CONVENTION

© Organizing Director Lyle Pona.

Nearly 1,500 join
[.W.A. in past year

Since reporting to the 1995 convention, National
Organizing Director Lyle Pona told delegates that the
LW.A. has continued to have successes in organizing,
but at a slower pace than in the previous year.

In the past fiscal year 1,452 new members joined
the union, compared to the past fiscal year when
over 2,000 new members signed up. Of this year’s
total, 1,299 were actively organized while 153
workers joined the I.W.A. voluntarily.

Leading all local unions was Loggers’ Local 1-71
with 287 new members in 31 bargaining units orga-
nized. Second place went to Local 1-3567 (ew
Westminster-Fraser Valley) which brought in 10
new bargaining units with 260 workers. Locals 1-
424 (Prince George, B.C.), 500 (Hanover, Ontario)
and 2693 (Thunder Bay, Ontario) were the only
other locals to organize over one hundred mem-
bers each. wa

British Columbia lead in organizing new bar-
gaining units. Labour Board reports indicate a

vention.

slower year for all unions in the province. Brother
Pona attributed some of the slow down to the fact
that in excess of 250 trade union activists and or-
ganizers became involved in support of the NDP
election campaign.

During the campaign Pona himself was heavily
involved in organizing the successful election of
Glenn Robertson in the North (Vancouver) Island
riding. Brother Robertson, who is a member of
Loggers’ Local 1-71, is a logger and former camp
chairman at Canfor’s Englewood division.

Referring to the Labour Relations Board reports,
Pona pointed out that figures for the previous year
indicate that 65% of all new certifications have 20
employees or less.

“Unfortunately these small bargaining units of-
ten cost as much in legal and servicing fees as
larger ones do and they are also just as difficult to
obtain the first collective agreement,” he said.

Brother Pona said that the union has fought
some expensive legal battles in organizing depen-
dent contractors in B.C. He said that the I.W.A.
may have crossed the threshold with a recent LRB
decision concerning dependent contract truckers
employed at the Eagle Ridge division of Evans
Forest Products.

The decision should establish the statutory defi-
nition of what constitutes a dependent contractor
as it incorporates much of the case law to date,
said Pona.

The union is concerned about employer domi-
nated unions, such as the Christian Labour Associ-
ation of Canada (CLAC). It is currently discussing
a co-ordinated plan of action to counter future ac-
tivity by the CLAC, which has had successes raid-
ing legitimate trade unions.

Brother Pona commended Local 1-207 and other
members of the Alberta Federation of Labour for
their successful battle against “right-to-work” leg-
islation. A government appointed committee con-
cluded that there would be no advantages by
adopting such laws.

He also mentioned that draconian labour laws
being introduced by the Filmon government in
Manitoba will stall efforts to organize in the
province if adopted.

The union is cost sharing organizers in northern
Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Safety resolutions

Continued from previous page

CLAIMS CONTROL CONSULTANTS — the convention
demanded that action be taken against consultants
that have improperly obtained and/or released
confidential WCB information.

WCB CLAIM DELAY - the I.W.A. will lobby the WCB
in British Columbia to amend policy so that once
the claimant's doctor makes a decision that an in-
jured worker is not fit for work due to a work-re-
lated injury or illness, and that the WCB starts pay-
ing the claim immediately.

WCB CLAIMS ADJUDICATION - Workers Compensa-
tion Boards must hire adjudicators and consul-
tants with appropriate industrial or labour union
experience and provide opportunities to adjudica-
tors and other advisors for appropriate industrial
experience so they may understand the conditions
under which claimants work.

LOG MARKING - to prevent repetitive strain in-
juries, the union will lobby appropriate agencies to
encourage other means of identification and to al-
low the marking of only high grade logs to be nec-
essary, thereby eliminating the stamp hammer.
COBALT EXPOSURE - the union will urge the appro-
priate government agencies and WCB’s to conduct
further studies of workers exposed to cobalt.

AIR QUALITY — the union demands that all WCB’s
implement comprehensive studies into the effects
of chemicals and toxins on forest industry work-
ers.

DUST CONTROL — the I.W.A. calls on appropriate
government agencies and WCB's to implement and
enforce regulations which would require the con-
trol of dust at its source.

SAFETY MANUAL AND GUIDEBOOK — the National
Safety Council is directed to develop a manual to
assist local union with return to work policies and
revise the I.W.A. Safety Guidebook.

e Members from Local 2693 (Thunder Bay, Ontario) were in full attendance at Tenth Constitutional Con-

The speaker said that Ontario has a high poten-
tial for organizing but that regressive labour laws
and labour board policies introduced by the Harris
government have severely impacted the I.W.A.’s
ability to organize. A secret vote requirement has
served to allow employers to intimidate and ha-
rass workers.

“At the last convention, Eastern Canada was
able to report 720 new members as opposed to
this year’s (total of) 332 new members,” said Pona.
“In addition, we lost approximately 500 potential
new members that otherwise would have been au-.
tomatically certified if we still had the NDP in
power.”

Since the last convention Pona has put on orga-
nizing courses in Local 1-71, 1-417 and 1-424.

The National Organizing Department consists of
Brother Pona in Western Canada and Brothers
Harold Sachs, Rene Brixhe and Mike Hunter in the
Ontario region.

National union urged
to explore mergers

Once again the I.W.A. is set to explore merger
opportunities with other unions and has received
convention support to do so. A resolution from
Duncan Local 1-80 called upon the national union
to develop a program to do just that.

Bill Routley, President of the local that spon-
sored the resolution, said that his local has be-
come more diverse and, as a result, now has 12

. delegates to a national convention instead of 11.

* “We were in a state of decline,” said Brother
Routley. “But thanks to a progressive NDP govern-
ment and the kind of fair legislation that we enjoy
in British Columbia, our local union has been able
to grow over the last couple of years...”

“It’s extremely important that we continue the
growth of our union, not just is it important for us
but for the rest of the community that we become
a significant factor in our communities, in the re-
gion that we live, in the province and all across
Canada,” he said. “We're seeing a decline of unions
in North America and I think it’s an absolute disas-
ter.”

Routley said that the many new bargaining units
that his local has organized has created new chal-
lenges for the officers and staff. He said that the
union must support the fight for sectoral bargain-
ing or “we're going to run ourselves out and simply
become exhausted at the job that we're doing.”

He said that the union has to decide on which
sector to target and develop strategies to organize
them with appropriate sectoral collective agree-
pete wee beng in new members.

ave Haggard, President of Port Alberni Local
1-85, said that the LW.A. must put together a com-
prehensive program on organizing and mergers af-
ter holding meetings with rank and file and com-
munity members across the country.

You know, we're up against other unions out
there such as the Steelworkers, the Autoworkers,
and the CEP, that are organizing anything and
everything that goes around in our communities.
And I think the I.W.A. is the better organization of

Continued on page sixteen

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LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER 1996/15