HIGHLIGHTS

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° I.W.A. CANADA’s National President Dave Haggard said that the union must grow to survive.

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Haggard’s speech sets union ‘On The Move’

In his first opening speech to a national con-
vention (held in Thunder Bay, Ontario between
September 29 and October 2, 1997) since being
elected as the organization’s national presi-
dent, Dave Haggard marked the annual meet-
ing as a week which would mark “the begin-
ning of our union’s future.”

“We're going to build on the 60 years of his-
tory that we’re so proud of to make the changes
that are so necessary in the I.W.A. The Indus-

trial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada is
going to flourish and grow and have some sta-
bility.”

The convention was marked by a series of
debates and discussions on how to increase
the size and scope of the I.W.A. That included
constitutional changes that would pump mil-
lions of dollars of the union’s resources into
organizing the unorganized in the years ahead.
It would also include putting the union’s edu-
cation program into high gear.

Haggard said the changes to be made would
“change the very direction of our union if you
agree.”

“They’re going to take our union into the
21st Century on a downhill run with our hands
on the goddamn throttle, and nobody, no com-
pany, no other organization, no other group
will we able to stop us,” he said, “because of
that belief in our union by each and every one
of you that are in this hall today.”

“I can’t believe that there’s anyone out there

that shouldn’t have the right to belong to the
I.W.A., to belong to our union and no other,”
said Brother Haggard. “No other because
there’s no other organization that has the type
of democratic principles that we do for our
members. There are no other organizations
that allow their membership to have the type
of say that our members do in the elections of
officers in their choices of the people that are
going to represent them, whether it’s in the
plants, in their locals, or at the national level.”

Haggard said the I.W.A. has to build up a
“war chest” to “enable us to put more organiz-
ers out in the field, to build our union, to take
us into the 21st Century as one of the big boys
in this country so that we can take on the big
governments and so we can protect ourselves
from being raided and gobbled up by another
organization.”

Haggard and the other officers at the head
table stood before a giant banner that said
“On the Move - Building Our Union’s Future,”
which became the convention’s theme.

“We talked at last year’s convention about
how do we kick the borders down at the Ontario
border,” said Haggard. “I believe that this
country is shrinking...and that in the coming
months and year ahead, that any semblance of
a fence along the Ontario border will be dis-
mantled and gone, and we'll be able to build
an organization from one coast to the other, as
we should have all along.”

“Instead of focusing on the differences we
have, we’ve got to learn from those differences
to pull our union together and grow it,” he
said. “The organizing is available, the mergers
are available. We’re doing it now.”

Haggard said that the union has started to
increase education for its members and edu-
cate communities and youth on what the
I.W.A. is all about.

“We have a responsibility to educate our
children, our friend’s children, our wives, our
husbands,” he said. “So that they understand
what the I.W.A. is all about. So that they in
turn can go out into their communities and
talk to their friends and come to join the I.W.A.
because there are no other organizations that
are any better in this world.”

“We have to accept that challenge if we are
going to survive in this world,” said Haggard.
“We have to accept that challenge if we are
going to flourish in this country.”

He said that the anti-labour Conservative
Ontario government of Mike Harris serves to
unite working people in the province.

“We made a mistake in Ontario when we
allowed the NDP to get defeated (in 1995),” he
said. “Not the I.W.A. because we stood behind

-them in this province.” 3

“The Harris government gives up opportuni-
ties....it pulls us closer together and makes us
stronger and gives us more willingness and
more drive to organize...”

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Resolutions get
nod at convention

MERGERS WITH OTHER UNIONS - the convention
passed a resolution directing the national offi-
cers to continue to explore merger possibilities
with compatible unions.

AWARENESS CAMPAIGN - all local unions are
urged to participate in a national awareness
campaign on the financial importance of forest
industry jobs.

ENDANGERED SPECIES - the union demands that
any land set aside for the protection of endan-
gered species be part of the area already pro-
tected under the Protected Area Strategy and
that if new unprotected areas are set aside for
species, an area of equal size and timber value
be withdrawn from the Protected Area Strat-
egy.
ANNUAL OFFICER/STAFF CONFERENCE - the union
was directed to hold an annual two day confer-
ence for the officers and staff of local unions
and the national union.

LEGAL COSTS - a resolution was passed to form a
sub-committee from the National Executive
Board to investigate ways and means of reduc-
ing legal costs to local unions. A report will be
delivered to the 1998 convention.

WOMEN’S EDUCATION - a resolution was passed
calling for the national union to develop a
course dealing with women’s issues.

TRADES TRAINING - the union will lobby provin-
cial governments and work with employers to
develop training opportunities in the trades
and technologies in industry.

OVERTIME - the I.W.A. is directed to implement
a campaign to educate its membership on the
negative impact of working overtime.

OVERTIME PERMITS - a resolution was passed
calling on all provincial labour boards to issue
overtime permits, agreed to by the union
involved, before permitting overtime to be
scheduled.

THE EFAP - the union will continue to endeavour
to have all employers globally fund EFAP pro-
grams for its members.

POLITICAL AFFILIATION - all I.W.A. locals are
urged to affiliate themselves with the New
Democratic Party and the union is directed to
redouble its efforts to elect and re-elect NDP

governments across the country.

PARTICIPATION IN NDP - the convention passed a
resolution urging union members to become
active in the NDP to ensure that the party rep-
resents all sectors of society and that members
be urged to seek NDP nominations for political
office.

NDP CANDIDATES - the national union and all
local unions adopted a policy of financially sup-
porting NDP candidates who are known to be

committed to protecting and promoting the
interests of I.W.A. members.

LAND EXCLUSIONS - the union will lobby the
Saskatchewan government that the only land
exclusions from the potential Forest Manage-
ment license in the province’s northeast be
those areas having present legal designation or
are agreed upon protected areas with the indus-
try involved.

REFORESTATION - provincial governments will be
called upon to aggressively target reforestation
projects to areas most needed that support the
industry until adequate reforestation levels
have been achieved.

JOBS RELATED TO AAC - the union will lobby
provincial governments to force forest industry

Continued on page twenty-one

16/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1997

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