banded.

« At the Saskfor MacMillan oriented strandboard plant, Lo

cee

cal 1-184 member Bev Yelle carries a load to be

Saskatchewan government plans major
expansion in province’s forest industry

A major expansion of Sask-
atchewan’s forest sector is planned,
according to recent provincial gov-
ernment announcements.

The plan includes the go-ahead
for expansion of Saskfor MacMil-
lan’s operations based in Hudson
Bay and the creation of several new
manufacturing facilities based on
joint ventures and partnerships

etween industry, communities and
Saskatchewan First Nations.

In a highly-publicized announce-
ment timed to lead up to a provin-
cial election expected later this year,
New Democratic Party Premier Roy
Romanow called the forest-sector
expansion “the single biggest
announcement of private-sector job
creation in the history of the
province.”

Plans call for a doubling of the
current Saskatchewan forest indus-

try and investment of over $850 mil-
lion. Full implementation of the pro-
gram would create nearly 10,000
new jobs and the expansion or con-
struction of 12 manufacturing plants.
The construction phase would involve
between 4000 and 5000 jobs.

Most of the new operations would
be based on conditional allocation of
wood currently held by Weyer-
haeuser in its huge forest manage-
ment area in northwest Sask-
atchewan. Allocation of wood is based
on four guiding principles laid out
by the provincial government: sus-
tainable forest management; eco-
nomic diversification; better use of
available timber; community and
First Nation participation and man-
agement.

Even though many of the new ven-
tures are based on wood it currently
holds, Weyerhaeuser will also par-

ticipate in the planned expansion: it
proposes to more than double pro-
duction from its Big River Sawmill,
making it one of Canada’s largest,
and it has entered into a partner-
ship with the Lac La Ronge Indian
Band, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation
and Montreal Lake Cree Nation to
build a new Wapawekka Sawmill in
Prince Albert.

Other new proposals include:

e a partnership between the Peter
Ballantyne Cree Nation and
Ainsworth Lumber Ltd. of Vancou-
ver to build new sawmills in
Creighton and Deschambault Lake
and a finger jointing mill in Prince
Albert;

e a partnership between Lac La
Ronge Band and Zelensky Brothers
to build a new sawmill in La Ronge;

e an $8 million joint veture involv-
ing the James Smith Cree Nation

et

and Suntec Forest Products ina
sawmill and value-added, remanu-
facturing plant at Zenon Park;

e anew sawmill in Beauval and
finishing site in Green Lake, pro-
posed by Northwest Communities
Wood Products, a partnership of five
Northwest Saskatchewan Metis
communities;

e a finger-joint plant, to be built
in partnership between Green Lake
Metis Wood Products and Montana-
based Stillwater Forest Products;

° a partnership involving Ains-
worth and Norsask Forest Products
to build a major oriented strand-
board mill in Meadow Lake; and

° a sawmill expansion planned by
L&M Wood Products at its existing
mill in Glaslyn.

Finally, Saskfor-MacMillan signed
anew Forest Management Agree-
ment with the provincial govern-
ment, signalling the go-ahead for a
planned, new OSB mill in Hudson
Bay. Under the agreement, Saskfor
MacMillan is guaranteed a secure
annual supply of about 450,000 cubic
metres of softwoods for processing at
its facilities in Hudson Bay and Car-
rot River. It also has an annual cut
of 767,000 cubic meters of hardwood
for its OSB operations. Finalization
of the long-awaited deal follows
recent approval of Saskfor-MacMil-
lan’s Environmental Impact Assess-
ment for their forest management
area in Northeast Saskatchewan.

Word of the forest-sector expan-
sion plan was greeted favourably by
the Industrial, Wood and Allied
Workers of Canada Local 1-184,
based in Prince Albert.

“This is good news for I.W.A. mem-

bers, many of whom work in the
industry here,” said local president
Dennis Bonville. “It means security
and more jobs in our communities.
As well, we will do everything we
can to ensure that the new plants
and the construction projects become
unionized.”
_ In addition, Bonville noted, there
will likely be job growth for forest-
sector suppliers and local retail and
service industries.

One note of regret, he added, was
that additional timber has not been
made available to Clearwater Forest
Products Ltd. of Meadow Lake, an
I.W.A. mill on whose behalf the union
has lobbied government officials for
additional wood.

“We still hope that Clearwater
management, government and local
communities can work out a deal to
ensure a steady supply of wood to
this mill to secure employment for
workers.”

- Kim Pollock

Youth organizers trained

At the end of April, the national
union put on Youth Organizer Ori-
entation training in Vancouver. The
participants, from across the coun-
try, met to learn more about the
union movement, the I.W.A. and
oO izing.
he course lasted 3 days and
involved discussion about union
fundamentals such as the benefits
of belonging to a union, the democ-
ratic structure of the union, the var-
ious roles and achievements of
unions both in the workplace and
Beet and the process and funda-
mentals of organizing.
The course, facilitated by Scott
Lunny, Director, Policy and Infor-
mation Services an

organizer
Tones, was well received by

the participants and provided a
for discussion on the issues

and difficulties in sectors
where the Bore is predomi-

yung people.

natel :
, e service, retail and hospi-

tality industries, there are a lot of

workers and unfortunately
is relatively little unioniza-
tion,” said Brother Lunny. “Even

though many of the companies oper-
ating in these sectors are large cor-
porations, making large profits, the
workplaces and working conditions
are on the low-end of the scale.”

“If we want to organize in these
sectors and help these workers
achieve the benefit of belonging to a
union, we have to be able to relate
to them and their issues,” he added.

Statistics show that only 11% of
young workers (15-24 years of age)
are unionized. Young workers only
make-up less than 6% of union mem-
bers in Canada. This presents both
an opportunity and a challenge for
Canadian unions.

The union hopes that locals will
be able to draw on youth organizers
to reach out to young workers and
relate the union to their issues and
problems.

However, it is essential that these
young people develop: relationships
with our experienced organizers so
that the process is a learning expe-
rience on both sides.

“Hopefully, youth organizers will
be able to learn and experience what
the union is all about and, at the

e Among those at the youth organizer course were (r. to ].) Lisa Mu, Rob
Fleming, Leah Squance, Ian McIntyre, Ben Cannon and Lucas Frost.

same time, help our existing orga-
nizers with campaigns in non-tradi-
tional workplaces, where there is a
younger workforce,” said Lunny.

To date, the union has put a num-
ber of the participants to work in
various local unions.

Rob Fleming and Rod Racine will

be working with Local 1-80 in the
Victoria area for the summer and
Leilani Clements is working on some
campaigns for Local 1-424 in Prince
George. In addition, Sister Candy
Ashdown has been working in the
Fraser Valley for Local 1-3567 since
January of this year.

LUMBERWORKER(JUNE, 1999/19,