Vancouver local one of union’s originals TH an average of 2,700 embers IWA-CANADA Van- couver Local 1-217 remains ~! one of the first locals in our ; wl union. Originally the International Wood- workers of America granted the char- ter number 1-217 to a brotherhood of plywood and veneer workers in New Westminster in August, 1939, where New Westminster Local 1-357 was also operating. It wasn’t until May of 1944 when Local 1-217, under the guidance of president Verne Carlisle, moved to the Vancouver area and set up its own geographical jurisdiction. By the late 1950’s the local union grew to over 7,400 members in a very diversified pattern of certifications in the plywood, milling, shake and shin- gle, and secondary manufacturing sectors. The local union’s boundaries encom- pass the Greater Vancouver Area, including North and West Vancouver, Richmond, eastwards to Boundary Road in Burnaby and southwards to the U.S. border. Inits heyday the local had certified units spread along the North Vancou- ver shore and False Creek area of Vancouver in addition to industrial sites along the Fraser River. THE LOCAL UNION TODAY Due to the redevelopment of indus- trial land sites only one certification Tolko Industries (Inlet Cedar Divi- sion) remains on the North Shore. No union activity remains in False Creek and the land base along the Fraser River is under pressure for develop- ment into residential zones. The local union’s membership today is spread throughout over 70 certifica- tions in the lower mainland. Since the late 70’s, 1-217 has like most other coastal B.C. locals, lost its presence in the plywood and veneer industry. Today only one plywood plant, Westcoast Plywood, remains under the local’s jurisdiction. Today, it has approximately 350 workers, down from over 1,000 employees in the late 1970's. Similar trends in dropping employ- ment along with permanent plant clo- sures, have resulted in the local’s pres- ent day reduced membership. Along with the Westcoast plywood. plant, MacMillan Bloedel (Canada White Pine Division) is another major employer with about 350 union work- ers. Doman Industries’ two sawmill divisions (Silvertree and Vancouver _ Sawmills) employ 150-175 employees directly. Terminal Forest Products employs 100 workers at its two sawmill and planing divisions, and Canadian For- est Products employs 200 union mem- bers at its Eburne Sawmill division. LOCAL BIG IN MILL CONSTRUCTION When times are good the local union can represent over 700 construction workers. Now that the recession has hit, the construction sector has dwin- dled to less than 200 workers. Local 1-217 represents skilled tradesmen and labourers who work for Gisborne Construction, Stolberg Construction, LNS Construction, and Eugene Forest Systems. During boom times in the forest industry these construction companies do a variety of mill installations and moderniza- tions across the province, usually working within the geographical juris- dictions of other IWA locals. 6/LUMBERWORKER/FEBRUARY, 1991 However in recent years a number of smaller, construction companies have sprung up and to work on vari- ous contracts in the BC. Interior. RECESSION HITS LOCAL HARD The first sector which was hit by the downturn during the recession was the construction section as employers ceased modernization and capital spending. Many mill operations in 1-217 have gone down to a one shift basis and/or work sharing programs with Canada Employment and Immigration. In addition most mills have completely shut down operations for short peri- ods of time (2-4 weeks) over the winter months. Even in good times some of the mills have concerns over log supplies and occasional spot shortages of logs have resulted in layoffs at such mills as the Canadian White Pine and Silvertree. Tight log supplies and strict inven- tory control by major forest compa- nies makes for highly reactive milling operations. CONCERNS OVER REMAN FUTURE “To a large extent the future of the IWA is in secondary manufacturing,” says local president Gary Kobayashi. Brother Kobayashi says that the future will see more log shortages and increased raw material costs which will necessitate further value added strategies by forest products produc- ers. Kobayashi says the IWA-CANADA forest policy is independent from gov- ernment and employers and calls for increased efforts to establish a value- added sector of the industry. “We recognize that to maintain employment levels, we have to get more value out of the logs that we cut,” says local union president. He also predicts future log short- ages due to future set asides of forest © Pulling cedar lumber off the export chain at MB's Canadian White Pine Division are (I.) Rob Robinson and Kamal Bhatti. lands and the 5% allotment of timber to the Small Business Enterprise Program. At the 1990 National Convention held in Vancouver the IWA adopted a resolution calling for a value-added conference to be held before 1991 con- tact negotiations. The resolution, which was intro- duced by local 1-217, will see B.C. locals meet in March to discuss ways and means of encouraging the devel- opment of a salneadticd industry in the province. FREE TRADE A THREAT TO LOCAL UNION At the same time the local is con- cerning about creating jobs in value- added industry, the CANADA-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which has been in place for over 2 years, has created an environment where jobs are going south of the border. In September of 1989 Sauder Industries, moved its Vancouver moulding division to Ferndale, Wash- ington, 38 miles south of Vancouver, which caused the displacement of over 80 union workers. By the spring of 1990 the company was operating with the same equip- ment, while paying its American employees less than ‘half of the wages and benefits paid to its IWA workers some who had worked for Sauder for up to 35 years. Brother Kobayashi says producers of secondary wood products are attracted to set up operations south of the border where anti-union labour laws exist. American states also offer industrial land subsidies, and tax and energy concessions to Canadian com- panies which want to move there. The local also deems a prospective North American Free Trade Zone with Continued on page fourteen © Members of Local 1-217's executive board are (I. to r.) Erich Ewert, financial secretary; Gary Kobayashi, local president; Harry Bains, third vice-president; Jim Parker, recording secretary; Bob Turner, warden; Gary Wong, second vice-president; John Noyes, conductor; and Gord McRae, first vice-president.