreement with the United Steelworkers
of America, and issued this statement:
When we embarked on negotiations
with the United Steelworkers, we had several
key objectives. One was to ensure our
local autonomy; another was to ensure
that wood and forest industry issues continued
to be put front and centre; another
was to avoid a damaging increase in dues
or unwanted interference in our collective
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
At the press conference announcing Dave Haggard’s resignation were,
l. to r., Local 1-3567 president Sonny Ghag, national secretary-treasurer
David Tones, now third v.p. Wade Fisher, Haggard, now national president
Norm Rivard, former IWA national president Jack Munro, now national first
v.p. Wilf McIntyre and now fourth v.p. Mike Pisak.
Tones. “But at the same time it is an
opportunity for us to gain strong voice.”
Wilf McIntyre, now the union’s
national first vice-president, said that it
is important for working people to seek
strong representation and that Brother
Haggard could “not only make sure that
his constituents are heard, but also that
labour issues make it to the table.” He
added that “our voices are not heard
enough in the corridors of power in this
country.” National second vice president
Joe da Costa said that, if elected,
Haggard would ensure labour’s views
are not ignored. “Dave would bring
Pictured counterclockwise from left are USWA international president
Leo Gerard, Norm Rivard, Wilf McIntyre, IWA staffer John Mountain,
Bob Matters, Darrel Wong and David Tones (back to camera).
agreements. Finally, we wanted to increase
the services and resources available to our
members.
The IWA Canada and the United
Steelworkers have a tentative agreement
and it looks as though we have achieved
our goals.
With respect to local autonomy, the
agreement states clearly recognition of
locals’ geographic and organizational continuity.
It also preserves the current collective
bargaining process, local elections and
annual meetings. Locals retain the rights
they enjoy under the IWA Constitution, as
well as keeping their existing assets.
On the question of forest and wood
industry issues, the current IWA locals will
form an IWA Council within the USWA
structure. Both unions have agreed to work
agressively on trade and economic issues.
This will allow us to cooperate, for example,
on issues like the Canada-U.S. lumber
dispute.
On the question of dues and collective
bargaining the current dues formula for
labour’s perspective – one that neither
government, corporations or the public can
represent or afford to ignore.”
Wade Fisher, national third vice-president
said that Haggard could be a strong
voice for B.C., the riding, and the
province’s resource-based economy. “His
long-standing concern for fairness and
justice will always be there, regardless of
party label,” added Fisher. National
fourth vice Mike Pisak said that Haggard
would “take the same work ethic to his
campaign and to representing his
constituents that he has employed as an
IWA activist.”
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
IWA members will not change and the
Steelworkers will rebate about half the
Strike Fund assessment back to the locals
for a new Local Supplemental Strike Fund.
The collective bargaining process under
IWA Canada will continue, as well.
In addition, IWA Canada members
will immediately become full members of
the United Steelworkers and will be able to
participate in Steel events, conventions,
conferences, elections and educational programs.
IWA locals will become full
Steelworker locals and will be able to call
on Steel for help with research, legal work
and collective bargaining. We will have
access to the USWA Strike Fund, the
health and safety department and other
resources. The agreement, in other words, protects
our values, our interests and our assets. At
the same time, it gives us new advantages in
our efforts to win better agreements, benefits
and opportunities for our members. In our
view this is a truly impressive agreement and
we believe all IWA members should give it
their full support.

Union wins precedent setting case on successorship rights
THE IWA SCORED yet another big
court victory on April 2, when all three
judges on a case in front of the Ontario
Court of Appeal decided that, in the
event of bankruptcies and takeovers by a
receiver or trustee, the union contract
must go with the workers. The precedent
setting case ruled that IWA Local
700, formerly certified to the TCT
Logistics warehouse in Etobicoke, gets
full successorship rights despite a bankruptcy
judge’s decision otherwise.
“The court of appeal ruled that the
bankruptcy judge should have butt out
and that workers have rights under their
collective agreement to work for whatev-
er entity or company
takes over,” says IWA
Canada national
president Norm
Rivard. “This is a
major ruling in
Norm Rivard
favour of workers
and will go a long
way towards protecting
collective rights
which are frequently being trampled on
in Ontario. Until now, bankruptcy
judges regulary ruled that collective
agreements were not to be upheld by
receivers or bankruptcy trustees.
“We very much welcome the ruling,”
Coastal mediator
renders binding decision
The IWA condemns flex-shift
scheduling rights granted industry
and calls for investment on Coast
THE IWA SAYS THAT that a new collective
agreement written for five IWA
Coast locals and Forest Industrial
Relations by government-appointed
mediator Don Munroe, tilts the scheduling
of work in complete favour of the
employer association. On May 28, Mr.
Munro, appointed
under a provision
of the
Coastal Forest
Industry Dispute
Settlement Act
last December,
released a new
collective agreement
which,
Don Munroe
among other
things, calls for
full flexibility on
shift scheduling in manufacturing and
logging operations.
“The coastal industry has gotten
many of its wishes,” says IWA Canada
national first vice-president Wilf
McIntyre. “The elimination of overtime
for weekend work, especially
Sundays (if the worker has not worked
at least 40 hours in the previous six
days) is especially offensive to our
members. This will have a particularly
negative effect on driving skilled trades
away from the coastal industry.”
Over 10,000 IWA members walked
out on November 21, 2003. On
December 13, with no end to the dispute
in sight, both the IWA and FIR
agreed to binding mediation. Despite
several meetings in the spring of 2004,
it became apparent that the industry
would continue with its refusal to
negotiate an agreement.
“Now that the coastal industry has
been granted flexibility in scheduling
work and reducing costs in its mills
and woodlands operations, the IWA is
“... THE IWA IS CALLING ON
EMPLOYERS TO INVEST IN
NEW INFRASTRUCTURE AND
CREATE NEW JOBS AND
STABILITY IN OUR
COMMUNITIES.” - WILF
MCINTYRE, IWA FIRST V.P.
calling on those employers to live up to
their commitments to invest in new
infrastructure and create new jobs and
stability in our communities,” says
McIntyre.
McIntyre also says that one positive
development is that the agreement is
four years in duration, retroactive to
On a tour of a TFL 44 heli-logging show near Port Alberni during the
mediation period were, l. to r., Weyco Sproat Lake IWA chair Tom Dawes, IWA
national first vice president Wilf McIntyre, arbitrator Stan Lanyon, arbitrator
Dave McPhillips, Sproat Lake vice chair Russell Ross, a chargehand from Hayes
Forest Services, a heli-pilot, Weyco’s Dwayne Leskewich, and Sproat Lake
manager Mike Regan. The men were studying contracting out issues.
June 15, 2003. The union has negotiated
a series of six-year agreements in the
forest industry throughout parts of the
province’s Interior regions. “At least
with a shorter-term deal we will be able
to return to the table sooner to address
some serious issues created by this new
agreement,” says McIntyre.
The union has also gained some
measured protection over the introduction
of stump-to-dump contractors.
Parent companies can contract out the
entire operation, but workers will have
rights to continued employment and
severance will be paid out to workers
that don’t get jobs with the contractor.
In the event of a permanent closure of
Progress in Interior mill negotiations
Since the March issue of The Allied
Worker, Prince George Local 1-424 has
negotiated and ratified numerous collective
agreements in the northern Interior
region. Local president Frank Everitt
reports that by achieving strike mandates
and dealing with local issues, six-year
contracts were reached at the following
operations: Canfor Quesnel Forest
Products, West Fraser - Fraser Lake,
Canfor Tackama in Fort Nelson, Canfor
Plateau in Vanderhoof, and Canfor
Houston. Acceptance rates varied from 67
per cent in Houston (where two previous
agreements were turned down) to 85 per
cent in Fraser Lake. A deal was reached at
Carrier Lumber in Prince George without a
strike mandate, where 63 per cent
approved of the deal. Meanwhile it
appears the union will go to mediation
says Ron Diotte, president of the
Toronto local. “It’s an important victory
for the labour movement and it’s an
important victory for the workers who
remain.”
Most of the forty-four workers who
were at the operation when the plant
went into receivership have gone onto
other jobs elsewhere during the two year
period that the union fought the case.
The company had 60 days to look for
grounds to appeal the decision to the
Supreme Court of Canada.
In other matters, Local 700 has contacted
the registrar of pensions in
Ontario to go after TCT on missing pen-
with Weldwood Quesnel and, as this issue
goes to press, the Northwest Wood
Preservers operation in Prince George is
still outstanding.
In the province’s southern Interior,
Kelowna Local 1-423 president Ben Landis
announced on June 11, that 60 per cent of
the nearly 1,600 members who cast their
ballots, voted in favour of ratifying a new
Southern Interior Master Agreement.
Tentative agreements had been turned
down twice previously.
Brother Landis expressed thanks for
members who attended crew meetings
and expressed their thoughts on the recommended
settlement.
The local and the IFLRA were able to reach
the deal with the assistance of mediator
Mark Brown, who helped work out the
settlement at a crucial time.
sions. The workers belonged to a defined
benefit plan which, under pension legislation
in Ontario, must be able to pay out
the workers their entitled benefits.
“We trust these people will go after
the pension because this is something
that should have never happened in the
first place. Things slipped through the
cracks,” says Brother Diotte. “Things
have to fixed up right and justice has to
be done on the pension issue too.”
The workers on the warehouse site
have been in the union since 1973. “It
has been one of finest bunch of members
who really supported their union
over the years,” says Brother Diotte.
PHOTO COURTESY LOCAL 1-85
an operation, the severance pay will be
increased to ten days from seven.
There will be increased contributions to
the IWA-Forest Industry Pension Plan
from both employers and employees.
However, the contract stops short of
having coast employers give the union
the right to make future decisions on
the IWA-Forest Industry Pension Plan.
There are also some minor improvements
to severance pay and seniority
retention, as well as wage increases of 2
per cent in each of the final three years
of the collective agreement. Both sides
will meet and try to come up with an
agreement on an additional Return of
Capital Employed system or
Gainsharing agreement by the end of
September, 2004.
The agreement calls for a straight
time travel rate at 75 per cent of the
worker’s job rate or the Group 1 labourer
rate, whichever is more. Workers
will also be able to work through their
holidays if they want and their floating
holiday as well. To view the changes to
the agreement in their entirety visit the
IWA website at www.iwa.ca Click on
Negotiations 2003.
“We are not pleased by this agreement,”
says McIntyre. “It definately tips
the scales over in favour of the employers
who will now be able to schedule
their plants for 27/7 production at
straight time. Rather than simply shut
old plants down, this industry must
invest to manufacture new products and
efficiently cut value-added from more
and more second growth forests.”
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 3

V O L 6 9 N O 2 J U N E 2 0 0 4
Official Publication of the Industrial,
Wood and Allied Workers of Canada
Norman Garcia EDITOR
IWA CANADA
NATIONAL OFFICE
300-3920 Norland Avenue
Burnaby, B.C. V5G 4K7
TEL (604) 683-1117
FAX (604) 688-6416 or
FAX (604) 683-1265
For E-mail links check
www.iwa.ca
IWA CANADA
NATIONAL OFFICE
EASTERN CANADA
2088 Weston Rd.
Toronto, Ont. M9N 1X4
TEL (416) 247-8628
FAX (416) 247-5893
WESTERN LOCALS
LOCAL 1-80
35l Brae Rd.
Duncan, B.C. V9L 3T9
TEL (250) 746-6131
FAX (250) 746-l0l2
LOCAL 1-85
4904 Montrose St.
Port Alberni, B.C. V9Y 1M3
TEL (250) 724-0171
FAX (250) 724-2800
LOCAL 1-184
lll0 Third Ave., West
Prince Albert, Sask. S6V 5G3
TEL (306) 764-4202
FAX (306) 763-4922
LOCAL 1-207
4262 - 9lA Street
Edmonton, Alta. T6E 5V2
TEL (780) 463-9070
FAX (780) 461-5020
LOCAL 2171
301- 841 Cliffe Ave.
Courtenay, B.C. V9N 2J8
TEL (250) 334-3329
FAX (250) 334-2662
LOCAL 2171 SUB-LOCAL
2859 Commercial Dr.
Vancouver, B.C. V5N 4C7
TEL (604) 874-0274
FAX (604) 874-8137
LOCAL 324
P.O. Box l886
1416 Gordon Ave.
The Pas, Man. R9A lL6
TEL (204) 623-3443
FAX (204) 623-5534
LOCAL 1-3567
202 - 9292 200th St.
Langley, B.C. V1M 3A6
TEL (604) 513-1850
FAX (604) 513-1851
LOCAL 363
101, 391 - 4th St.
Courtenay, B.C. V9N lG8
TEL (250) 334-3834
FAX (250) 334-2333
LOCAL 1-405
20l - l05 South 9th Ave.
Cranbrook, B.C. VlC 2Ml
TEL (250) 426-4871
FAX (250) 426-2528
Norm Rivard NATIONAL PRESIDENT
Wilf McIntyre FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT
Joe da Costa SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT
Wade Fisher THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT
Mike Pisak FOURTH VICE-PRESIDENT
David Tones SECRETARY-TREASURER
EDITORIAL BOARD
Joe da Costa SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT
Bob Matters PRESIDENT LOCAL 1-405
DIRECTORY OF IWA OFFICES
LOCAL 1-417
l8l Vernon Avenue
Kamloops, B.C. V2B 1L7
TEL (250) 554-3167
FAX (250) 554-3499
LOCAL 1-423
2040 Rutland Rd., North
Kelowna, B.C. VlX 4Z6
TEL (250) 491-1436
FAX (250) 491-1437
LOCAL 1-424
1777 - 3rd Ave.
Prince George, B.C. V2L 3G7
TEL (250) 563-7771
FAX (250) 563-0274
LOCAL 1-425
124C North 2nd Ave.
Williams Lake, B.C. V2G 1Z6
TEL (250) 398-8248
FAX (250) 398-62l8
LOCAL 830
10 Bannerman Ave.,
Winnipeg, Man. R2W OW1
TEL (204) 586-1307
FAX (204) 586-8502
EASTERN LOCALS
LOCAL 306
330 Pleasant St.
Miramichi, N.B. E1V 1Y9
TEL (506) 624-9916
FAX (506) 622-1211
LOCAL 400
4795 Boulevard St. Charles
Room A - 102
Pierrefonds, Que. H9H 3C7
TEL (514) 620-1756
FAX (514) 620-4939
LOCAL 500
405 - 10th Street
Hanover, Ont. N4N 1P7
TEL (519) 364-2229
FAX (519) 364-7064
LOCAL 700
2088 Weston Rd.
Toronto, Ont. M9N 1X4
TEL (416) 248-6271
FAX (416) 247-5893
LOCAL 1000
P.O. Box 879
Fort Coulongé, Que. JOX 1VO
TEL (819) 683-2143
FAX (819) 683-5653
LOCAL 1000 SUB -LOCAL
658 Boulevard Cecile
Hawkesbury, Ont. P6C 5Z9
TEL (613) 636-0014
FAX (613) 636-0014
LOCAL 2693
Lakehead Labour Centre
929 Ft. William Rd., Room 6
Thunder Bay, Ont. P7B 3A6
TEL (807) 345-9041
FAX (807-345-5169
LOCAL 2995
20 Riverside Dr.
Kapuskasing, Ont. P5N 1A3
TEL (705) 335-2289
FAX (705) 335-5428
4 | THE ALLIED WORKER MAY 2004
L E T T E R S
“Once again we see another example of arrogance,
poor communication and a lack of dignity and respect....”
Weyerhaeuser’s extension of drug testing
policy to summer students done arbitrarily
In early May our local union was informed, by our committee
at the Weyerhaeuser OSB 2000 division in
Hudson Bay, that the company has decided to test summer
students for substance abuse – (drugs) only. The
company says that it will put in mandatory testing when
regular employees or new employees go into a “safety
sensitive position.” All students are to be tested, said the
company, without even mentioning it to our local union.
Then we found they are doing the same thing in
Weyerhaeuser Drayton Valley. We have asked the company
if they let students know, when they offer employment,
that they will undergo testing. We are still waiting
for an answer. We can’t believe the company is doing this
to students at the same time our union is going through
a national arbitration case on the whole issue of
substance testing in the workplace. Why doesn’t
Weyerhaeuser wait for outcome of the arbitration? Once
again we see an example of arrogance, poor communication
and a lack of dignity and respect for the workforce by
Weyerhaeuser.
PAUL HALLEN
President, IWA Canada Local 1-184
Prince Albert, SK
With Steel we can make gains in health care
I am a proud IWA Women and a proud member of
Williams Lake Local 1-425 and admit I will be a little sad to
our name and symbol go. But I'm also excited for the
future and what a merger with the United Steelworkers of
America can bring.
At our work at the Interior Health, Home Support in
Williams Lake, we have been IWA since 1990. We have
grown together and have helped each other understand
different issues we face. I was a little anxious at first
thinking we would lose all the ground we have covered
over the years but what I am learning about the
Steelworkers is that they are a progressive trade union
like the IWA and I see a lot of merger benefits.
Steel has organized over 25,000 health care workers.
So that means they will be aware of our issues and
the distinct differences we have in our collective
agreements. To me it is a comfort that we would not
want to lose any of the hard-gained ground that we
have acheived over the years.
Currently the UFCW bargains on our behalf as we
are covered under sectoral bargaining arrangements
in the province. Maybe that will change with Steel and
we will have a larger presence at table.
Steel is dedicated to organizing and has the potential
of making further gains in health care. Much like
the IWA, they also have a well-organized women’s
committee. Steel educates our union Sisters and provides
support. It looks at the issues and assists women
in becoming active by proving the necessary skills and
tools for active participation.
I urge everyone in the IWA to keep an open mind
on this merger when they go and cast their ballot.
Listen and ask questions when you need answers. I
know this is a big move and we tend to not like change
too much but try to look into the future and see the
benefits of growing and expanding our horizons.
Together with Steel we can achieve major gains for
health care workers and other sectors in the IWA.
JANICE LAURIE
Conductor, IWA Canada Local 1-425
Williams Lake, BC
Taking the fight onto a new level
For 30 years, I served the IWA, fighting for working
people. Now I have decided to take my fight for
workers and communities to a new level. It was a
difficult choice. I know it was the right one.
Let's be clear. I didn't abandon the NDP; under
Jack Layton, the federal NDP has abandoned working
people like us. On the day that IWA 2171 won
its court case against Greenpeace for damages
resulting from logging blockades, Layton boasted
the Executive Director of Greenpeace is running
for the NDP in Toronto. Layton's NDP doesn't
understand that B.C. depends on a vibrant
resource sector. His platform is old-school "tax
and spend." I support a balanced approach. I want
to build a broad industrial and sectoral strategy to
ensure Canadians can compete globally.
Stephen Harper’s Alliance-Conservatives represent
another extreme agenda. He’ll gut important
programs in order to build-up our military and give
huge tax cuts. Remember, it was the Conservatives
under Harper’s advisor Brian Mulroney that left us
with the biggest deficit in the history of Canada. I
am not prepared to let that happen again.
The federal Liberals have a balanced approach.
Paul Martin's views on the economy and jobs
assure me that we will have leadership to ensure
our forest industry remains competitive internationally.
Paul Martin's views on social policy
assure me that we will continue to have universal
access to healthcare, education and new investments
in our cities and communities. I am proud
to be part of the BC Team that is committed to
taking BC's voice to Ottawa.
Dave Haggard, Former President IWA
Federal Liberal Candidate
New Westminster-Coquitlam
Steel will be a good union for us to join
I was happy to hear that merger talks have taken place
between the USWA and the IWA. I have found the
Steelworkers to be a solid organization with a long and
proud history. During my time as a Steelworker, I was a
Shop Steward and Safety Rep. with Local 480 in Trail B.C.
At that time Ken Georgetti was the local union president.
Ken is now the president of the Canadian Labour
Congress in Ottawa. I also spent several years in
Yellowknife, N.T. and as a member of Local 802 was
actively union involved. I feel the merger of these two
unions will give us a louder voice in government and could
very well provide more training opportunities and information
sources for local union members and leaders.
BUTCH EDEN, Training Coordinator
Tolko OSB, IWA Local 1-207
Slave Lake, AB
Send us an e-mail (ngarcia@iwa.ca) or snail mail. Try to keep your letters to 75-100 words or less so we can fit more in.
Tell us about what’s happening in your part of the country. We reserve the right to edit for brevity or omit submissions.

Companies are
pulling the plug
on IWA jobs
THE CHANGES IN FOREST policy that the
IWA warned about during our forestry
town hall meetings in the spring and
summer of 2002 are starting to have a
major effect on our union’s membership.
The legislation has been put in place and
already companies are pulling the plug
on workers and communities.
Following the fire that destroyed the
Tolko Industries sawmill in Louis Creek
last summer, the government allowed
the company to kiss our community
O P I N I O N
BY WARREN OJA
goodbye. After all, legislation breaking the
tie of timber to communities was right
around the corner. Now our unemployed
members, some still without an adequate
roof over their head, watch helplessly as
truck after truck of logs once destined for
our community mill go driving on by. All
with the complete blessing of the Liberal
government of Gordon Campbell!
The North Thompson is controlled by
two big companies - Weyerhaeuser and
Tolko. Weyco pulled the plug on its
Vanvenby mill in anticipation of Liberal
forest policy. These companies are now
able to swap, chop, slice and dice their
licences. People who live in the communities
and own the trees have absolutely
no say whatsoever. We’ve had a few
protests on the issue of fibre supply and
local MLA Kevin Kroeger has done next
to nothing to take our concerns to the government.
The people of Barriere and
North Thompson have been dropped like
a hot potato.
The government says that timber will
be on the open market with the 20 per
cent clawback. But at the same time, it
allows companies to do what they want on
cut control on their remaining 80 per
cent. They will be able to live on overcutting
or undercutting their crown lands
and can stay out of the market altogether
or dominate it as they see fit. They will be
able to cut the amount that truckers haul
or force them into bidding to haul the 20
per cent. Is this what the government
means by “market forces?” What good
does that do small producers? And can’t
the big guys snap up all the wood anyways?!
All IWA members should be concerned
about the growing uncertainty
and the direction this government has
taken us in. Look at what happened to
TFL 46 on southern Vancouver Island.
TimberWest is selling off B.C.’s crown
lands. Our Local 1-80 membership and
the community are affected. I anticipate
the situation will get worse for the IWA as
more companies exercise their new powers
under Liberal legislation and that
opposition will grow. IWA jobs are disappearing
in the Fraser Valley, in
Squamish, Pemberton and the Sunshine
Coast, on Vancouver Island, and in the
Queen Charlottes. Rest assured that there
will be greater impacts in our Interior
regions as well. It’s time for us to unite
and fight for our members who are being
thrown on the scrap heap.
Warren Oja is the first vice-president of the IWA
Canada Local 1-417, who originates from the Tolko
Louis Creek sawmill.
E D I T O R I A L
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Voting Yes on the
merger is a good
move for the IWA
And thanks to Brother Haggard
for over thirty years of dedication
to IWA Canada members
BY NORM RIVARD
BEFORE I SAY SOME THINGS about our vote on the merger
with the United Steelworkers of America, on behalf of our
national officers, I’d like to say thanks to former IWA national
president Dave Haggard. Brother Haggard has made a very personal
decision to run for federal office under the Paul Martin
Liberal banner. As IWA Canada national officers we have stood
behind Dave following his personal decision.
As Dave has said: “There’s a lot of people who believe you have
to become a member of a party and stay their until you die.” Well,
Dave has decided not to remain in the NDP and he has made a
move to become part of a party that may govern after the June 28
election. In any event, I know that Dave Haggard will continue to
fight for the communities and the workers he has served faithfully
for over three decades. We wish him well and salute him for
leading the IWA to many new accomplishments. We hope to call
on him in Ottawa.
Under Brother Haggard’s nearly eight years in office the IWA
grew stronger under an Organizing and Growth Program he
worked hard to kick-start in 1997. We began to organize more in
non-traditional sectors all over Canada. Gains were made on the
collective bargaining fronts as well as for Women in the IWA and
in the field of International Solidarity. In the years ahead we are
sure that many members will look back fondly to this period as a
time of challenge and acheivement for our union. Dave Haggard
served as a strong voice for Canadian workers on the ongoing softwood
lumber battle with the United States and took the radical
green movement head on. He will be missed in our union.
As Dave moves on to new challenges so too does the IWA.
Starting in the days ahead our national membership will participate
in a referendum ballot on joining the Steelworkers. We
strongly urge all our members to vote Yes to this merger!
As members of the IWA, we have an opportunity to vote in a
referendum ballot on merging with the United Steelworkers of
WHEN TWO AMERICAN BIRDS OF the same feather are
flying from Canadian province to Canadian province to speak to
forest ministry authorities, you know that something is up. And
when the U.S. Department of Commerce thinks it has the sole
solution to the U.S. - Canada softwood lumber dispute, you also
know something is cooking.
In April Weyerhaeuser, perhaps disliked by more IWA members
than any other company operating in Canada, and
International Paper, a staunch member of the U.S. Coalition for
Fair Lumber Imports, the protectionist lobby group behind the
punishing duties against Canadian lumber, toured with provincial
ministry officials in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and
Quebec. They were there to convince the provinces to negotiate
a deal with Uncle Sam, versus continuing the litigation route,
which Canada is keeping alive for the time being.
The big American multinationals were trying to influence
Canadian provinces to get a deal done soon. In recent weeks,
British Columbia, which has adopted a series of made-in-the
USA forest policies, has even entertained the idea of going it
along with the U.S. The B.C. Lumber Trade Council has openly
mused about such possibility. After all, the Gordon Campbell
Liberals have already tailored policies that the U.S. wants.
But the kind of bargain that Uncle Sam is driving has been figured
out much of the rest of Canada’s forest industry. In an April
America. We strongly urge all our members to vote Yes to this
merger! As part of the Steelworkers we will form the largest private
sector union in Canada, with strength in several sectors of
the economy. The strength we can achieve with this merger will
have few parallels in Canadian and North American labour history.
IWA members will become part of a industrial union that
will exceed 600,000 strong. In Canada our traditional forest
industry-based membership will be the largest in country’s sector
at over 55,000, with new resources to educate, organize and
mobilize in the years ahead. Like the IWA, the Steelworkers have
a long, democratic, progressive and militant labour history which
will be respected and enhanced by this merger. To maintain our
identity a USWA-IWA Council will be created to represent traditional
IWA locals. Existing services will be maintained and
enhanced. Both sides have negotiated dues arrangements to
ensure that IWA members will be entitled to collective bargaining
and other services and be able to tap into an International Strike
Fund that will soon exceed $150 million USD. Steel will also put
an initial $1 million into an organizing drive in the IWA Council’s
traditional areas.
Locals will have access to Corporate Research, a Legal
Department, a Health, Safety and Environment Department and a
Communications Department, which offers training to local
unions. The USWA-IWA Council will have its own Executive
Council and Steering Committee to fulfill many of the same duties
of an IWA national union. Together with Steel we will be stronger.
Together Canadian and American workers will band together like
workers haven’t done since the great CIO drives of the 30s and
40s. This is a time of challenge and change for the IWA. The writing
is on the wall. Corporations are bigger and meaner than ever.
We have to get stronger to take them on in the global economy.
The events of recent years tell us there are few alternatives. Once
again, we strongly urge you to vote in favour of the merger.
EDITORIAL
We should all be shaking like a leaf
The U.S. Commerce Department is pushing for the right to be judge
and jury over the administration of the Canadian forest industry
13 letter to International Trade Minister
Jim Peterson, obtained by The Globe and
Mail, the Ontario Forest Industry
Association, Alberta Softwood Council,
Quebec Forest Industry Council and
Free Trade Lumber Council of Canada,
questioned negotiating a deal with the
United States when the USDC would
have the “sole discretion to judge the
sufficiency of provincial reforms.” Over
20 months earlier the USDC put out a
CANADIAN FOREST policy bulletin which says long-term forest
policies in provinces must withstand
INDUSTRY standards set by the U.S. itself in order
PRODUCERS for their ever to be “free trade” in lum-
QUESTION GIVING
ber. “Our industry does not find an
agreement leaving us entirely dependent
AMERICAN CONTROL upon the judgement of the United States
OVER OUR DECISION Department of Commerce to be acceptable.”
They also said they are “surprised
MAKING IN CANADA
that the Government of Canada would
be prepared to entrust the United States governmental authority
to judge the laws and policies of governments in Canada...” We
couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 5

Check out Local News to find out
what is new in your national union from
coast-to-coast across Canada
1-80 DUNCAN BC
TimberWest goes to contractors
In late June TimberWest announced
that, under new contract language provided
by mediator Don Munroe (see page
three) it intends to contract all woodlands
jobs on both private and public lands.
About 300 Local 1-80 members are
being affected. “Our guys are very pissed
off at the company’s move,” says local
union president Bill Routley, who notes
that during negotiations between FIR
and the union, the company pointed in
the direction of contractors. Routley
notes that the workers will still be connected
to the land as company jobs will
go to full phase, and not piecemeal contractors.
He also says the local has
numerous technical and legal questions
as to where current phase contractors
will fit into the picture.
1-85 PORT ALBERNI BC
Local fights for equity on clawback
of tenure in Weyco operations
Local 1-85 president Monty Mearns says the
local is retaining legal counsel to seek a just
and fair settlement concerning
Weyerhaeuser’s 20 per cent clawback of forest
tenure. It appears that Weyco is targetting
Sproat Lake company employees and
IWA members working for Mars, south of
Sproat. The local is representing more than
70 Sproat employees in contracting out
grievances, stemming back to 2002. The
local’s position is that any clawback must be
evenly spread out among Weyco divisions.
In other news the local is close to negotiating
with Coulson for collective agreements covering
both Coulson millworks and its HMP-
CSL operations in Port Alberni. With over
100 employees, they are among the largest
remanners on Vancouver Island.
1-207 ALBERTA
Local reaches new deal with Tolko
Local 1-207 president Mike Pisak says that
on April 21, a six-year agreement was
reached with the Tolko High Level sawmill.
In addition to wage increases based on the
B.C. Southern Interior, there were pension
and benefit improvements negotiated for
270 workers. Elsewhere a three-year
collective agreement was ratified for 45
workers at the Winterburne Truss plant in
Acheson on May 12. In Grande Cache, the
local union is waiting for the results of a
purchase of the former Weyco mill by C
and C Wood Products of Quesnel. The
local is willing to work with a new owner.
1-184 SASKATCHEWAN
Negotiations start with Weyco
OSB 2000 and Big River plants
Local 1-184 president Paul Hallen says that
negotiations started with Weyerhaeuser’s
OSB 2000 plant in Hudson Bay, on April
26. The local is in the process of exchanging
proposals with the Weyco Big River
operation and proposals have been
completed and dates proposed for the Weyco
plywood mill in Hudson Bay and Carrot
River sawmill and clerical unit. Contract talks
continue for a first agreement at Cab-Tek,
orgnanized over a year ago. There’s still no
word on a start-up date for the Wapawekka
sawmill in Prince Albert, where workers
have been laid off since last November. The
company has approached the IWA on
various issues in a effort to restart the mill.
6 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
LOCALnews
SPOTLIGHT LOCAL 306 MIRAMICHI NB
Crew waits out mill reconstruction
FOR TWO YEARS AND TENS MONTHS they hung in there with dogged
determination. After their plywood mill burnt to the ground in a spectacular
blaze on July 13, 2001, workers at Nelson Forest Products in Miramichi vowed
to stay together until a manufacturing operation would be rebuilt in some
way, shape and form. A new plant is near completion today and a
renewed collective agreement is in place. But workers had to strike
for two weeks in late April, early May to get it. Workers successfully
fought back to ensure their bargaining unit jobs will be protected.
Even though the employer tried to push for a deal where it could hire
any employee for any job, the union negotiated a back-to-work protocol which
respects seniority. All workers have rights to job postings through proper
seniority/competency provisions. “The boss (mill owner Robbie Tozer) tried
to make the jobs in the high tech operation to be more than what they really
are,” says Local 306 president Mario Fortunato. “Really, they are common
jobs in the industry that our guys can do.” National president Norm Rivard,
said running a plywood mill “is not rocket science – it’s just regular work.”
The back-to-work protocol includes provisions that workers must have a period
to prove competency. If there is a dispute a panel consisting of two company
reps, two union reps and the mill manager make a ruling. If that’s not
satisfactory to either party, the issue goes to arbitration. In May workers
agreed to ratify a five-year agreement with wage increases of 11 per cent over
five years – that’s on top of a $2.00 an hour wage increase for the more than
two years the mill has been down. Between 50-60 of the 80 or so workers who
are left in town will be rehired, with the possibility of more jobs in the future.
The strike helped force the deal. “Our members’ solidarity of making job
security the issue was key,” says Brother Fortunato. “Their seniority will be
permanently protected against age discrimmination by the company.”
2171 VANCOUVER/LOGGERS
Members attend town halls and
local union wins Greenpeace case
Local 2171 members have been turning out
for a series of town hall meetings throughout
the coast. Meetings, have been held in
Port McNeill (April 3), Campbell River
(April 20), Terrace (April 30), Terrace (April
30), Squamish (May 12), Powell River (May
26) and Gibsons (June 8). “Our members
are responding to the damaging effects of
Liberal forest policy changes, including the
upcoming 20 per cent clawbacks that will
devastate our members and communities.
The industry is trying to eradicate unionized
crews in the clawback process.” In
Squamish alone, Interfor plans to give up 55
per cent of the TFL, which will result in
many layoffs. Brother Wong says Interfor
should direct the clawbacks to the Bella
Coola area where there is high unemployment.
In other news, the B.C. Court of
Appeal upheld a lower court ruling that
Greenpeace must compensate local loggers
for stopping them from going to work in
the summer of 1997. Brother Wong says
PHOTO BY MARIO FORTUNATO
IWA Local 306 members took to the picket lines for two weeks to put
pressure on Nelson Forest Products for a new collective agreement.
the final decision can work to prevent such
blockades in the future and may assist the
local in settling other outstanding lawsuits
against environmental groups. The local
was reimbursed a portion of legal expenses.
324 THE PAS MB
Local staves off open raid by CEP
Local 324 is battling the CEP over its open
raid, which began on June 10, of IWA
members at the Tolko sawmill and planer
in The Pas. Business agent Chris Parlow
says that millworkers, IWA members
from other Manitoba operations and
Steelworkers are “continuing to defend
the membership until the raid stops.”
IWA national first vice president Wilf
McIntyre says the CEP is trying to exploit
some discontent over a binding settlement
imposed last year by mediator Vince
Ready – one which fell far short of the
IWA’s contract demands. Brother
McIntyre also charged that the CEP is
interfering with the current merger
process with the United Steelworkers of
America.
1-424 PRINCE GEORGE BC
Deals reached in north country
Local 1-424 president Frank Everitt reports
that in May agreements were reached with
value-added operations. A five-year deal
covering more than 50 workers was struck
at the Vanderhoof Specialties plant in
Vanderhoof, which produces finger-joint
stock and high value materials for Japan.
A wage reopener for the final two years of
a current five-year contract was also
achieved at the Newpro plant in Smithers,
which is a medium density fibreboard
operation. Between 60-80 workers are
employed there. Elsewhere IWA truckers
at the Lucas and Sons trucking operation
in MacKenzie have voted to go on strike to
back up their contract demands. They
haul lumber and chips for Abitibi in the
northern forest-dependent community.
1-405 CRANBROOK BC
Tembec agreement reached and
credit union negotiations underway
Local 1-405 president Bob Matters reports
that in March the union reached a threeyear
deal with the Tembec value-added
operation in Cranbrook. The plant has
shown increasing profitability in recent
months. Meanwhile the local union is in
master agreement discussions with the
Community Choice Credit Union
(formerly Nelson and District Credit
Union). The agreement, which expired on
May 31, covers about 50 IWA members in
Nelson, Crawford Bay and Rossland.
Financial-secretary Doug Singer is leading
the union’s negotiating committee. Wages
and benefits are priority items.
1-417 KAMLOOPS BC
Extra shifts and more jobs arise
and L-P still looking for buyer
Local 1-417 has seen an increase in jobs
following the takeover of two Slocan
operations by Canfor. A third shift has been
added in Vavenby. Tolko has put on a third
shift at its Merritt planer/sawmill. Aspen
Planers in Merritt has put on a weekend
shift. Overall, most workers are on the job
on 4 x 10 or 3 x 12 hour shifts. In other news,
president Joe Davies says an IFLRA type
agreement was reached in April with L-P at
its Malakwa mill. A deal was also reached
for dependent truckers. The local is
concerned that, under new Liberal policy, L-
P will sell the license and shut the mill.
1-423 KELOWNA BC
Several contract talks taking place
IWA Local 1-423 reports that several
sets of contract talks have been lined
up. Local president Ben Landis will be
chairing a negotiating committee at the
Canwood reman operation, where
about 100 work. Talks started on June
14. Financial secretary Verne McGregor
is leading negotiations at both the
Riverside Eagle Rock Nursery in
Armstrong where the contract expire on
July 1 and at the Synergy Pacific Wood
Solutions reman in Armstrong.
Between 80-100 work at Synergy and
there are about 20 full timers at Eagle
Rock. That number can climb to
between 50-100 part timers during
lifting season. Business agent Dave
Welder is heading the negotiating team
at the Riverside reman in Winfield,
which has a due date soon.

363 C OURTENAY BC
Interfor crew looks at shift
changes and local in contract talks
Local 363 reports that the crew at Interfor’s
Fields sawmill in Courtenay is looking at an
alternate shift proposal that would see the
plant run Monday to Friday on ten hour
shifts. Workers would be on 10 hour shifts
with a day off through the week. Training is
a key issue for workers and the local says full
employment must be provided. The mill
has been up and down – Interfor claims due
to log shortages. Elsewhere negotiating
committees have been struck at both the
Comox Valley Sports complex and at
Strathcona Gardens in Campbell River. At
the Weyerhaeuser North Island Timberland
the crew has accepted a 4 x 4 shift, which is
seeing some local loggers return to work
after extensive layoff periods.
1-425 WILLIAMS LAKE BC
Agreements reached with Soda
Creek truckers and Parallel mill
The Williams Lake, B.C. local reports that
two agreements have recently been
completed. In mid-May the local settled a
deal representing 52 truckers who haul to
the Riverside Forest Products Soda Creek
mill. The truckers get improvements to
their ton/hour hauling rates and have
their fuel covered, which is key as diesel
prices are on the upswing. In Williams
Lake the local has settled with Parallel
Wood Products. A five year agreement will
see across-the-board wage increases of two
per cent in each of the first four years and
30 cents an hour in the fifth. The union
was also able to bargain a fixed Category 3
rate up to $15.00 an hour from $14.50.
1-3567 FRASER VALLEY BC
Local holds annual convention
Local 1-3567 held its annual meeting on
June 19. Guest speakers included
Steelworkers’ Region 3 Director Steve
Hunt and IWA national third vice president
Wade Fisher who talked about the
many benefits of the merger agrement
between the IWA and Steel. Local president
Sonny Ghag gave a report on the
binding coast agreement rendered by
mediator Don Munroe (see page three).
Brother Ghag said Munroe clearly sided
with FIR on several issuses, including the
issue of flex shifts and the elimination of
Sunday overtime. National secretary-treasurer
David Tones spoke on the importance
of political action and the local reconstituted
its Political Action Committee
which scheduled a meeting for June 26.
830 WINNIPEG MB
In negotiations with Smurfit-MBI
Local 830 president Jack Alexander says
the IWA is in contract talks with Smurfit-
MBI where 150 workers have been without
a contract since the end of February. Issues
include more company contributions to
the pension plan and closing a wage gap
with the Norampac corrugated plant, also a
Local 830 operation. Both Smurfit-MBI
and Norampac have hired summer students
for relief work. At the Unisource
warehouse in Winnipeg, the local is facing
a series of grievances. The employer has
told seven workers they have not met standards
on filling orders. At the same time
management won’t say what the standards
are. “I think they are trying to bust the local
with arbitration costs,” says Alexander.
400 QUEBEC
Three year deal reached at Simmons
Local 1000 reports that an agreement has been
reached at the Simmons mattress plant in
Kirkland, Quebec. Financial secretary Yvon
Rochon, who headed the negotiating team,
says the crew will get wage increases of $1.80
per hour over the term of the agreement.
Progress was also made on OH&S
representation and coverage. Several issues
related to the bonus system, which is jointly
administered, were resolved. Brother Rochon
says that the committee also negotiated
significant increases to the education fund and
achieved increases in guaranteed hours when
workers are called in for just-in-time orders.
2693 THUNDER BAY ON
Local holds combines education
conference with annual meeting
Local 2693 held a day and a half education
conference in Thunder Bay on May 6 and 7.
National second vice president Joe Costa
instructed a class titled “Responsibilities”
while IWA national health and safety director
Ron Corbeil instructed a class on IWA policy.
In addition, Local 2995’s Louise Dionne
instructed a French language class on
assertivness training. The keynote speakers
included Ontario NDP leader Howie
Hampton and IWA Canada national first
vice-president Wilf McIntyre. The local
unanimously passed a resolution to give its
political support to both the provincial and
federal New Democrats. A resolution was
passed, calling on the local to preserve its
autonomy in any merger arrangement and
for the protection and enhancement of
services to the membership. There was also
discussion on the issue of protecting strike
pay levels in any merger.
700 TORONTO ON
Agreement reached at Hy and Zel’s
Local president Ron Diotte reports that
locked out workers at the Hy and Zel’s
outlets in Hamilton went back to work after
a settlement on May 27. A pattern
agreement was reached for Hy and
Zel’s stores in New Market and Niagara
Falls as well. Elsewhere workers at Allin
Cable reels in Ajax accepted a three-year
1000 NORTHCENTRAL ON
Strike vote backs up settlement
at open pit operation in Quebec
Local 1000 president Michael McCarter
informs The Allied Worker that a strong
strike vote by 30 workers at the Dolomex
open pit mine near Fort Coulonge, Quebec
resulted in pressuring the employer for a
three-year settlement with wage increases
8.5 per cent over the terms of the deal.
Increases in shift differential pay was also
bargained. The workers mine dolomite
which is used in a number of applications
including glass and fertilizer manufacturiing.
Elsewhere the local is in negotiations
with Canusa in Huntsville, Ontario. The
workers’ issues include achieving better
wages, benefits, and dealing with lead
hands working as foremen. The plant produces
shrink plastic, pipeline coating and
adhesive products.
500 HANOVER ON
Workforce numbers hit a surge
upwards at Tilsonburg TDS plant
Local 500 president Bruce Weber reports
that TDS automotive in Tilsonburg,
soutwestern Ontario, has nearly doubled
to more than 400 workers. TDS packages
GM autoparts, most of which are being
shipped off to assembly plants in
Venezuela and China. Brother Weber
notes that it is a cyclical industry that has
hit a boom period. In other news, the
local union’s Woodworkers Hall in
Hanover was the site of this year’s Day of
Mourning event for union’s of the Grey-
Bruce Labour Council. Reps from the
IWA, OPSEU, CEP and Ontario People
Labour Union were present. The IWA
flag flew at half-mast and Kay’s Country
Girls sang “The Working Man” on the
front steps of the hall. Former IWA
national officer Bill Pointon was present.
FOCUS DARYL HARKNESS • LOCAL 324 • THE PAS, MB
■ Daryl Harkness is the IWA’s northern
Manitoba financial-secretary.
deal with wage and benefit improvements.
A three year collective agreement was
reached at Hanford Lumber in Etobicoke
recently. The deal included wage increases of
3 per cent in the first, and 2 percent plus one
per cent for RRSP’s in each of the final two
years and an improved safety boot allowance.
Local 700 members at Allin Cable
Reels in Ajax accepted new contract.
2995 KAPUSKASING ON
Local holds biennial convention
Local 2995 held its bienniel convention in
Timmins on May 27 and 28. Sixty-five
delegates attended. Speakers included IWA
national president Norm Rivard, Ontario
NDP leader Howie Hampton, Local NDP
MPP Gilles Bison and Local 2693 president
Joe Hanlon. The top issue discussed was the
merger talks with the Steelworkers. “We
have been getting information on the
merger into our members’ hands and they
are open-minded to hear more details,” says
local union president Guy Bourgouin. “The
IWA negotiating committee has done a
good job on the merger agreement.” In
other news, negotiations are complete at the
Roman Catholic School Board in
Hornepayne, where the employer agreed to
a three year deal with wage adjustment and
percent increases for education assistant,
custodian and secretary jobs. In June, the
Tembec Kirkland Lake operation returned
as the local is hoping for two shifts. At the
Columbia Forest Products in Hearst, about
40 of 140 laid-off workers have been recalled
as veneer and plywood prices have risen.
Former store manager and now union
officer says it boils down to dignity
Like many other
Manitobans, he was
raised in farm communities
(Grand
View and Gilbert
Plains) and went to
work at an early
age. Current Local
324 financial-secre-
tary Daryl Harkness, who be sworn in as a six-year trustee this
coming September, underwent a unique path to leadership in
the IWA. Only about a year after hiring on at the Tolko sawmill
as a general labourer in ‘97, Harkness got involved as a recording
secretary. He began to put his communications and people
skills to work for the northern local. Following elections in
2002, he became a working financial secretary – someone who
donates much volunteer time to help oversee the local’s business.
But Daryl wasn’t always a union man. He worked in
management for the Metropolitan Store chain, starting in
Steinbach, Manitoba in 1983 at the age of 20. He took a busi-
ness accountant course of Assiniboine College in Brandon
prior to that. By age 25, he became the top manager at the
Metropolitan Store in The Pas. From there he was transferred
to Portage La Prairie, then back to The Pas. Then it
“WE HAVE A LARGE
AREA TO COVER WITH
A RELATIVELY SMALL
MEMBERSHIP...”
- DARYL HARKNESS
FIN-SEC LOCAL 324
FILE PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
was off to Grande Prairie,
Alberta for a short spell prior
to his return to The Pas. As
manager, Daryl saw the other
side of the labour relations
equation and experienced
being the manager during a
decertification campaign. “I
look back now and realize
what the workers were going
through and the pressure we were under as management,”
he says. “It all boils down to dignity and treating people with
respect.” Today he finds union activities to be a challenge.
“We have a large area to cover with a relatively small membership,”
he says. “To do that you have to be innovative.” He
notes that it takes support from family and IWA members.
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 7

S T R I K E S A N D L O C K O U T S
Tearing down the shack!
IWA Local 2693 members at Bowater Ignace
ratify agreement after nearly 20 months on the line
THEY COULDN’T WAIT to tear
apart their picket shack as a symbol
that one, long, tough strike came to an
end. On April 2 IWA Local 2693
members from the Bowater Ignace
sawmill in northwestern Ontario had
a little fiesta. They even set up a barbeque
and had some refreshments to
celebrate their victory.
They got together with local union
reps to disassemble and burn up
their picket shack which had been in
place for nearly 20 months!
On March 28, over 90 per cent of
the workers voted to accept a collective
agreement, following the bitter
strike against a giant U.S.-based
company.
After getting back to the bargaining
table with the help of mediator
Roger Brideau, marathon bargaining
sessions on March 22 - 24 led to a
memorandum of agreement on the
morning of March 24. At the table
for the union were Local 2693 president
Joe Hanlon, plant chair Clay
Defeo and local financial-secretary
Bruce Frost.
“We’re glad this strike came to a
successful conclusion,” says Brother
Hanlon. “We got the company to
back off its major demands of scheduling
work any way it wants, contracting
out the yard work to nonunion
workers and underpaying the
workers.” Wage increases won by the
IWA, will see union members get
between $3.50 to $6.50 an hour
increases by the end of the contract
which expires on March 31, 2008.
Workers who were on the seniority
list in 2002 will receive a $1000
signing bonus effective June 1, 2004
“Those kind of wage increases will
help us bring the workers up towards
industry standards,” says Brother
Hanlon.
8 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
Workers will get to vote on what
alternate shift they are employed on.
There is the standard five-days-aweek,
8 hour a day model and a six
10 hour day model, where workers
average four tens per week on a rotating
basis.
Bowater agreed that the yard contractor
will be IWA, via a voluntary
certification. Workers inside the mill
will be able to go to the yard based on
seniority and have up to one year to
decide whether they want to stay with
the contractor. They would get their
full seniority and vacation pay, etc.
Of the more than 50 workers who
went on strike, between 35-40 are
being called back to work.
Brother Frost expressed both optimism
and relief at the settlement
and return to work.
“It was a helluva battle,” he says.
“Our members fought a good fight.
They protested, they stood solid on
the picket line, and they stuck to
their guns and believed they would
prevail. It all paid off.”
In late January of this year, the
striking members were joined by
supporters to leaflet logging trucks
and motorists outside the Bowater
pulp and paper complex in Thunder
Bay. They pointed out that good
sawlogs, many loads of which should
have gone to the sawmill in Ignace,
were being chipped by the company.
Such wasteful practices and growing
community pressure helped bring
the company back to the table, says
Brother Frost.
Newly-elected Ignace mayor Hugh
Broughton went over and above what
a regular politician does to get the
sides talking together.
Plant chair Clay Defeo says that
Mr. Broughton played a leading role
in the community and spoke out for
PHOTO BY BRUCE FROST
Local 2693 president Joe Hanlon (third from left) and other officers were present to celebrate end of the strike.
loggers, millworkers and businesses
that were being affected. “He
(Broughton) did a good job in getting
the ball rolling,” says Brother Defeo.
Ignace is a northwestern Ontario
community of less than 2,000 inhabitants
that mostly depends on
forestry, rail service, natural gas
transmission and tourism. The
strike, which began in August 2002,
had a major affect on the community.
After Bowater bought the mill
from a local businessman and
ploughed over $25 million into
upgrading the facilities. It is a stateof-the
art stud mill.
The operation is built to handle
tree length logs that measure 14
inches and under. It is a highly efficient
chip and saw set-up which has
high wood utlization standards.
Brother Defeo says that rising lumber
prices likely played an important
factor, as well, in getting the company
back to the table. He also said that it’s
likely that Bowater’s shareholder
were upset that the strike dragged on
so long, after the company had invested
so much money in the upgrade.
The dispute was a showdown
between the local union and the
largest pulp and paper company in
the world, which controls some 8 million
hectares of forest lands in northwestern
Ontario and another 24 million
hectares in Quebec and other
provinces. The company employs
about 450 Local 2693 members in
company and contractor jobs.
“It was a bitter dispute that people
won’t forget for a long time,” says
Brother Hanlon. “But the main task
at hand is to get our people back on
the job and the plant working in an
efficient and safe manner. Our people
want to work and support their
families and community.”
PHOTO BY JOHN GOLDTHORP
IWA members hit the bricks to
beat back a list of concessions.
Local 1000 members strike
at Superior Hardwood veneer
On March 29 thirty-two IWA Canada
Local 1000 members at Superior
Hardwood Veneer walked off the job
when the employer refused to take
concessions off the table. Workers
at the specialty plant, which is situated
on the Bathchewana First
Nation’s Rankin Reserve, near Sault
Ste. Marie, confronted two scabs on
the second day of the dispute. The
scabs came out of the mill after only
a few hours. At first the employer
wanted a one-year rollover, freezing
wages and benefits, which was
refused by a 100 per cent vote. Then
the boss tried to change shift scheduling,
modify overtime provisions
and take away an attendance bonus.
“The crew said no to concessions,”
says local union secretary John
Goldthorp, who heads the IWA
negotiating committee along with
plant chair Darwin Richard. “The
employer has misjudged the resolve
of our members to take job action
for a fair deal.” Workers also want
an increase to shift differentials in
the event of two shift or three shift
variations.
PHOTO COURTESY IWA LOCAL 700
IWA members walked out in
Steeltown.
Local 700 members settle
after lock out at Hy and Zel’s
On April 23 the newly-organized
crew at the Hy and Zel’s in Hamilton
Mountain were locked out after the
boss offered a one per cent increase
over 6 months and attempted to
take away part of earned vacations
for those with 10-17 years seniority.
Twenty-four IWA Local 700 members
hit the bricks. The employer
brought in two van loads containing
14 scabs which the picketers resisted.
That dropped to one van with 4
scabs. On May 12, workers turned
down an employer’s offer by a vote
of 23-1. A settlement was reached
for all three Hy and Zel’s operations
on May 20 (see local union news
page 7). On May 27 the one year
deal was ratified, which give a two
per cent wage increase and preserves
holidays.

O R G A N I Z I N G A N D G R O W T H
On the North Island are (l. to r.)
Parks, Berkelaar, McIntosh,
McNabb and Rioux.
IWA organizers team up to sign
up fish plant crew on the Island
Starting in December of 2003, union
organizers began to work on signing
up potential IWA members at the
Panfish (Alpha-Omega) fish processing
plant near Port Hardy. Local
2171’s Sonny Rioux, 1-3567’s Gordie
McIntosh, 363’s Leslie McNabb, 1-
425’s Carla Berkelaar, and 1-417’s
Darren Parks teamed up to conduct
the campaign. By late April, over 40
per cent of the crew of about 200
workers had signed IWA cards.
Brother McIntosh told The Allied
Worker that workers, who process
farm and wild salmon and other
species, want to have more regular
hours of work and seniority provisions.
There are reports of unfair
treatment in the plant. Job postings
and promotions are big issues as
well as the lack dignity and respect
on the job. Many workers suffer
from repetitive strain injuries. The
organizing campaign continued in
May. Following a month layoff the
employer began to issue, permanent
layoff notices in late May and
June, rekindling interest in the IWA’s
organizing drive.
Thunder Bay Local 2693 signs
up floor joist plant workers
Negotiations are currently underway
for newly organized workers at the
DF Floor Joist operation in Thunder
Bay. Local 2693’s Nathalie Belair
worked on the
organizing
campaign
which can
employ
between 30-40
workers during
busy seasons.
Following a
Nathalie Belair
campaign
which began in February, the local
was granted certification on March
12. Sister Belair says that continuity
of employment (the application of
seniority) and health and safety
issues are at the forefront of workers’
demands. Although the WSIB
has done a safety audit, there are
still numerous outstanding issues to
deal with. There are also wage disparity
issues to be narrowed.
Labourer rates run between $9.50 -
$13.50 an hour. Top rates run from
$18.50 - $25.00 an hour for lead
hands. The plant, which does not
sell to local builders, exports much
of its production to markets in the
United States.
Pictured outside the mill, l. to r., are union supporters Dan Belliveau, Dan Langille and Shane Daley.
IWA LOCAL 306 FIGHTS TO CERTIFY FIRST-EVER OPERATION IN NOVA SCOTIA
Going for a big breakthrough
FOR THE FIRST TIME ever, an IWA local union has
blazed a trail into the Maritime province of Nova Scotia.
Local 306, with its headquarters in Miramichi, New
Brunswick, is attempting to be certified as the legal bargaining
agent for 61 workers at the Deniso Lebel Ltd.
(Scotsburn) lumber and planer operation in the rural
community of Scotsburn.
Local 306 president and organizer Mario Fortunato told
The Allied Worker that it was one of the best campaigns
he has worked on. The workers have been well-organized
internally and contacted the IWA, determined to
join the union to better their wages and working conditions.
The campaign, which began in April, was completed
and went to a vote on May 3. All but three workers
showed up to vote. But the ballot box has been closed
following the lay-off of two key supporters and the suspension
of another. The IWA is fighting the layoffs as
unfair labour practices. The issue is before legal counsel
on both sides.
“We hope to make new inroads into Nova Scotia,”
says IWA Canada president Norm Rivard. “Since the
1950s, the IWA has been working in the Maritimes.
This is definite history in the making. We will continue
to work hard to bring the workers into our union and
consider it of major importance to our organization.”
Brother Fortunato says the employer and employees
already have an employment agreement in place, based
on contract language found in other collective agreements.
The company has other unionized operations.
“We’re not building from scratch here,” he says.
“There’s some good stuff to build on. Most of all, the
crew wants to be treated with dignity and respect –
issues common when workers join a union.”
A key supporter, Bill McKenzie, was fired after he
exercised his right to refuse unsafe work. After the
WCB reinstated him, the company appealed the decision.
The IWA is taking the case on. The IWA is also
defending one worker who has been assisting in the
drive. The worker was recently demoted in the midst of
the campaign.
Airport security crews join IWA
IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO two
groups of airport security workers have
signed up in strong numbers to join the
IWA. National union organizer Fran
Borsellino reports that workers
employed by Aeroguard Security at the
John C. Munro International Airport in
Mount Hope (near Hamilton) and the
Kitchener-
Waterloo
International airport
in Breslau,
have been certified
to IWA Local
500 which has its
headquarters in
Hanover. Sister
Fran Borsellino
Borsellino got
her first contacts
for the organizing drive in January of
this year. Because the industry is regulated
under Transport Canada, certification
procedures take place under the
federal labour code.
The certification for more than thirty
workers at Mount Hope airport was
granted on April 30 while the Breslau
unit, which employs four workers, was
At the John. C Munro terminal are l. to r., Robert Dougans, Steward
Diane Skewes, Donna Duggan, Steward Pearl Clark and Ross Wright.
certified in mid-May. Sister Borsellino and
national organizing coordinator Mike
Hunter worked on the campaign.
Workers at both operations are certified
to search baggage and passengers who
board aircraft. Both airports are seeing
increased traffic in scheduled and chartered
flights.
Pearl Clark, a negotiating committee
member at John C. Munro, says that work-
PHOTO COURTESY IWA LOCAL 306
PHOTO BY SAUL MARQUES
ers want a collective agreement that provides
better wages and benefits and
respects the crew for the jobs they do.
Starting wages are at only $10.32 an hour
for workers who have to go through constant
training and upgrading. “We’re
there to stop terrorists,” she says. “We
take our responsibility very seriously
and are out there to do our best job to
protect the public.”
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 9

Steelworkers meet with IWA Officers and staff
Above, then IWA president Dave Haggard presented
USWA international president with a copy of the IWA
history book and IWA jacket. Above middle, Lawrence
McBrearty noted that IWA members and Steelworkers
share similar culture and history and then District 3
director Ken Neumann gave the delegates a rundown on
how Steel functions in Western Canada.
10 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
PHOTOS BY NORMAN GARCIA
Left, at the IWA
national officers and staff
conference in March were
l. to r. USWA international
president Leo Gerard,
then Canadian director
Lawrence McBrearty, then
District 3 Director
Ken Neumann (now
Canadian director) and
IWA national secretarytreasurer
David Tones.
Above left, national staff member Kim Pollock and then IWA national first vicepresident
Norm Rivard faciliated one of four workshops to hear concerns raised by IWA
officers and staff. Above, were some of the workshop participants. In front row, l. to r.
are Local 2171’s Bob Freer and Local 2995’s Jacques Jean. In second row were, l. to r.,
Local 1-184 president Paul Hallen, Local 1-3567’s Earl Graham, Local 1-3567’s financial
secretary Sonny Ghag, and Local 1-424 president Frank Everitt.

Above, were workshop participants including Local 1-424’s Brian Croy, Local
1-423’s Dave Briscoe, Local 2171’s Harry Bains and Bill Owens, Local 2693’s J.P.
Carrier and Local 2995’s Roland Laurin.
Above, l. to r., were Local 363’s Erik Eriksson, Local 1-207’s Nick
Stewart, Local 1-425’s Mitch Van dale, Local 1-425’s Janice Laurie and
Local 1-425 president Ron Derbyshire.
PHOTOS BY NORMAN GARCIA
Above were facilitators: l. to r. then national fifth vicepresident
MIke Pisak, IWA WSIB advocate Sylvia Royce and
national staff representative Bob Navarretta.
Above, left then IWA national third vice-president Joe da Costa was a workshop facilitator.
Pictured at the meeting’s general session were, l. to r., Local 1-424’s Sucha Deepak, Local 1-424
president Frank Everitt, then IWA national second vice-president Wilf McIntyre and Local 306
president Mario Fortunato.
Above, l. to r., workshop facilitators were then
IWA national fourth vice president Wade Fisher and
national staff member Ron Corbeil.
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 11

Pictured during a meeting at the IWA’s national office in Burnaby were USWA International president Leo Gerard (centre, back to camera) and members of
the IWA’s merger negotiating committee. Clockwise, from front left, are IWA national president Norm Rivard, national first vice president Wilf McIntyre,
national staffer John Mountain, Local 1-405 president Bob Matters, Local 2171 president Darrel Wong, Local 1000 president Mike McCarter, Local 1-3567
president Sonny Ghag, Local 2693 president Joe Hanlon, Local 1-184 president Paul Hallen and national secretary-treasurer David Tones.
Joining with Steel to form
The IWA and Steelworkers are heading into an historical period
as two great industrial unions move to combine forces to protect and
organize workers in North America and take on global corporations
IWA
Across North America, the Steelworkers woulcl grow to more than 650,000
strong, making IWA Canada members part of an organization with an unprecedented
array of resources and services for its membership (see articles pages one,
two, and President’s message on page three).
“The time is now to merge with the Steelworkers,” says IWA Canada national
president Norman Rivard. “We have to be part of a union that will give us more
clout at the bargaining table and more clout with government. We have to organize
and grow or risk a future where ever-increasingly powerful multinational corporations
will be out to destroy the IWA on its own.”
Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard, who originates from Local
6500 in Sudbury (Inco Nickel) says that Canadian Steelworkers have always played
a large role in the International union (the International president has been a
Canadian for all but seven of the last 25 years) and that Canadian Steel districts and
locals run their affairs in a completely autonomous way.
Brother Gerard says the Steelworkers strongly believe in the continued organizing
and strengthening of workers in traditional resources sectors (i.e. forest products,
mining, steel, rubber, glass and aluminum) to maintain a union density that
will allow for the strong collective agreeements
12 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
MEMBERS ACROSS CANADA are about
to cast one of the most important ballots they have
ever cast. Following National Executive Board’s
approval of the merger agreement with the Steelworkers on June 21, all
IWA’ers will be voting on joining with United Steelworkers of America
(USWA) to form the largest and most powerful private sector union in all of
Canada. The vote starts on July 12. Final results are to be in by August 27.
PHOTOS BY NORMAN GARCIA
The Steelworkers also bill themselves as
“Everybody’s Union,” underscoring their commitment,
much like the IWA’s, to organize all
kinds of workers in the Canadian economy.
Says Brother Gerard: “If you don’t find
places to organize as the economy is being
restructured and find opportunities to inject
yourself into the new economy, then you simply
are living on the edge of death...”
Since 1998, the Steelworkers have brought
in over 100,000 new members. They spend
over $30 million a year on organizing.
With the addition of IWA Canada, forest
sector workers will become the Steelworkers’
largest resources sector in the country – larger that mining or steel itself.
“As a resource-based private sector union, we share many of the same values,”
says Brother Rivard. “Those values include serving our members’ and families’
needs and building strength in communities and taking political action to defend
our collective interests. Steel’s programs like education, organizing, collective bargaining,
legal assistance and the ability to run strategic campaigns against large
employers, will prove invaluable to us in the future.”
At the first national staff conference to discuss the merger in March (see pictures
page ten and eleven) Brother Gerard outlined the effectiveness of major strategic
campaigns in taking on such issues as beating back punishing U.S. tariffs against
Canadian steel imports and taking on corporate giants including U.S. Steel,
Bridgestone/Firestone, Pittsburgh Steel and the Northrup Grumann shipyards in
Newport News, Virginia, a right-to-work state.
With the growth of powerful multinational corporations in the forest industry,
such as Weyerhaueser, Bowater and Louisiana Pacific, the IWA will be at risk in the
future unless it has the strength to strike back.
Said Brother Gerard: “It doesn’t matter whether you are in the United States or
in Canada, you need to have a comprehensive strategy to bring these employers to

“As part of the United Steelworkers of America, our members wi l have more services and more
programs to ca l upon.” – Norm Rivard, National President, IWA Canada
justice – because too much of the government apparatus, too much of the corporate
apparatus and financial apparatus is tilted in their (corporations’) favour and
you can no longer win a strike just on the picket line...”
IWA national first vice president Wilf McIntyre says the merger will give IWA
members, as part of the Steelworkers, a powerful lobbying voice in both Ottawa
and Washington (USWA has paid lobbyists in both capitals), especially when it
comes to issues like the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber battle.
National IWA secretary-treasuer David Tones says that, like the IWA itself, the
Steelworkers have a tradition of educating the membership at all levels. Across
Canada, the USWA have over 100 trained local union instructors with over 20 different
courses from basic job steward training to WCB advocacy. The Steelworkers
standard dues formula calls for 2 cents per member per hour to be paid into educating
the membership.
“As part of the United Steelworkers of America, our members will have more
services and more programs to call upon,” says Brother Rivard. “That’s what it’s
all about.” The Steelworkers also have an international strike fund which has close
to $150 million USD – allowing its membership to take on major, costly battles if
necessary.
The Steelworkers, which are one of the most respected affiliates of the Canadian
Labour Congress and the American Federation of Labour-Congress of Industrial
Organizations, have launched into a “strategic alliance” with PACE ( Paper, Allied-
Industrial, Chemical and Energy International Union). That alliance is seeing a
sharing of knowledge and resources and a coordination of activities and programs
including collective bargaining, organizing, legislative and political action, etc,
with a view towards possibly merging PACE, which has some 175,000 members
in the forest industry sector alone, into the Steelworkers in the future. PACE has
over 40 Weyerhaueser units in the United States alone.
“If we can join with the Steelworkers, and actively work to broaden the USWA
Merger is a win-win
The United Steelworkers’ National
Director Ken Neumann says the tentative
merger agreement between the
Steelworkers and the IWA is a win-win
for both unions, and would be a historic
blending of two of Canada’s most important
labour organizations.
“Steelworkers have a lot of experience
with lobbying politicians on issues such
as trade,” Neumann said. “Our legislative
office in Ottawa is a new and valuable
resource for our current membership and
a merger with the IWA can only mean
increased political clout for IWA members
as well.”
Neumann said any merged union’s
agenda must include the fight for open
and fair access for Canadian lumber products
to the U.S. market.
“We are committed to making resolution
of the ongoing softwood dispute
between the US and Canada a priority,”
he said.
With a history rooted in landmark struggles
for representation in the early part of
the twentieth century, Neumann said the
match between Steel and the IWA is the
appropriate response to the pressures of
21st Century labour relations.
“The products and services our memberships
provide are many and the pressures
are the same, and the need for
increased solidarity is obvious. A merger
goes a long way to achieving that goal by
creating the largest, most diverse industrial
union in Canada.”
The need to grow the union through
organizing remains, he said, and mergers
USWA Canadian Director Ken
Neumann, seen with Local 1-3567
president Sonny Ghag.
are no substitute for continuing to utilize
organizing talent within both organizations
to reach out to more non-union
workers.
“Our union’s have complementary
strengths in different parts of the country,”
Neumann said. “Our solidarity is
already on display in New Brunswick,
where Steelworkers have pledged their
support for IWA strikers at a local dairy.
“Employers are going to begin to understand
that when they take on the IWA,
they are taking on the strength of two
organizations committed to supporting
each other over the long term.”
Neumann said he looks forward to
answering any questions IWA members
may have about Steelworkers services
and resources. He can be contacted via
the Steelworkers’ Canadian website,
www.uswa.ca, email uswa@uswa.ca.
“It doesn’t get any stronger when you
blend Wood and Steel together,” he said.
Pictured during talks were, l. to r., IWA financial-secretary David
Tones, IWA first vice-president Wilf McIntyre, USWA International
president Leo Gerard, and IWA president Norm Rivard.
to include PACE, then we will be able to put some serious international
pressure on Weyerhaeuser in the future,” says Brother McIntyre. “That’s
where we have to go with these big multinationals in the years ahead. One
union fighting a major multinational in one country is no longer effective.”
“This merger, in addition to increasing services to our members, is a
response to the fact that more and more corporate mergers are making
employers stronger and unions weaker,” adds Brother Rivard. “We have
to get bigger and stronger to take on these multinationals. The alternative
is to become isolated and get picked off by the majors.”
one big and strong union
Gerard to push wood councils
LEO GERARD, international president
of the United Steelworkers of America,
is quick to point out that his union is a
product of numerous mergers (see article
page one) and has brought workers
together to deal with common issues
across national border lines, in numerous
sectors of the economy.
Being one of the most influential
trade unions in North America, the
USWA unites workers in Canada, the
United States, Mexico and, also, several
Caribbean nations.
Steel also participates in three sectoral
global Councils: the World Rubber
Council, the World Aluminum Council
and the World Mining Council, which
bring together trade unionists from the
Western Hemisphere, Europe and Asia.
The World Rubber Council, in which
the USWA plays a leading role, is currently
gearing up for a battle against
Bridgestone/Firestone to head-off the
company’s attempt to dump cheap
Chinese tires on the global market, displacing
unionized workers in developed
countries.
“If you don’t fight back, you lose,”
says Brother Gerard. “If we get into a
fight, I can’t guarantee we’ll win, but if
we don’t, I can guarantee we’ll lose.”
It’s that kind of fighting spirit that the
Steelworkers bring to the IWA and their
battles against giant forest companies
like Weyerhaeuser. The USWA works to
set up first North American, hemispheric
and then global industrial councils. In
its proposed merger with the IWA in
Canada, the wood products sector will
have some 55,000 workers in the primary,
secondary
and tertiary
forest products
industries.
Starting in
April of this
year, the
USWA and
PACE (the
Paper, Allied-
Leo Gerard
Industrial,
Chemical and
Energy Workers Industrial Union)
embarked on a “Strategic Alliance,” an
effort to share information and services
with a view to a possible merger within
two years (see article this page).
Gerard says forest industry workers
can be better served by forming strategic
alliances and strategies to take on global
powers like Weyco, International Paper
and Louisiana Pacific. “I think we can
put something together that will benefit
workers in Canada, the United States
and elsewhere,” he said. “It’s time that
we combine our resources and strategies
to bargain issues like investment in
plants, guaranteed production, guaranteed
employment and that capital is reinvested
in the forest industry. If we don’t
take on the multinationals and get these
kinds of things into our agreements, the
future will be bleak for workers everywhere.”
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 13

W O M E N ’ S I S S U E S
Pictured at the Kelowna conference are, l. to r., Local 1000’s Martha Ulch, Local 1-3567’s Cheryl Williams,
Local 1-424’s Bonnie Armstrong, Local 1-423’s Lenette Terry, Local 500’s Mary Lou Scott, Women’s Committee
chairperson Brenda Wagg of Local 2171 and B.C. NDP leader Carole James.
Women meet in Kelowna
IWA Canada holds fourth annual national women’s
conference in the Okanagan Valley city
THIS YEAR’S IWA CANADA Women’s
Educational Conference, was held in
Kelowna, B.C. from June 3 - 6.
National Women’s Committee chairperson
Brenda Wagg reports that there
were 46 IWA women from local unions
across the country present.
A social took place on the evening of
June 3 and the opening address was
given by IWA Canada third vice president
Wade Fisher on June 4, followed
by comments from the host local’s
Lenette Terry, secretary of IWA
Women’s Committee.
The conference’s workshops ran June
4 and 5 and the wrap -up plenary session
took place on June 6. Topics included
Facing Management, Conflict Resolution,
Effective Speaking, Stress, Time
Management and Women in Leadership.
Various IWA-trained instructors
oversaw the workshops. In addition to
Sister Wagg, they included Local 1-424’s
Shannon Eeuverman and Bonnie
Armstrong, Local 363’s Leslie McNabb ,
Local 100o’s Martha Ulch, Local 500’s
Mary Lou Scott and Local 1-85’s Crystal
Doucette. Also present as a co-instructor
was Steelworker District 3 rep Carol
Landry. As the IWA and USWA are
PROFILE MARY LOU SCOTT - LOCAL 500
One of the original activists!
SHE’S BEEN A UNION member and
activist for nearly 20 years and has seen
the evolution of women’s programs within
the IWA during that time period. At
times it’s been a lonesome struggle and at
other times very rewarding. Sister Mary
Lou Scott, the first vice chair of the IWA’s
National Women’s Committee, is also an
executive board member in Local 500.
She works as a shipper at Cardinal
Brands in Stratford, Ontario, handling
14 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
FILE PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
orders for school supplies and other
goods. When she hired on in 1980, the
company was known as Eagle Brands.
Goods were manufactured on the
premises and 100 workers, mostly
women, were gainfully employed. The
manufacturing jobs disappeared when
the U.S.-based successor company,
Atapco, moved facilities to Mexico in the
early 90s.
“People now understand what we were
PHOTO COURTESY CHERYL COX - IWA LOCAL 1-207
undergoing a merger process, the
women’s conference allowed IWA
women to break into “buzz groups” to
submit questions around the merger
and find outmore about the USWA’s
“Women in Steel” program.
Sister Terry gave a well-received presentation
on the early history of the
IWA Ladies’ Auxliary.
During the conference, IWA national
secretary-treasurer David Tones was
recognized for his support of the
Women’s Committee. B.C. NDP leader
Carole James spoke and host local president
Ben Landis was present.
saying back then,” says Sister Scott. “The
free trade agreements, as they are set-up,
are a threat to family supporting jobs all
over this country.”
As one of five surviving members of the
workforce, Mary Lou has forged ahead,
with other IWA members, to promote
women in the organization. “Twenty years
ago we’d see only four or five women at
IWA conventions – today there are usually
twenty or more,” she says. Mary Lou has
seen a dramatic shift in the involvement of
women since 1997, where she attended a
national women’s conference. She was a
member of the original steering committee
for that Vancouver conference and
attended one the following year in
Winnipeg. “Those were initial, small steps
that had to be taken,” she adds.
At the local union level Mary Lou forwarded
a resolution to establish an annual
women’s educational conference at the
local level. This year, about 21 Local 500
women will be holding their seventh
annual conference. The National
Women’s Committee was enshrined in
the Constitution in September, 2000.
This year it held its third annual education
conference. “These conferences go a long
way to empowering women,” she adds.
“There is an energy among women participants
that you don’t find anywhere. We
are making progress each year.”
Let’s hear more through local
women’s liaisons says chair!
Women are out there working hard
within our union and the labour
movement, says Brenda Wagg, chair
of the IWA’s national women’s committee.
She also says the committee
would like to hear more about what
is taking place at the national, local
and sub-local
levels. “There’s
a lot of positive
things happening
out there
and we encourage
our members
to let their
local union liasons
know, so
that the infor-
Brenda Wagg mation can be
communicated throughout our
union,” says Sister Wagg. Local
union liaisons are able to dialogue
with members of the committee.
Today nearly
every local
union has a
women’s liaison
at either the
executive and/or
rank and file
level.
In the past
months, IWA
Local 363 orga-
Carla Berkelaar nizer Leslie
McNabb and
Local 1-425 organizer Carla Berkelaar
have been assisting Local 2171 organizer
Sonny Rioux and Local 1-3567’s
Gordie
McIntosh, in
surveying and
conducting a
sign-up campaing
at a fish
processing plant
in Pt. Hardy,
northern
Vancouver
Island (see story
Leslie McNabb
page eight). “It’s
great to see the union calling on our
sisters to pitch in,” says Sister Wagg.
Local 2995 holds women’s
educational conference
IWA women in northeastern Ontario
held their second educational conference
in Kapuskasing on April 16.
Sixteen members from as far away
as Hornepayne and Chapleau participated.
Local 2995 president Guy
Bourgouin welcomed
the delegates
on behalf
of the officers.
EFAP coordinators
Micheline
Lemieux and
Sonia Gravel
gave a presentation
on harass-
ment in the
Louise Dionne
workplace which
also involved discussions on the
issue in society. Elections were held
for local union delegates to the 2004
and 2005 national women’s education
conference and a brainstorming
session was held to set the agenda
for future conferences. “In my opinion,
education is opening new doors
for women in our local and more
members are asking for information
on how they can become involved,”
says Louise Dionne, Local 2995’s
women’s liasion.

L A B O U R A N D E C O N O M Y
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
More value-added is needed.
The Pas local optimistic about
new value-added program
The IWA’s northern Manitoba local
has reacted positively to news that
there will be more money spent to
assist the province’s value-added
industry diversify. In mid-March the
not-for-profit Forintek announced
that it will participate in a $1.04 million
value-added and wood technology
program with funding provided
through the Canada-Manitoba
Economic Partnership agreement.
Forintek is putting in $225,000 over
three years. As part of the
province’s Northern Development
Strategy, a Forintek representative
will be stationed in The Pas to assist
Aboriginal development and northern
communities develop new wood
products. There will also be a focus
on linking primary and secondary
wood manufacturers. Currently
there are some 250 companies that
employ about 7,000 workers in the
province’s forest industry. A second
Forintek advisor will be stationed in
the Winnipeg area where there is a
clustering of smaller operations.
Forintek can call on over 200 specialists
to help out.
“We need to have a more diverse
industry that creates family and
community supporting jobs,” says
Local 324 president Judy Anderson.
“A lot of these smaller companies,
especially in the north, can become
more competitive will new technologies
in new markets.” Sister
Anderson adds that IWA operations
in Roblin, Dauphin, Neepewa, and
the Winnipeg area may benefit by
linking with the program when it’s
up and running.
Using cheap Chinese labour
Multinationals export capital and technology to Orient
IF WE WONDER WHY good-paying
manufacturing jobs are being lost in
western, industrial countries we have
to consider labour and the economy in
Communist China, which is not an
opportunity foreign companies are
about to pass up. The official People's
Daily of Beijing, for instance, reported
that foreign investment in China
totalled $US 33.4 billion in the first
seven months of 2003, a rise of $26.6
billion over the same period in 2002,
a year in which a total of $52.7 billion
flowed into Chinese industry. Already
23.5 million workers are employed in
foreign-funded enterprises, helping
to pump up Chinese exports to over
$430 billion last year, a year in which
it passed both Japan and Mexico to
become the U.S's second largest trading
partner, after Canada. And it is
expected to pass Canada by 2006.
In the highly-industrialized city of
Shanghai alone, over 4000 foreign
investments totalling $10.4 billion
had been already been approved for
the year 2003 by last November,
according to the Chinese Foreign
Affairs Ministry, which added that
300 of the world"s 500 leading companies
have invested in Shanghai.
Today China produces over half the
world's manufactured goods, including
38 per cent of mobile phones; half
the world's cameras; half its shoes and
40 percent of laptop computers.
China expected to produce 210 million
tons of steel last year and receive
steel-sector investments of $15.9 billion,
up from a record 182 million in
2002 and an increase in investment
of 87 per cent.
The country's auto industry is also
expanding rapidly: The New York
Times reported earlier this year that
the number of cars produced there
has grown from 1.8 to 3.8 million over
the last three years.
China expects to produce seven
million vehicles a year by 2010, which
would make it second only to the U.S.
among the world's auto producers.
Recently Ford announced that it
would build a second plant in China,
which already hosts plants owned by
Daimler Chrysler, GM, Nissan and
Volkswagen.
In textiles, according to the
American Textile Manufacturers
Institute, likely Chinese market-share
gains following the planned removal
of tariffs in 2005 could result in the
loss of 630,000 U.S. jobs. "It would
not be unrealistic to expect China to
capture 70 to 75 per cent of U.S. market
share in two to three years," a
spokesman for the American
Manufacturing Trade Action
Coalition told The International
Herald Tribune.
Canadian firms have invested
about $7 billion in China, according to
The Vancouver Sun, most of it in the
last two or three years.
Telecommunications giant Nortel
Networks, for instance, which recently
cut thousands of jobs in Canada,
operates four joint-venture manufacturing
operations in China, as well as
research and development and a customer-service
facilities. Recently a
subsidiary of auto-parts manufacturer
Magna International announced
plans to invest in China.
More in a future issue!
Despite NAFTA decisions softwood solution a ways off
THE U.S. CONTINUES TO CLING stubbornly to
restrictions on Canadian lumber, even though their
case is rapidly crumbling after a series of setbacks
before North America Free Trade Agreement panels.
NAFTA has twice rejected the U.S. claim that its
softwood lumber sector is harmed by Canadian
ABOUT THE ECONOMY
BY KIM POLLOCK
imports. The American argument, a key support for
the current 27 per cent duties on our lumber, is simply
"not sufficiently supported by the evidence," the
panel ruled in April, a position it has since affirmed.
The U.S.'s last appeal on the so-called injury question
is slated for later this summer.
Meanwhile, West Fraser Timber set a cat among
the pigeons: its dumping assessment fell below two
per cent, the threshold for duty assessment under
U.S. regulations. West Fraser asked for its money
The Chinese government sets up foreign investors with pools of displaced labour numbering in the millions.
back -- some $14 million of the total $2 billion collected
from Canadian firms since 2002. The implications?
If West Fraser wins, it's a precedent for everyone
paying duties.
Canadians have now won so many rounds that the
Canadian Lumber Trade Council, representing firms
in the major lumber-producing provinces, is cautiously
optimistic, believing that NAFTA will rule that there
is no injury. We might like our chances in the courts
and legal tribunals, then. But though there might be
light at the end of it, it's still a long tunnel. Many
observers believe a judicial end to the dispute is easily
a year away.
The CLTC's John Allan, for example, suggests that
the coalition of U.S. firms behind the lumber dispute
will use every remaining legal avenue to stave off a
final decision. As our late secretary-treasured Terry
Smith used to say, "just because there's cows standing
in the field, it doesn’t mean there'll be steak for the
boys."
Can we negotiate our way out? Again, only longterm.
A likely-indecisive Canadian election will be followed
by a November U.S. election.
– article by Kim Pollock
Few politicians, especially in the war-obsessed U.S.,
will make lumber a top issue, unfortunately, so real
talks are unlikely before 2005.
The Americans might have been gored by NAFTA
panels but they certainly won't rush to cut a deal that's
likely to be far less attractive than the one concocted in
December, 2003 – a deal so flawed it was rejected on
this side of the border by everyone who read it.
No, in the foreseeable future Canadians will have to
savour our legal triumphs and the rewards of a fickle
market. Lumber's at or near $400 per thousand board
feet and our dollar’s down in the 72 cents U.S. range:
many firms can make money in spite of the punishing
tariff. With markets so volatile, however, all this is
cold comfort for Canadian workers – we want reasonable
long-term access to the U.S. market.
The United Steelworkers of America, it should be
noted, recently lobbied successfully for a Canadian
exemption from U.S. tariffs on steel. Steel's clout
would help in the struggle for fair lumber-market
rules. We'll need it.
Kim Pollock is the IWA’s Director of Public Policy and Environment
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 15

F O R E S T A N D E N V I R O N M E N T
Firing up efforts to save the woods?
Filmon report calls on B.C. government to take action on interface fires
FOLLOWING THE DRAMATIC forest
fires of 2003, the B.C. government
appointed former Manitoba premier
Gary Filmon to head up a review
team to analyze how effective the
province’s emergency response was
and what can be done to reduce the
risks of future fires, especially in
interface areas, where residential
properties and forests meet.
After meeting with various stakeholders
and receiving some 400 submissions,
Filmon issued the 2003
Firestorm Review in February. The government,
which has slashed the forest
protection budget by 32 per cent, eliminating
35 per cent of jobs in that area,
and has since taken $2 million out of
the fire preparedness budget, nonetheless
is depending on the review to steer
things in the right direction.
Last year 2,500 fires burnt up a record
Jobs at the Cowichan Bay lumber mill and other solid wood operations are an important part of the IWA Canada.
Doman getting a restructuring
Bondholders agree to a plan which should maintain jobs
A B.C. SUPREME COURT has
approved a restructuring plan that will
see the financially insolvent Doman
Industries get closer to a complete
restructuring by the end of July.
On June 11, the judge ruled that there
would be a transfer of Doman’s assets
to unsecured creditors who would agree
to refinance secured bank notes.
The result is that a new outfit named
Western Forest Products Inc. will be
publicly listed on the Toronto stock
exchanges.
Doman, (which also owns Doman-
Western and Western Forest Products)
had over $1 billion in debt and was in
bankruptcy proceedings since late
2002. It agreed to a temporary restructuting
deal organized the Brascan subsidiary,
the Tricap Restructuring fund.
About 70 per cent of Doman’s annual
cut is held on Vancouver Island,
where it employs Local 1-80, Local 1-85
and Local 2171 members. Most of the
16 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
25,000 hectares in B.C. Thirty-seven of
those fires were in urban areas, the most
dramatic which was in Kelowa. IWA
Local 1-417 lost the
Tolko Louis Creek
mill and 180 jobs.
The Filmon
report says more
must be done to
eliminate the fuel
buildup on forest
Gary Filmon
floor, especially in
interface areas. See
http://www.2003firestorm.gov.bc.ca/fi
restormreport/default.htm for the
reports recommendations which coverprevention
and preparedness, emergency
responses, emergency management,
command and control, communications
and public education, firefighting
resources, evacuations, and post
emergency recovery.
wood that it cuts come from three tree
farm licenses that contribute to around
1.1 billion cubic meters of timber harvests
per year. The company has licenses
on North Island (in the Port Hardy
area), the Gold River area, southwestern
Vancouver Island, the North Coast (in
the Inside Passage, south of Kitimat,
north of Bella Bella and north of Bella
Coola. There are also various crown
licenses scattered through the mainland
coast and coastal/interior fringe.
“Our members have been facing a lot
of uncertainly over the past year and a
half,” says Duncan Local 1-80 president
Bill Routley, whose local represents
about 500 Doman mill workers and loggers.
“Unfortunately the Domans,
which generally respected and worked
with organized labour and the IWA over
the years, will no longer have control.
What could happen down the road is
anybody’s guess.”
Founder Herb Doman started the
PHOTO COURTESY B.C. FOREST SERVICE
Last summer B.C. forest fires claimed over 250,000 hectares.
PHOTO BY NORM GARCIA
company with
one logging
truck in 1955 and
grew Doman
into a major
player in logging,
sawmilling
and pulp.
Local 1-85
president Monty
Monty Mearns
Mearns says that
local members working for Doman were
called back in the spring and are very
concerned about two issues: the future of
Western and where the 20 per cent clawbacks
will hit the membership.
Local 2171 president Darrel Wong
says loggers on the Island and Coast
and the mill crew in Vancouver have
been told that it will be business as
usual. He says there could be some
longer term benefits if financial stability
is achieved and hopes that both sides
can develop positive labour relations.
Town of Hudson Bay shows
doubts about Weyerhaeuser
Since the February 26 announcement
that Weyerhaeuser is selling its
Hudson Bay plywood plant and
Carrot River sawmill, there have been
many questions asked about the company’s
commitment to workers and
communities in Saskatchewan. The
Town of Hudson Bay has pointed out
publicly in a local newspaper that,
since it bought out MacMillan Bloedel
in 1999, Weyco has broken several
commitments. The latest move to sell
the two mills has eroded community
confidence in the major industry. The
Town has offered to work with the
government and the company to
secure and buyer/operator for the plywood
mill and ensure long-term sustainability.
The company says that
the operations no longer fit into their
“strategic focus.” IWA Local 1-184
president Paul
Hallen says
Weyco move to
sell-off the mills
has caught the
union, workers
and communities
off-guard. “For us
the number one
Paul Hallen job is to work with
all parties to ensure, in a positive
way, that a purchaser is found and
the mills continue to provide steady
employment in the communities,” he
said. Following the startup of OSB
2000 in Hudson Bay, Weyco closed
OSB 1000, despite a projection, based
on Weyco business studies, to run it
in some capacity for 10 years. Despite
obligations under its Forest
Management Agreement to maximize
social and economic benefits to communities,
Weyco has by-passed local
suppliers, cut logging, forestry and
woodlands employment and has eliminated
long time contractors. “A lot of
the folks in the Hudson Bay and
Carrot River areas, even business people,
don’t take Weyerhaeuser’s word
seriously any more,” says Hallen.

H E A L T H A N D S A F E T Y
Mechanic killed working on
wheel change on Letourneau
On March 20 heavy duty mechanic
Don Greenley of Chilliwack died
instantly when a tire he was
removing from a Letourneau log
loader exploded and struck him. Don
was working as a sub-contractor at
log dump in Harrison, WCB
spokesperson Donna Freeman said
that an
investigation
showed that
while Don was
taking off the lug
bolts, the tire
assembly struck
him after the tire
Don Greenley separated from
the outer rim.
“This is a terrible tragedy and we
extend our condolences to Brother
Greenley’s family,” said then IWA
president Dave Haggard, who noted
that terrible accidents are still taking
place despite the formation of a
Forest Industry Safety Task Force.
“We must respect those workers by
making sure we do everything within
our power to make our workplaces
safer.” Shayne Browne, a mechanical
supervisor at the nearby Cattermole
Timber yard, told the Chilliwack
Progress that his company usually
gets Cal Tire to do most (heavy) tire
work. “They have the proper tools to
do the work and they do it every day,”
he added. Don worked at Cattermole
and had been in and out of the union
over the years.
PHOTO COURTESY LEE TOOP - MERRITT NEWS
Injured IWA member on stretcher.
Mill worker hurt during dispute
over contracting out issues
The forest industry is one of the
most dangerous places to work. Now
it appears that, at the Aspen Planers
mill in Merritt, B.C., danger also
extends itself to the picket line. While
protesting against their employers’
continued contracting out of IWA
bargaining unit jobs on May 10, witnesses
say the mill’s owner was the
person who dumped a load of wood
chips on a pick-up containing four
protesters. In the load there was a
short log piece which struck one of
the Local 1-417 members, who was
taken to the hospital and treated for
injuries. “We have never heard of
such a careless action,” says local
president Joe Davies. “This is an
unbelievable attack on workers who
mistrust the employer who has laid
people off and replaced them with
contractors. “ The RCMP have laid
four criminal charges against a company
official.
Standing by the Forest Safety Task Froce Health and Safety Accord are various stakeholders. For the IWA were
national safety director Ron Corbeil (second from left), national IWA president Dave Haggard (fifth from right) and IWA
national safety council chairman Les Veale (second from right).
IWA GIVES FULL SUPPORT TO JOINT SAFETY INTIATIVE IN B.C.
A task to improve safety
IT TOOK A WORKING GROUP of forest industry stakeholders,
known as the Forest Safety Task Force, about seven
months (with six meetings and broad consultation) to come
up with a significant “report and action plan” to eliminate
fatalities and injuries in B.C. forest. The task force, of which
the IWA is a major stakeholder on, also includes major
industry players, contractors (including falling contractors),
the Workers Compensation Board of British Columbia, and
industry associations, including the Truck Loggers
Association.
The union has played a strong role in contributing to the
report which sets a goal to cut down on deaths and serious
injury by 50 per cent in the
next three years. During the
past ten years, over 250 forest
workers have been
killed on the job.
The industry average
about 9 death per 100,00
workers – a rate which is
about ten times higher than
the average in the industrial
sectors. The serious injury
The IWA’s Dave Haggard
rates is six times higher
than the average industrial
sector. “Forest workers
deserve to come home safely every day, just like anybody
else,” said then IWA national president, who sat on the Task
Force along with the union’s national safety director Ron
Corbeil and national safety council chairman Les Veale. “I’m
encouraged by the commitment expressed by the members
of the task force and now what needs to happen is for all of
us to make sure we implement change on the ground.” The
task force makes 20 recommendations.
Those recommendations include a sector-wide safety
accord which was signed by the stakeholders on February
23. The accord calls for a change in attitude, procedures and
operation, to result in a new culture around safety.
It also calls for a forest industry owned and operated
health and safety infrastructure to include worker pre-qualification
and safety certification of forest companies, contractors
and independent contractors. That means ensuring
that all contractors who compete for bids must be qualified.
Uniform training and certification standards are a must
along with financial incentives for those companies that will
operate according to the sector-wide model.
At the press conference unveiling the report and action
plan, Brother Haggard applauded the committee “because
they cross all boundaries.” He said that the report must be
put into action and not on the shelf.
“I know that people on the Task Force are not about to let
that happen,” added Haggard, who added that the challenge
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
is to implement the program “while still respecting the
rights of workers.”
Then Slocan and now Canfor president Jim Shepherd
said he is not prepared to see the report fade away. He said
the bottom line is that
safety in the sector
won’t change for the
better unless there is a
significant change in
culture. To make that
shift, he said, there
must be acknowledgement
that the industry
has a bias to discount
safety.
Shepherd said
resources, time and
leadership are needed
to make the shift. “As
one in this industry, I
am commited to that.”
To ensure rigourous
implementation, WCB chair Doug Enns said an Operations
Team, which will consult with the forest industry, will be
formed to implement the Task Force’s recommendations.
“We know this is a tall order. We know it’s going to take ongoing
commitment from all facets and corners of the industry...”
International Forest Product’s Keith Rush, a key advisor
to the task force, related a personal story. In October 2002
his close friend and Local 2171 member Dal Shemko died in
an accident when setting up a heli-pad in the Elaho Valley.
Mr. Rush had to inform Dal’s wife and kids of the accident.
He said that experience really drove home the impact of a
fatality on loved ones – an impact which he didn’t fully
understand before.
He said the task force report is “a tremendous challenge
to the mind-set of all of us in the room, of how we view
health and safety in the workplace.” He added that there has
to be a focus on on-line ownership of safety and accountability.
“We’ve got to be held accountable when it comes to
safety performance and safety results.”
Graham Bruce, the B.C. Minister of Skills and Training
Development said that, as he grew up in a forest-dependent
community (Duncan), he too simply had learned to accept
that people would die in forest industry accidents.
He said that when the forest sector is equated with other
sectors, “it’s outrageous that we’ve allowed, for this long,
this many deaths in the forestry sector.”
Bruce said the time for action has come. “Let’s hope that
six months and a year from now, we can start to see some
real serious changes in attitudes and we can see actually
safety starting to emerge in the forest sector.”
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 17

L A B O U R A N D S O C I A L H I S T O R Y
IWA ARCHIVES
Local 1-71 strike fund
committee at Woss Camp.
Union rallied in 60s to stop
‘runaway’ plants in Alberta
Back in the swinging sixties, the
IWA membership swung into
action to stop a Canadian Forest
Product’s subsidiary, North
Canadian Forest Industries Ltd.,
of Grande Prairie Alberta, from
driving wages into the ground,
threating standards in B.C. and
elsewhere. IWA Canfor members
in B.C. played a key role in
boosting morale on the picket
line at the planer mill in Grande
Prairie. They sent numerous
donations and messages of support.
In May of 1964, Local 1-71
loggers at the Canfor Woss
camp on Vancouver Island took
up a collection (see photo
above). Port Alberni Local 1-85
pledged a lump sum of $1,800
and a further $100 per month.
Groups as diverse as the IWA
Ladies Auxliary in Terrace raised
money for the strikers. The
issue was clear. The $1.42 to
$1.49 an hour that the company
paid in Grande Prairie was a
threat to the $2.08 an hour base
rate paid in B.C. Alberta Local
1-207 fought against scabs and
police. The IWA won a legal battle
to prevent the Canfor subsidiary
from forming a company
union, in its efforts to smash the
strike. Local financial secretary
Keith Johnson was threatened
with legal action when he called
the strikebreakers “scabs” on a
radio broadcast. During the
strike, flying IWA Local 1-207
picketers shut down Canfor
operations in New Westminster
(Pacific Veneer), Harrison and
Chetwynd, where Local 1-357, 1-
367 and 1-424 members were
very happy to show their solidarity!
The IWA condemned
Canfor for importing low-wage,
unorganized labour to work the
planer. “All the signs point to
the fact that the employers in
both provinces are trying to create
a haven for runaway lowwage
offshoots of their operations
in British Columbia...’
wrote an editorial in the Lumber
Worker. “It is most convenient
for the employers to have lowwage
unorganized labour just
over the provincial boundaries...”
to establish wages at
the lowest level.
18 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
Saskatchewan CCF party would
introduce public medicare and
pass progressive labour laws
Political events in the sparsely-populated
prairie province of
Saskatchewan sixty years ago would
pave the way for profound changes
affecting working people throughout
the nation. Little Tommy Douglas, a
man of giant stature, led the
Cooperative Commonwealth
Federation of Saskatchewan to win 47
of 53 seats in the provincial legislature
in June of 1944, becoming the first
social democratic government in
North America.
The CCF wasted no time in taking
on its pro-working class agenda. They
were the first government to push
through public hospitalization and
public medicare. Seventy-two of the
Nazi Germany crushed
unions 70 years ago
THE HORRORS OF Adolf Hitler and
Nazi Germany have been well documented.
The regime’s systematic extermination
of Jews, and genocidal invasions of
Europe, the Soviet Union, North Africa
and Baltic States are well-known. Less
talked about is the brutal way in which
Hitler and his henchmen destroyed the
free trade union movement in Germany
a little more than 70 years. Until the
Nazi’s overthrew the Weimar Republic,
there had been an independent labour
movement in the country which enjoyed
a degree of autonomy. Two major federations,
known as “Free Trade Unions,”
consisted of the General German Trade
Union Federation, with 28 industrial
union affiliates, and the General
Independent Employees Federation, with
13 white collar unions. There were
Christian Trade Unions and some other
independent unions which had legal status.
They participated in the economic
and social life of the country, negotiating
wages and benefits and influencing legislation
in the Republic.
On January 30, 1933 Hitler was
appointed as Chancellor of Germany by
IWA ARCHIVES
CCF premier Tommy Douglas, here pictured with IWA Regional Council
One president Joe Morris, was a great friend of Canadian workers.
Tommy Douglas and the win of 1944
first hundred bills it passed were
aimed at social and economic reform.
The Department of Cooperatives and
Department of Labour were created.
In the first year of CCF rule, there was
free health care for pensioners,
including free hospitalization for cancers,
tuberculosis, mental diseases
and venereal diseases. By 1947,
Universal Hospitalization coverage
provided access to medically necessary
procedures to the citizens of
Saskatchewan at the minimal rate of
$5 per person per year.
“Instead of the burden of these hospital
bills fully on sick people, it is
spread over the people,” remarked
Douglas, a former baptist minister
and federal Member of Parliament.
By the end of the 40s, over 80 per
cent of Canadians polled in favoured
of public medicare. In 1957, despite
Nazi Robert Ley was appointed to
lead the German Labour Front.
President Hindenberg. Hundreds of
trade unionists were rounded up and sent
to the first German concentration camp
in Dachau by late March. In April, Hitler
appointed Robert Ley as the leader of the
“Nazi Committee for the Protection of
German Labour.” On May 2, 1933 commenced
the complete destruction of
trade unionism. Nazi SA (Brown Shirts)
and SS (Secret Police) stormed independent
trade union headquarters, seizing
assets, arresting union leaders and confiscating
union finances.
strong opposition from doctors, the
Chamber of Commerce and the
media, Douglas passed the Hospital
Insurance Diagnostic Services Act.
But it took until 1959 for the CCF to
get its finances in shape to introduce
universal, prepaid, publicly-administered
health care, which became the
model for Canada’s health care system.
Then, on July 1, 1961, the
Medical Care Insurance Act went into
place in Saskatchewan. Doctors
denounced the CCF’s action as “communism”
and “compulsory state medicine.”
Everyone was covered for all
medical needs. Other parts of Canada
would fall in line and provide universal
health care, partially funded by the
federal government, was in every
province by 1971.
In its first year of office, the CCF
passed the Trade Union Act which
made collective bargaining compulsory.
The United Auto Workers’ international
president Walter Reuther
called it the most progressive legislation
yet seen in North America. In the
first four years, the union movement
grew by 118 per cent. Public sector
unions were granted the rights to
organize and all workers were granted
at least two weeks vacation.
By 1964 the Saskatchewan Power
Corporation counted electricity to
over 65,000 rural homes, where only
about 300 such homes had electricity
twenty years earlier.
Of special note for IWA members,
in 1945 Douglas established the
Saskatchewan Timber Board, a crown
agency that oversaw the sale and processing
of crown-owned land.
That development helped the
Canadian Congress of Labour-affiliated
Prince Albert Woodworkers Union,
founded a year earlier, and several affiliates
of the National Union of
Woodworkers to form into the
International Woodworkers of
America Local 2-184 by 1953.
SA and SS troops also scoured working
class districts throughout the nation to
eliminate all pockets of resistance. They
operated “private” concentration camps
along their routes.
The infamous German Labour Front
was created, with Adolf Hitler installed as
its “Honourary Patron” on May 10. The
terror continued. Trade union leaders
faced assault and battery, were forced to
work in degrading jobs or far beyond their
physical capacity. Other faced concentration
camps, starvation and solitary confinement
while their family members
were arrested, assaulted and murdered.
In the factories the Nazis installed
“Factory Troops” which, Ley reporting to a
party congress in Nuremberg, called ideological
“shock squads” that adopted a motto
that THE FUERHER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!
As the Nazi war machine consumed all,
the German working class faced rapidly
deteriorating social conditions.
The German Labour Front commanded
23 million workers and 10 million corporate
employees. By 1935 the Front took
responsibility for administering foreign
labour to slave inside the war machine.
The Nazis had succeeded in destroying
independent unions and taking away the
last vestiges of freedom from Germans.

A R O U N D T H E L A B O U R M O V E M E N T
May Day rally against Charet
Affiliate trade unions of the
Quebec Federation of Labour
used May 1, International
Workers’ Day, to protest
against the provincial Liberal
government of Jean Charet. Over
100,000 workers took to the streets in
Montreal to protest against Charet’s
attack on public health care services,
cuts to education budgets, other
social services and public-private
partnerships. Also present at the
protest was CSN president Claudette
Carbonneau.
AFL hold two days of panel
presentations in Calgary
On May 7 and 8 activists from the
Alberta Federation of labour attended
two days of panel presentations
entitled The Betrayal of Labour’s
Peace Accord in Canada, in Calgary.
Author and academic Bryan Palmer,
the United Nurses’ Labour Relations
officer Kris Farkas, the CEP’s Don
MacNeil, CUPE’s Peter Peter
Marsden, labour lawyers Yessy Byl
and Athabasca
University’s Winston
Gereluk were presentors.
In addition to
forums on the growing issue of
“labour legitimacy” as governments
attack collective bargaining rights.
Federation representatives hosted a
forum on the Fed’s programs.
IWA demonstrates support
for striking health workers
Then national IWA president Dave
Haggard said that the B.C. provincial
government “went too
far with its return to
work legislation”
which provoked escalating
protest across
the province in late
April and early May. On April 30 two
IWA Local 1-424 sawmills in Quesnel
walked off in protest. Most coastal IWA
operations were scheduled to join the
protest on May 3. Haggard noted the
union’s support of health care workers
was shown with on-the-ground actions.
Federation holds spring school
The Saskatchewan Federation of
Labour held its Spring School at the
Echo Valley Conference Centre in The
Old Ft. San, near Ft. Qu’Appelle
between May 2-7. Courses offered
included Basic Steward Training,
Popular Education
Skills for Trainers,
Becoming an Ally
(Working Together to
Build the Labour
Movement), Labour
History: Culture and
Song, Organizing for Social Change,
Communicating the Message,
Collective Bargaining, Resisting the
Corporate Squeeze, Unionism on
Turtle Island (teaching non-aboriginal
workers about Aboriginal issues, and
Labour Law (in affiliation with the
Labour College of Canada.
CLC Canadian Labour Congress
Across the country the skilled industrial workforce is diminishing due to
the lack of commitment of employers and government.
National training strategy needed
TO DEAL WITH growing
skill shortages now and in
the future, the Canadian
Labour Congress is
adamant that the country
needs to retrain the existing workforce
and pour more resources into learning
strategies for workers.
The CLC notes that, at both the
workplace and sectoral level, trade
unions are pushing for new and innovative
programs to reskill the Canadian
workforce for the challenging work
world that lays ahead. Skill shortages
are present and are on the horizon, in
the industrial workforce and in skilled
technical and professional occupations.
It makes sense to get a training strat-
Feds call for more EI relief for
seasonal workers in province
The New Brunswick Federation of Labour
says the federal Liberal government of Paul
Martin recently tried to
buy votes in Atlantic
Canada by extending the
Employment Insurance
Program before a federal
election. In some pilot
projects workers will be
able to qualify for five more weeks of benefits.
There has also been an extension to a
pilot program for workers over 55 years of
age. The Federation says that workers in
the north of the province run into a “black
hole” of having 8-10 weeks between the
expiry of their benefits and the resumption
of seasonal employment. With a five week
extension provided, that still leaves seasonal
workers without proper benefits for a
three to five week period.
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
egy in place. Many in today’s aging
workforce have limited literacy skills.
Others leave school before they pick up
job skills relevant to today’s job market.
Many times women, who are society’s
primary caregivers, leave and re-enter
the job market, and are faced with what
many older workers face - workplace
restructuring and dislocation. New
Canadians, many with skills and credentials
that are not recognized in the
country, also have considerable job
training requirements.
Although, among OECD nations,
Canada has a relatively high percentage
of 25-29 year-olds who graduate from
college or university (about one-quarter),
some forty per cent of working age
Labour gets a deal on floodway
Manitoba Federation of Labour affiliates,
including the IWA, were solidly
behind pressuring the provincial government
to protect
the interests of construction
workers on
the upcoming $660
million Winnipeg
Floodway expansion
project. Local 830
president Jack Alexander says a new
labour agreement will prevent work
stoppages and controls costs. Under
the Employment Standards Act, construction
workers only get paid overtime
if they work over 50 hours. Those
and other abuses have to stop, says
Local 830 president Chris T. Parlow,
whose local has also been lobbying
for fair wage policies and proper
health and safety procedures.
Canadians have limited literacy skills.
In the skilled industrial area, the CLC
notes that there has to be a doubling of
apprentices per year, over the next ten
years. Businesses have to increase
investment in employee training. All
students should be computer and internet
literate by the end of grade school.
Barriers to participation have to be
eliminated for persons with disabilities
and there must be guaranteed access
for all those who want to continue with
their post-secondary education.
There must be increases in post-secondary
funding to community colleges,
increased technical and vocational programs,
and lower tuition costs.
The congress says that federal government’s
current strategy of corporate
tax cuts and credits for corporations is
no guarantee for training opportunities.
Only two per cent of Canadian
Federation of Independent Business
members offer on-the-job or in classroom
training. About two-thirds of the
members say they can’t afford to give
people time off work for training.
The CLC is lobbying the feds to get the
Employment Insurance (EI) program to
help out on workplace-based training.
The EI fund, which is running a surplus
of over $45 billion, can well-afford premium
reductions or rebates for employers
who invest in training their workers.
Currently EI spends about $190 million
per year on apprenticeship training - a
mere drop in the bucket!
To get at the looming shortage of
skilled health care sector workers
(nurses, therapists, medical technologists,
nurses aides, etc.) the CLC suggests
that 5 per cent of the 500,000
member workforce be trained for twenty-five
weeks a year, utilizing the EI
fund. At an average EI premium cost of
$400 per week, the bill would be about
$250 million per year.
Part of its National Training Strategy
calls for increased usage of the Work-
Sharing While Learning (WSWL) program
first introduced by EI in 2002,
into areas where there is 10 per cent
official unemployment or higher. The
CLC points out that simple work sharing
schemes don’t allow for training
opportunities. Under WSWL you can
get EI for “off work hours” if 30 per
cent of those hours are put to training.
Ontario workers observe June
1st as Injured Workers’ Day
Ontario Federation of Labour president
Wayne Samuelson, provincial NDP
labour critic Peter
Kormos, NDP MPP
Marilyn Churley and
Toronto City
Councillor Sandra
Bussin were among
the speakers who gathered with fed
affiliates and members of the public to
mark June 1st as Injured Workers’ Day
in the province. The event, sponsored
by a coalition of disabled workers’
advocates, included calls for a workers
compensation system that provides a
decent standard of living for all those
injured, the recogition of all occupational
diseases, including stress, and the
enforcement of stronger health and
safety laws.
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 19

I N T E R N A T I O N A L S O L I D A R I T Y
America’s regional affiliate
oppose ‘free trade’ zones
The International Confederation
of Free Trade Union’s affiliate,
the Interamerican Regional
Organization (ORIT) is speaking
out for fair trade, not “free
trade” agreements. ORIT general-secretary
Victor Baez says that
many governments in the region
support “export processing (‘free
trade’) zones” for the thousands
of new jobs they create. “But
they carefully neglect to mention
the kind of
jobs they
bring,”
says Baez.
“This leads to a race to the bottom
at the expense of workers’
rights, especially the rights of
female workers.” Latin American
nations that once gained jobs
are now losing them in droves.
“The fact that Mexico is losing
hundreds of thousands of jobs to
China is proving the time will
come when governments and
employers, together with unions,
will be demanding a social
clause on international trade.”
The ORIT has opposed the Free
Trade Agreement of Americas
and notes that since FTAA talks
have stalled, “other negotiations
are being promoted or forced by
the government of the U.S...”
Brother Baez says that the ORIT
is promoting fair trade deals in
which regulated investment
respects the human rights of
workers in all countries.
IFBWW calls for global
action on women’s rights
On March 8, International
Women’s Day, the International
Federation of Building and
Wood Workers called on all its
affiliates to put women at the
forefront of
trade union
activity.
The federation
said
that
migrant women workers face
unprotected work in informal
economies. Informal activities
are those that are in small economic
units or in unregistered,
black mark economies.
Affiliates are encouraged to
struggle to ensure that women
in the informal economy are
covered by labour laws and collective
bargaining agreements;
to intervene in order to push for
legislation to promote workers
rights for migrant and ethnic
minorities; push for pay equity
(equal pay for work of equal
value); and exert pressure to
stop sexual harassment and
exploitation and trafficking of
migrant women workers. The
IFBWW noted that many
migrant workers face unregulated,
unhealthy and unsafe conditions
of work; require low skill
levels and do not provide training
opportunties; and pay meager
wages for long hours of
work. Around the globe, the
number of migrant workers has
doubled in the past three
decades. More and more
women are being employed in
woodworking, building and
forestry-related industries.
20 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
CHILE CTF - IWA Education Project
In March IWA representatives
joined with the CLC and the
IFBWW to assess work in Chile
In early to mid-March, the IWA went
to Chile to assess more than four years
of on-the-ground international solidarity
work. National second vice-president
Joe da Costa, officer responsible for the
International
Solidarity program
and program
coordinator
Rolando Quintul
from Local 2693
went on the visit.
They were accompanied by Anna
Nitoslawska, Administrative Assistant
from the Canadian Labour Congress
and Vicente Carrera, regional director
from the International Federation of
Building and Woodworkers.
Chinese labour under
total police state rule
IN CHINA STRIKES are illegal.
Unions are controlled by the government,
which in many instances, is also the
employer. Either way, bosses often wind
up at the head of plant committees and
even unions. Workers are not free to organize
or join independent unions. Union
leaders who organize or lead strikes anyway
are often charged with "subversion"
and subject to long prison terms.
In May, 2003, for instance, two labour
activists from Liaoning province received
four and seven year sentences after they
helped organize a peaceful protest by
laid-off workers. Yao Fuxin and Xiao
Yunliang were found guilty of "attempting
to overthrow state power" following a
trial at which neither was allowed to
speak or present a defense, according to
Human Rights Watch.
The same treatment applies to political
and human rights activists, journalists
and even Internet users, 54 of whom
were arrested last year simply for posting
their views. People who speak out are
typically "arrested and imprisoned after
they peacefully exercised their rights to
freedom of expression and association,"
PHOTO COURTESY CTF
IWA national second vice president Joe da Costa (l.) joins and CTF
president Sergio Gatica (r.) joined a labour rally in Concepcion in March ‘04.
IWA and CTF evaluate joint projects
The main purposes of the visit were
to evaluate the CTF-IWA Education
Project and IFBWW-IWA-CTF pilot
organizing project, which began in
August of 2003.
“Our project in Chile is being examined
as a possible model for future
international solidarity projects, particularly
in Latin America,” says Brother
da Costa. “There are some things we
and the Chileans have done right and
some things we can improve on.”
In the project’s first four years, 446
CTF members, from various affiliate
unions have taken part in courses at the
centre – courses on leadership formation,
activist training, introductory and
intermediate organizing, occupational
health and safety, collective bargaining,
and women’s issues.
“Our assessment of the project went
very well,” says Brother da Costa. “We
Chinese police officer standing
guard in Tianennmen Square.
says the human rights organization
Amnesty International. "Many were held
on charges relating to "state secrets" or
"subversion" – vaguely defined offenses
widely used to suppress dissent.”
Thirty-nine reporters are currently in
Chinese prisons.
In China in 2003, Amnesty reports,
"tens of thousands of people continued
to be arbitrarily detained," some receiving
harsh prison terms, others "administratively
detained without charge or trial."
Earlier this year, for example, 200 people
were placed under house arrest in
have adopted improved reporting and
accountability procedures and I think
both the CLC and IFBWW are
impressed about the direction of our
program with the Chileans.”
The delegation heard testimonials from
the Executive Council of the CTF about the
project’s impact.
Those who have taken
courses have taken
leadership roles within
the confederation,
their workplaces and
communities. “We are
Rolando Quintul
seeing some measurable
results in Chile,”
adds Brother da Costa.
“The education project is having an
impact. After fours years we have decided
to continue with the program and our
commitment to Chilean forest workers.”
“We had a good opportunity to discuss
important issues and review the CTF’s prioirites,”
says Brother Quintul. “In the next
year we will be assisting the CTF establish
a national publication and develop a communications
strategy. We also want to
assist the confederation and its affiliates
union on basic accounting procedures.”
The CTF reported to the IFBWW and
the IWA on its organizing activities. Since
August, two organizers have been making
contacts to organizing workers between
the seventh and tenth regions of the country,
and fifth region. Much survey and initial
contact work has taken place. Some
enterprises are being focussed on for
potential membership drives.
The visitors attended International
Women’s Day celebrations in Concepcion
on March 8. They also visited three operations
– lumber remanners in Arauco and
Los Alamos and a mechanical and transportation
company in Arauco.
A visit was also paid to a workers’ hospital
in Concepcion, which is run by the
Chilean Association for Health and Hygiene
(ACHS). The ACHS assited the CTF and
IWA with information for the joint
Education Centre’s OH&S course.
Beijing for signing a petition protesting
illegal evictions and the destruction of
whole neighbourhoods to make way for
the 2008 Summer Olympics.
China, in other words, defines what
we in democratic countries would call a
police state. The country's authoritarian
stance extends to its workplaces, as well
China has no minimum wage, while
labour standards are routinely violated.
Factory bosses bragged that their workers
made a fews cents an hour, says CLC
president Ken Georgetti, who toured several
Chinese factories in 2000.
Compulsory, unpaid overtime is common.
Lax enforcement of safety standards
routinely puts workers at risk: in
the first nine months of 2003, there were
100,227 workplace accidents, resulting
in 11,449 deaths. Enterprise owners
sometimes even failed to report accidents
or health problems.
So if China is such an authoritarian
state and has such poor working conditions,
why are thousands of firms from
democratic countries spending billions
of dollars to export millions of jobs there?
The simple answer is profits made from
low wages. Workers generally earn
between $84 and $96 a month.
– article by Kim Pollock

B E N E F I T S A N D P R O G R A M S
WI benefits are available during lay-off
MOST COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS within IWA
Canada certifications have a period of benefit lay-off
coverage written into their text.
In our major forest industry collective agreements,
ABOUT YOUR COVERAGE
BY GERRY SMITH
the lay-off coverage period you are entitled to is up to
six months with extensions for days worked within
any month during the lay-off. The lay-off coverage is
funded by your employer under the terms of your
Collective Agreement to provide continuous coverage
throughout periods of intermittent work, should that
be the case.
This provision of the collective agreement means
that if you become sick or injured during the lay-off
coverage period you should file a claim through your
Weekly Indemnity plan, not through E.I. Sick benefits.
The Trustees of Health and Welfare Trusts have
received a number of appeals for late filed claims
which were delayed because our members simply
switched his Employment Insurance claim from
active to E.I. Sick Benefits.
This change of E.I. status is simple to do with proof
of disability. However, failing to use the Weekly
Indemnity coverage before the E.I. Sick benefit will
cause a number of problems for you if your disability
is serious and prolonged beyond your short term disability
benefit period. The recently negotiated change
to the Qualification Period for IWA Long Term
Disability to 26 weeks makes the correct application for
Weekly Indemnity and then E.I. Sick Benefits even
more important for the provision of seamless benefits.
The disability benefits from E.I. provide 15 weeks of
coverage. If the disability goes beyond the 15 weeks in
duration, an appeal to the Health and Welfare
Trustees will usually result in them waiving the rule
against the late filing of the claim and allow the claim
to be adjudicated by the W.I. Insurance carrier. If the
claim is accepted back to the original date of disability,
the E.I. benefits already received should be
returned to the E.I. because you will need them later if
your claim extends into the LTD period.
At the end of the W.I. period, if still disabled your
claim will be adjudicated by the LTD Plan.
The LTD Plan has a 15 week “carve-out” period following
the last payment from W.I to the first benefit
payment from LTD. The benefit payments during the
carve-out period are assumed to be provided through
the E.I. Sick Benefit program. If these benefits were
used in the first 15 weeks of the disability, there will be
no benefit available for the carve-out period.
The disability benefits coverage from W.I., E.I. Sick
Benefits and the IWA-Forest Industry LTD Plan provide
continuous earnings loss protection if drawn in
the appropriate order.
It is possible to apply for E.I. Sick benefits prior to
the end of the WI period but this will leave a hole in
your benefit period which will not be covered by LTD
benefits during the “E.I, Carve-out Period.” The order
in which these benefits are applied for is very important
to you and your family.
If you have any questions about your benefit coverage,
call your Local Union or the IWA Canada
National Office - telephone (604) 683-1117 - and ask
for myself.
Gerry Smith is the IWA’s Benefits Appeals Representative
IWA finance guys get together for a review
TO SHARE IDEAS ON HOW to make
our national and local unions run
smoother the IWA finance guys got
together at the union’s national training
centre on March 2 and 3 to talk about
issues that affect them – including the
new Personal Information and Privacy
Act (Bill 38), a web-based Arbitration
Information Directory, some book keeping
tips (including the union’s policy on
banking and cash controls), and a review
of the IWA education policy and programs.
Financial secretaries from seventeen
local unions were present along
with national secretary-treasuer David
Tones, national staff and presenters.
In short, quite a bit of information was
packed into a day and a half session. “It
was a great opportunity for us together to
compare notes and discuss issues that
local face as a collective or individual
entities,” says Brother Tones.
Kathy Wutke, a labour liaison representative
from the Community Saving
Credit Union, gave a presentation on the
importance the credit union attaches to
protecting it clients personal information.
She also talked about efficient ways
of managing payroll accounts, including
the possibility that, in the future, strike
assistance pay could be electronically
deposited in the accounts of qualifying
union members.
Instruction on how to reduce costs
and prevent/detect errors in financial
duties was given along with tips on how
to produce financial information in a
timely manner. Ms. Wutke also talked
about avoiding exposure to risks and
reducing unnecessary duplication of
records and other work.
General discussion took place on the
IWA’s education policy and managing
costs in that area. Many local unions
have negotiated educational funds in collective
agreements and are trying to get
the most efficienct use of the funds to
reach the most members.
General presentations were made by
IWA national auditor Lyle Brown of
Culver and Co. A represenative from
Ford Canada spoke on how the union, as
a whole, could save money by ordering
officer and staff vehicles from motor
companies rather than going through
dealers.
At the end of the first day, then IWA
national president Dave Haggard made a
presentation on the merger negotiation
process between the IWA and the
United Steelworkers of America.
Considerable discussion took place
about the financial status of the two
unions and the structure and dues system
of the USWA works in relation to
the services that are rendered.
National staffer John Mountain, who
has been working on a web-based arbitration
summaries archive, gave a presentation
on a website he has developed
to improve the reporting of arbitration
decisions, communication of decisions
between the national and local unions
and make an arbitration archive that is
fully accessible. Arbitrations are broken
down into four indexes: geographic
regions, cited cases, contract interpretation
and contracting out decisions.
PHOTOS BY NORMAN GARCIA
Pictured, front to back, are national accountant Andrea Fiore, IWA national
secretary-treasurer David Tones and local union financial secretaries: 363’s Erik
Eriksson, 2171’s Bob Freer, 1-423’s Verne McGregor and 1-184’s Harry Groenen.
Left to r. are Local 324’s Daryl
Harkness, Local 1-3567’s Brian Harder
and Local 1-425’s Terry Tate.
B.C. NDP president Jeff Fox spoke to
the group on the importance of the next
provincial election, slated for May 2005.
He laid out the party’s strategy for renewal
and invited local unions to rebuild the
party. Several locals have also responded
to take part.
The get together went over well with
participants. Saskatchewan Local 1-184’ s
Harry Groenen told The Allied Worker
that he found the portion on the webbased
arbitration system particulary
interesting. “It’s a very good resource
that is well put together,” he says. “When
you go into an arbitration it’s good to
have an ace in the pocket and that can be
a relevant decision in the union’s
favour.”
He said bulk buying concepts are good
in principle but questioned on how the
locals would work together if they decide
to. He also suggested that from the material
presented and new material, a course
for financial secretaries might be developed
in the future.
Cranbrook B.C. Local 1-405 financial
secretary Doug Singer said the meeting’s
presentations were valuable and interesting.
He said the local union has already
taken measures to protect personal information
by using simple methods. He
says that local will getting more into
using the web-based arbitration system
and that the discussion around administration
of strike pay bears more consideration
to cut administration costs.
Kapuskasing, Ontario Local 2995
financial secretary Jacques Jean says that
the local is interested in possibly utilizing
direct deposit transfer in the event of
future payment of strike pay. “We’re also
going to look into direct deposit for various
union business, like paying per diem
or related expenses.”
Brother Jean also says the presentation
from the B.C. NDP, in attempts to rebuild
the party’s labour support, might be
something the Ontario party could do in
the future. He also said that the presentation
on privacy was particulary useful.
Bob Freer, financial secretary for Local
2171, who attended a similar conference
sponsored by the B.C. Federation of
Labour late last year, says the get together
was very useful. He says the part dealing
with bulk purchasing could be of special
use and, that since March, he has taken a
seminar on privacy legislation issues. “It’s
always good to get together to work with
each other,” he says. “From day to day we
have the same battles. Most locals and
unions are finding themselves with less
resources. Comparing notes and sharing
information is important.”
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 21

R E V I E W S
BOOKS ______________
From Free Trade to
Forced Trade: Canada in
the Global Economy
by Peter Urmetzer
Penguin, 248 pages, $22.00
IF YOU HAVE EITHER anti or pro
“free trade” sentiments, this reviewer
thinks you should read this uniquely
Canadian book on
the topic, published
only last
year. Okanagan
Community
College lecturer
Peter Urmetzer
does a fine job in
giving a primer on
free trade in layman’s
language.
The book is broken down into chapters
that cover different perspectives on a
theory which modern-day government
FEATURE REVIEW
______________
Fighting for Dignity: The
Ginger Goodwin Story
by Roger Stonebanks
CCLH 206 pages, $26.95
Reviewed by Norman Garcia
WHEN A OFFICER OF the Dominion
Police shot union organizer Albert
“Ginger” Goodwin through the neck
in the woodlands near Cumberland
in July of 1918, a man who fought the
establishment and also tried to
change it from within lay dead.
Rifleman Dan Campbell and a posse
of hired guns were scouring through
the Beaufort Mountain Range on
Vancouver Island, looking to capture
men who refused to be drafted into
the First World War. Goodwin, who
had mysteriously been reclassified as
fit to fight in trench warfare, fled
from Trail to Cumberland where he
sought refuge among supporters in
the coal mining community where
he had worked.
In this 2003 biography on Ginger
Goodwin, former Victoria Times-
Colonist journalist Roger
Stonebanks, tracks in detail the
events leading up to the mysterious
death of Goodwin – an event which
sparks passionate debate today: was
it an assasination or did Campbell
act in self defence? In any case it is
clear that we may never know: the
much maligned Grand Jury system
that ruled until the early 30s, never
indicted the gunman. Charges were
dismissed and testimony not kept.
Just as key as the information on
the killing is the book’s portrayal of
Ginger Goodwin’s life and times.
Born in Yorkshire England in 1887,
Ginger grew up in a wretched coal
mining town where the rates of child
mortality, exceeded those of any
country in the world today! Sent to
work underground as a teenager,
Goodwin’s family would face evic-
22 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
tout as the “Big Idea” – a cure-all for
unemployment, growth, productivity,
political unrest and Third World Debt.
As readers will discover, there is little evidence
to back-up that free trade, as it is
practised, does any of these things. The
book’s early chapters talk about the three
major economic philosophers who are
often cited in debates on free trade:
Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John
Maynard Keynes.
The author points out that although
modern free trade advocates, who
believe in a “greed is good” philosophy
often quote the famed author of “The
Wealth of Nations” – Adam Smith was
more concerned about the plight of the
common labourer and wanted to curb
the power of state-controlled markets
that benefited an elite minority class in
19th century Britain – a class that
faced no democratic opposition.
The author convincingly argues that
had it not been for merchantilist (protected)
trade policies with both France
and Britain and 110 years of protection-
In 2000 then Local 363 president Sy Pederson and Jorge Gonzalez, then
president of the Chilean forest workers’ confederation visited Goodwin’s tomb.
tion from the Denaby Mine company
town in 1906, along with 2,000 others,
in the midst of a strike.
The Goodwins emigrated to Halifax
in 1906 and found work at Dominion
Coal in Glace
Bay, Nova
Scotia. It was
there that
Goodwin first
joined the
United Mine
Workers to
fight back
against companyunionism.
A huge
strike in 1909
saw the company, police and hired
thugs evict nearly 1,800 families.
From there Ginger made his way to
seek employment in the Crownest
Pass (in Alberta - B.C. boundary country).
He got a job in the now defunct
coal mining community of Michel. As
in other mines, men faced poisonous
gases and sudden explosions. Cave-ins
were common as was permanent disablity
and injury.
Goodwin moved to Cumberland in
1910 and sought employment in the
Canadian Collieries mines, where he
ist trade policies, under the National
Policy (1879 to 1988), Canada would
not likely have become a country.
He notes that, since the Canada-U.S.
Free Trade Agreement went into effect,
Canada has become even more dependent
on the United States for its exports
– that in an age of increased globalization.
And he singles out the softwood
lumber dispute as evidence, that despite
the NAFTA, U.S. protectionism runs
high. And, like all other Western governments,
the U.S. has no qualms
about intervening in the economy.
Urmetzer points out that huge divisions
exist between those for and
against free trade and that there are also
large differences within those separate
camps today. He also presents the case
that Third World nations are forced into
trade deals and are often denied market
access (especially in agricultural products)
and that both the anti and pro free
trade sides will selectively seek free
trade when it’s in their interests.
- review by Norman Garcia
FILE PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
joined others to fight company unionism
and wage discrimmination
(Chinese and Japanese miners were
paid 1/3 of the wages paid to whites).
In Cumberland the United Mine
Workers of America fought to enforce
an 8 hour day for underground workers,
for safety standards and better pay.
From 1912-14, 1,600 miners from
Cumberland to Nanaimo to Ladysmith
struck for union recognition, in The
Big Strike. Once again, Goodwin and
thousands of others faced eviction.
From there it was on to Merritt and
then Trail were he became a candidate
for provincial parliament for the
Socialist Party of B.C. His name was
also forwarded to become a Deputy
Minister of Labour in the B.C. goverment
– an act that had him temporarily
suspended by party hardliners. By
late 1917 the newly classified Private
Goodwin would become a perfect target
for a hunt – someone who opposed
the war on political grounds and a
trade union organizer whose lifetime
experience made him revolt against
the economic system.
This book is a recommended read
and a great contribution to Canadian
labour history!
MUSIC REVIEW
______________
Slowdrag – Ploughin’ it
Right to the Fence
Corvus Records, $20.00
SINCE FIRST SEEING the roots band
Slowdrag at the Lonsdale Quay in
North Vancouver on Canada Day,
2003, I’ve played their Ploughin’ it
Right to the Fences CD so many times
that I had to get a back-up copy just
in case the first one wears out. This
mighty fine Vancouver-based trio cut
this gem in 2000 and is said to be
working on a new one. Working folks
out there should listen to this one to
get a real sense of roots music, both
from the United States and Canada.
Edmonton-born vocalist, composer
and guitarist Koralee Tonack, Torontoborn
bluegrass picker and singer
Craig McKerron and string bass man
Paul Bergman of Vancouver have a
unique chemistry that has yet to be
discovered by many. They cover a
gamut of bluegrass and other roots
tunes: from the Carter Family, to the
Louvin Brothers and Bill Munroe, to
the legendary Hazel Dickens, with a
splendid version of “Working Girl
Blues”: “I’m tired of working my life
away; giving somebody else all of my
pay; while they get rich off the profits
that I lose; and leave me here with
the Working Girl Blues.” They also do
a great version of Dickens’ “Scraps
From Your Table” a humourous love
song, which she sings about being
tired playing second fiddle. Both
songs are a good introduction to
Dickens’ music, which often reflects
the life of women in rural Applachia
and its coal mining communities.
There’s no doubt that some IWA Local
1-207 members will get watery eyes
when they hear “My Alberta Prairie
Home,” penned by Koralee’s mom,
Frances “Frets” Tonack, whose
“Blues Don’t Come for Me” also
adorns the record. Craig McKerron’s
“Madrid,” is a great drinking song
which he miraculously composed
during a guitar workshop (he out-
Jimmy Buffetts Jimmy Buffett on it!)
and Koralee shines again in the up
tempo “Crumple Faced Lover,” which
she wrote and composed. The record
was produced by British Columbia’s
mandolin virtuoso John Reischman
who also contributes, along with the
awesome banjo picking of Nick
Hornebuckle on several cuts. I can’t
wait for Slowdrag to come out with a
new record! When my wife and I saw
them in at a small hall in Chilliwack
last January, it was akin to seeing
future big leaguers in a small ball
park. With the right management, this
trio of talented Canucks will be on
Austin City Limits some day!
- review by Norman Garcia

Thanks Brother Arcand for all your hard work!!
IWA ARCHIVES
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
PHOTO COURTES IWA LOCAL 500
Above left, at the bargaining
table (second from left) is Harvey
beside national union president
Dave Haggard and other members of
the B.C. provincial negotiating team
in May of ‘03. Above right he is seen
with Local 500 financial secretary
Irvin Baetz in Hanover, Ontario in
‘98. Left., were (l. to r.) Dave
Haggard, Harvey, and Local 1-3567’s
Brian Harder, Barry King and Jim
Kilty at the blockade of Greenpeace
vessels on the Vancouver waterfront
in July of ‘97.
See IWA People and
Places - page 24 - for
a feature article on
Brother Arcand!
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
Above left, with some other members of the International Woodworkers of America’s B.C. Provincial Negotiating Committee was Brother Arcand
in 1979 (back row, third from left), a couple of years after he became the founding president of IWA Local 1-425 in Williams Lake. Front row were
Local 1-217 president Syd Thompson and Region president Jack Munro. Back row, l. to r. were Regional first vice Bob Blanchard, Local 1-288
financial-secretary Ron Grant, Brother Arcand and Local 1-423 president Willie Schumaker. Above right, pictured back in Local 1-425’s office in
1990 were, l. to r. secretary Christine Slater, president Arcand, financial secretary Wade Fisher and third vice Bill Derbyshire.
JUNE 2004 THE ALLIED WORKER | 23

I W A P E O P L E A N D P L A C E S
PHOTO COURTESY IWA LOCAL 1-184
IWA member Seamus Lubiniecki
escaped crewcab wreckage.
Saskatchewan millworker
survives miraculous pileup
Brother Seamus Lubiniecki is one
lucky millwright – or maybe he had
an angel looking out for him this
past February 10. While driving to a
pension conference, Seamus ran
into some rough weather. Overnight
rain, high northwesterly winds and a
snowstorm
made driving
conditions near
Regina treacherous.
After
turning on to
the double-lane
Highway 1
Bro. Lubiniecki about 17 km
from Regina,
Seamus hit a snow squall and threw
on the brakes, stopping only three
feet away from a jack-knifed semitrailer.
From behind, a second semi
veered left, smacking the back of
Seamus’ GMC extended cab. The
truck had crushed around him as
the dash pushed into his knees and
he was driven under the trailer. The
roof and sides collapsed. Then a
third semi hit the pileup! The nervous
drivers found Seamus in the
twisted wreckage, where he asked
for a knife to cut himself out.
Despite gas and diesel spills the drivers
pried the roof up from the rear
and out Seamus was extracted from
the wreckage.
Brother Lubinieki was taken to the
Regina hospital and got a half-dozen
stitches to the head. After a medical
exam, Local 1-184 first vice president
Albert Digness drove him back
to his hotel.
“We always knew there was protection
when you belong to a union,”
says local financial secretary Harry
Groenen. “But Seamus has taken us
all to a new level!”
Dean Lott (l.) accepts presentation.
Local awarded by United Way
Local 1-207 was one of three
unions honoured for its contribution
to the Alberta Capital Region’s
2003 United Way Workplace
Campaign. On February 26, financial
secretary Dean Lott accepted
the award from Tom Olenuck, president
of the Edmonton and District
Labour Council.
24 | THE ALLIED WORKER JUNE 2004
UNITED WAY ROAST RAISES OVER $10,000 FOR BC CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
A big thanks to Harvey!
BROTHER HARVEY ARCAND, one of the most
respected and capable officers in IWA history was roasted
and toasted to raise money for a good cause - the
United Way of the Lower Mainland. The event, which
took place on February 28 at the Best Western Richmond
Inn, drew a crowd of over 250 and raised over $10,000
which has been donated to the BC Children’s Hospital
Heart Ward.
Harvey, his wife Leona, family and many members of
the union, labour movement, and management were
entertained for nearly three hours by a list of roasters that
included then IWA national president Dave Haggard,
former IWA national first vice president Neil Menard,
Williams Lake Local 1-425 president Terry Tate, IWA
Local 1-405 president Bob Matters, former IWA Local 1-
85 president Larry Rewakowsky, the CLC’s Gordie
Larkin, sister Louise and niece Jessica, Judith Brown-
Rudersdorfer of the IWA-Forest Industry Pension Plan
office, Riverside Forest Products Human Resources
Manager Don Cadmun, long-time friend Terry Sexsmith
and former brother-in-law John White. Ken Neumann,
then District 3 director of the United Steelworkers of
America was also on hand to thank Harvey and present
him with a Steelworker jacket.
Brother Haggard presented a humourous slide show
on the life and times of Harvey: from his childhood, to
many outdoor adventures, union activities and get
togethers with family and friends.
“It was a great night and an occassion to take some
friendly potshots at our good Brother,” says Neil
Menard. “We wish Harvey, his
wife Leona, and family many
happy and prosperous years
together. Nobody has served the
IWA better in more difficult situations
than did Harvey. He
made great contributions to the
IWA and to working people
throughout his career.”
In May of 1992, at the relatively
young age of 42, Harvey
was appointed as fourth vicepresident
of the national union
by then national president Gerry Stoney. He was sworn
in on June 5, 1992 as a part-time rep at the national level
while he remained president of the Williams Lake local
union.
PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA
At the roast in late February, Harvey (middle) is seen with his wife Leona as secretary-treasurer David Tones gave thanks.
Neil Menard
Harv’s sister Louise
(r.) and niece Jessica
At the national level he did
numerous tasks as a union representative
on the IWA-Forest
Industry Pension Plan’s Board of
Trustees, the Long Term
Disability Plan and a number of
Health and Welfare plans.
Harvey was born in Radium,
B.C. in the province’s East
Kootenays. He was raised in
Skookumchuck and Radium Hot
Springs. In his early years he
helped his father cut and haul
timber for manufacturing into railroad ties.
By 1968 he was hired on in Fort St. James at the
Canadian Forest Products operation. That year and the
year before, the IWA fought a bitter fight in the Interior
for wage parity with the coast.
An incident in 1970 solidified Harvey’s support for the
union. When a company rep threatened the crew that the
mill would shut down if they gave the IWA a strike mandate
that year, he started to become very active in the
union.
He went from being a production worker to a saw filer
and went on to become one of the first saw fitter apprentices
in B.C. under a new Filers and Fitters
Apprenticeship Program. In 1971 he was elected as plant
chairperson and a year later he became an IWA Local 1-
424 executive board member. Then, by 1975, he was second
vice president of the local union.
In 1977 Brother Arcand was acclaimed as president of
the newly-formed Williams Lake Local 1-425, which was
carved out of the Cariboo-Chilcotin region in the southern
part of Local 1-424. The local hit a high of 1,700
members in the late 70s. A major downturn in the economy
in the early’s saw the local’s membership bottom
out at 800 in 1982 - tough days indeed. The local continued
to organize and, as the economy recovered, the
memberhsip rose to 1,200 by the end of the 1980s.
In the national union Harvey served in many roles
including a Pension and LTD specialist, negotiator, troubleshooter,
and peacemaker. He was a jack-of-all trades,
whose services will be missed by many.
Brother Arcand is now working for WE Group
Benefits and Consultants and continues to assist the
IWA on a consultant basis.