Is

e Reading out the resolutions for the Resolutions Committee were Local 1000’s Michael McCarter and

Local 1-207’s Bob DeLeeuw.

=e

ial

iv

¢ Darrel Wong

° Fred Carroll

° Dennis Bonville

e Wilf McIntyre

° Dave Steinhauer

Organizing report highlights past year’s achievements

One of the most awaited reports at this year’s
convention was the Organizing Report, delivered
by National First Vice President Neil Menard.

Since the last convention the union certified
1,616 members at 52 work sites and brought in
639 new voluntary members for a total of 2,255
members. There were an additional 505 mem-
bers placed under New Forest Opportunities
Ltd., about half of which are new to the I.W.A.

The report estimated that the union had
reached out to more than 8,000 unorganized
workers during the past year.

In B.C., Local 2171 brought in 452 new mem-
bers including 104 workers at North American
Tea and Coffee in Delta.

Meanwhile, in Local 1-3567, the report said
there were 610 new members in the past year
including 100 workers at 3 International House
of Pancakes outlets in the Lower Mainland.
Other local union certs included Delta Play (51
workers) and a raid of the rat union CLAC at
Houweling Nurseries, Inc.

Locals 1-424 and 1-425 were busy, the first
being active in certifying loggers and the Williams
Lake local having organized two new hotels, log-
ging truck owner/operators and new value added
operations.

Local 1-417 brought in 70 members at the
Naya Inc. water bottling plant in Revelstoke and
Local 1-405 organized 130 workers at the
Kalesnikoff Lumber company in Thrums, B.C.

In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, orga-
nizing continued to be a tough battle.

In Boyle, Alberta, Millar Western undermined
a Local 1-207 organizing drive by giving its
employees a substantial wage increase. In Swan
River, Manitoba, Local 324 had its third (and

itually unsuccessful) organizing drive at the
Louisiana Pacific oriented strandboard plant,
where employer interference intimidated work-
ers from joining the I.W.A. That local also orga-
nized 20 new members at Aspen Industries.

The union also put on a major and eventually
unsuccessful drive at the Sheraton Hotel in

Saskatoon. Although Local 1-184 applied for cer-
tification on May 4, the official hearing was post-
poned until October.

In Ontario, despite tough laws against orga-
nizing, Local 700 added 60 new members at
Lamwood Forest Products and Bethel Sawmills
while Local 1000 picked up 22 new members at
Dolomex Inc. in Quebec.

Local 2995 certified 110 workers at the J.E.
Martel mill in Chapleau and 28 owner/operators
hauling for Excel Forest Products out of
Opasatika.

A Local 2693 organizing campaign to organize
workers at Buchanan Northern Hardwoods in
Thunder Bay was undermined due to the inter-
ference of the Communications, Energy and
Paperworkers union. The union was also hit
hard with interference from the employer.

The convention was told that Mike Hunter is
the new National Organizing Coordinator for
Eastern Canada and is working with national
organizer Harold Sachs. Rene Brixhe has been
assisting Bob Navarretta, the union’s Director of
Arbitration and Resources, and doing some orga-
nizing in Quebec.

Since the convention, the national union has
appointed Local 1-425’s Wade Fisher to be the
Organizing Coordinator for Western Canada.

Both organizing coordinators with be working
with the national office and local unions to iden-
tify and conduct organizing campaigns. Since the
last convention, 130 I.W.A. activists have taken
the intermediate ORG II course and 19 students
went through the advanced ORG III course.

During the past year the national office has
called on organizers from various local unions to
pitch in campaigns outside their local union
jurisdictions.

Those individuals include Brothers Gordie
McIntosh and Tim Smith of Local 1-3567, Ian
Anderson and Elaine Mair of Local 1-405, Janice
Gibson and Mitch VanDale of Local 1-425, and
Paul Hallen of Local 1-184.

“We can be proud of our progress over the past

year with just nine full months under our new
Organizing and Growth Program,” said Brother
Menard. “However, we must continue and
increase the current level of organizing activity if
we are to improve our success in the months and
year to come. If we are able to sustain the level
of activity of recent months over a full year,
there is no doubt that next year’s organizing
report will show an even higher level of success.”

Wilf McIntyre, president of Local 2693, said
that the union is heading in the right direction
and that the results were in the convention
report. He also gave the delegates a rundown on
the interference that the CEP and the Operating
Engineers caused during the local union’s efforts
to organize the Buchanan Northern Hardwood

lant in Thunder Bay. There were also threats
‘rom the employer against regular workers and
student workers in the operation.

Local 2171 President Darrel Wong thanked
the national officers for the co-funding organiz-
ing efforts in his local where union activists Bob
Turner, Rick McRae and Sonny Rioux have been
organizing.

He announced the application for certification
of 18 workers at Mt. Waddington Regional Dis-
trict, which eventually was certified on October
21. The workers perform various jobs including
clerical duties, parks maintenance, recycling and
garbage disposal on the Northern Vancouver

(sland and district communities.

Loca] 1-85 Second Vice President Dave Stein-
hauer went to the mike to support the national
organizing program and to draw attention to the
issue that the union must still focus on its exist-
ing, membership and fight harder to maintain
jobs.

Fred Carroll, President of Local 1-424, said
that his local is out organizing in the logging sec-
tor again, as major companies like Northwood
are cutting back on contractors and playing them
off against each other.

“If we ever manage to get back into the bush,

Continued on page twenty-five

LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1998/21