Forklift operator Juan Olvera with a load of 4 x 8’s at MacMillan Bloedel's Aspenite

Division. Photos courtesy Bob Cross.

e Headed for a boxcar with a lift of 2 x 4's is Paul Rudychuk at Simpson Timber Co.

Major Settlements reached In Saskatchewan

PRINCE ALBERT, SASK. —
Local 1-184 reports settlements with
three major employers in Saskatche-
wan. Union members at Weyer-
hauser’s Big River Division, MacMil-
lan Bloedel’s Hudson Bay Division,
and Saskatchewan Forest Products’
Hudson Bay-and Carrot River Divi-
sion ratified contracts with their
employees this summer.

At Big River workers get wage
increases of 85 cents per hour, 5.5%
and 5.5% in a three-year deal expiring
in March of 1992. In mid-June the
membership also approved a 30 cent
per hour hike for tradesmen. Life in-
surance increases and pension im-

provements were also part of the deal
for 95 employees at the Weyerhauser
dimension mill.

At MB and Saskatchewan Forest
Products, one year agreements were
reached. x

Local 1-184 President Dennis Bon-
ville says that longer term agreements
were difficult to negotiate with these
two employers because of the uncer-
tainties being caused by a June, 1990
closure at Simpson Timber Compa-
ny’s Hudson Bay plant.

“The employers don’t want to get
into a longer term deal unless ques-
tions about timber supply in the area
are answered. That won't happen until

problems with Simpson are resolved,”
comments the Local President.

At MB’s Hudson Bay Division a
two-phase wage increase of 85 cents
per hour was negotiated in early July.
Severance pay in the event of aclosure
is now part of the contract in addition
to the resolving of plant issues. First
aid and supervisory relief duties
issues were settled, as well as an
increase to the [WA — Forest Indus-
try Pension Plan.

One hundred and sixty members at
Saskatchewan Forest Products’ Hud-
son Bay plywood plant settled in late
July with a similar one-year deal

Manitoba Hearings: environmental monitoring

On March 10, 1989 Repap Pulp
and Paper Inc. purchased a sawmill,
a non-bleached pulp mill and the
right to thousands of hectares of
Crown forests from Manfor Ltd., a
crown corporation in northern Mani-
toba. Manfor had been losing money
for years and its threatened closure
put in jeopardy the very existence of
many northern Manitoba communi-
ties, including The Pas.

Repap intends converting the non-
bleached mill to one which produces
a bleached product in order to _
satisfy the needs of its Wisconsin
coated-paper mill. Before getting the
go-ahead for the conversion by the
Department of the Environment,
approval of a socio/environmental
impact assessment was required
from the Manitoba Clean Air
Commission.

Public hearings were held in _
August in The Pas and in Winnipeg.
Briefs were presented by local native
bands and tribal councils, residents
of Winnipeg and The Pas as well as
elected officials. The near unanimous
statements were that the conversion
should be allowed to proceed but
that a monitoring committee
comprised of local residents, native
and union representatives, and gov-
ernment officials be established. I
worked with Jim Anderson, presi-
dent of Local 1-324, to prepare and
present an IWA brief to the

hearings. Here are a few excerpts
from our brief:

“\.. Our members will be affected by
this decision by virtue not only of
the fact that they are the workers in
this industry but also because they
are residents of the communities in
which the environmental impacts
will take place. It is true that we
have a vested interest in ensuring a
continuation of forestry as a viable
sector in the Canadian economy but
we also have a vested interest in
ensuring that the Canadian and
global environments are safe for us
to raise our children in.

We understand that our society is in
transition towards one which
regulates all of its consumer activi-
ties, and many people are calling for
a worldwide reduction of both this
particular process and product. Hav-
ing said that, we must realize that a

Claire Dansereau
Ee

Sustainable Development

market still exists for the product
and until such a time as this market
disappears, someone will produce it.
Given that reality, all we can do is
attempt to ensure that the process
by which it is produced is as
environmentally sound as is techno-
logically possible. We should not pre-
vent industrial development that
takes into account the environmental
implications of its actions. We
should be focussing on bringing all
of the old mills up to the proper
standards of environmental pro-
tection.”

We went on to explain that the
Bruntland Commission, which in
1987 established basic principles for
sustainable development, did not call
for a halt to development. It called
for intelligent, disciplined develop-
ment projects. We stated that it is
our belief that Repap fits into that
category as the project calls for the
most up-to-date technologies. The
mitigative measures which it intends
to use are called for by such groups
as Greenpeace. Measures such as
using oxygen delignification and
chlorine dioxide substitution are to
be included in the development.

However, we know that all compa-
nies have a duty to protect ‘the bot-
tom line’. So we recommend that a
monitoring committee with statu-
tory authority to close the mill down
be part of the conditions for license.
We said that the monitoring should
be done by trained unionized
workers.

We also stated that our approval
was contingent on receiving an
assurance that the sawmill be kept
operational.

We do not know how the Clean Air
Commission will rule on Phase I of
the mill conversion. We do hope that
they take into consideration the fact
that nearly 450 of our Manitoba
members will be affected should that
mill close down and that approxi-
mately 600 mill workers will be out
of work. This does not include the
hundreds of loggers, truck drivers
‘and indirect workers that will be
affected.

The Commission appeared to
listen carefully to our brief and Jim
and I both felt that it was
worthwhile for us to be heard.

Claire Danserau is the Forestry and
Raaeironmant Planner at IWA-Can-

which solved contracting out issues.
Any contract work done in the plant
will now be done first by plant union
members, secondly by IWA contrac-
tors, and thirdly by other union con-
tractors if available. Fifty workers at
the company’s Carrot River Sawmill
and planing facilities also joined in
the ratification.

© Joe Ricard, trim saw operator at MB's
Aspenite Division.

At Simpson Timber Co., union
negotiators are looking for a closure
agreement which they hope will set
the standard for such future situa-
tions.

Brother Bonville says the union
will be looking for wage increases in
the final year along with pension
bridging language in the agreement.

The uncertainty being felt by the
community of Hudson Bay and its
union members since Simpson Tim-
ber announced its closure has left
many questions unanswered and a lot
of people in the area are left wonder-
ing what their future holds in Hudson
Bay. Currently the local is seeing
many of its tradesmen leaving and
finding jobs with relative ease. How-
ever job hunting for the unskilled
workers is more difficult.

Members at Sask. Forest Products,
a crown corporation, have requested
the Minister-In-Charge to inform
them who will take over the logging
sector once Simpson Timber leaves.
To this date Local 1-184 has received
no response. Not only does this leave
the plywood operation in jeopardy
but the complete logging sector is left
pondering their future.

Unless logging contractors are al-
lowed a full winter cut, the plywood
operation will not have sufficient logs
to operate, which would be disastrous
for union members.

Local Officers and staff would like
to believe the provincial government
will take the appropriate action to
bring back stability to Hudson Bay.

LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 1989/17