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THE IWA
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STRIKE

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e Out on the picket line at the Sound Structure Ltd. plant in Grand Forks, B.C. were newly certified workers of I.W.A. CANADA Local 1-423.

Local 1-423 takes on strike for first contract

t was one of the goofiest
strikes that the I.W.A. has
ever been involved in. And
has the makings of a comedy
and a tragedy put together.

“We have never seen the likes of
this type of dispute, I’m sure,” said
I.W.A. CANADA Local 1-423: Presi-
dent Troi Caldwell. “And all because
of some crazy demand put to us by
an off-the-wall employer.”

In February of this year the local
union organized workers at the
Sound Structure Ltd. value-added
plant in Grand Forks, B.C. After for-
mulating demands and starting
negotiations on May 26 the
employer put forth a goofy demand
— it wanted portion of the workers’
union dues, that would be submitted
to the local union, kicked back to it
as so-called “administration fees.”

Brother Caldwell, hiding his frus-
tration behind a smile, said that the
company, which is actually owned
by an I.W.A. CANADA member and
his wife, was told by the union that
it had a legal opinion, through its
lawyer and the Labour Relations
Board, that is not possible to deduct
a percentage of dues as it interferes
with local union finances.

“Here we were — the crew had
pared down its demands to a bare
minimum over concerns of keeping
the plant viable, and the employer
wouldn’t take this stupid demand off
the table,” said Caldwell.

The local threatened to go to the
Labour Relations Board of British
Columbia for a ruling and then held
a strike vote. On July 5, 80% of the
crew voted to walk out to resolve the
dispute.

The local also advised the com-
pany that the ballot box was ready
to vote on a contract agreement if it
would drop its demand for “adminis-
tration fees.”

But on July 7 the local received a
fax from the company saying it
would add a 15 cent per hour wage
increase if the union would agree to
reduced “administration fees” which
would amount to about $7.00 per
month. %

A day later the I.W.A. was notified
by the company that it had applied

to the Labour Relations Board for a
final vote offer to he held the next

week. i
Then on July 9, after the union

was refused access to the plant, the
strike began.

“This was the $7.00 strike,” added
the local union president. “These
silly folks said they wanted the
$7.00 per month as a ‘matter of prin-
ciple’ versus what the money was
actually worth, even though what
they wanted was totally ridiculous.”

On July 14 the LRB conducted a
final offer vote which was rejected 9
to 3 by the workers.

Then the tragicomedy continued.
The following day the crew accepted
voted 8 to 1 to accept the contract
after the employer agreed, by fax, to
drop its demand for an “administra-
tion fee.”

Some of the workers were back on
the job on the weekend and the rest
went back on Monday, thinking they
had a contract in the bag. The con-
tract was sent to the company for
signing on July 20 but there was
nobody there to sign it.

Then things got worse!

A week later the employer phoned
Local 1-423 to tell them that it
would not pay the employees
retroactively until June 1, 1999 as
was stated in the negotiated agree-
ment. The June 1 date was also on

the final offer that the LRB voted
the crew on. :

“We just threw us our up hands
again,” said Caldwell. “The company
said it faxed us an amendment page
on wages after the fact, which we did
not receive. The thing kept getting
more bizarre.”

As a result the crew voted 8 to 1 to
stick to its demand for retroactive

ay and went back on the picket

ine.

The strike lasted until the work-
ers went back on August 9. On
August 6 the company signed the
agreement and issued retroactive
paycheques and all the back-owing
wages to June 1.

The workers get a $1.00/hr. raise
to $8.15 per hour in the first year
with a wage reopener on the
anniversary (June 1, 2000).

“It’s a skinny first agreement,”
said local union second vice presi-
dent and business agent Dave
Briscoe. “We did not want to see the
company in financial difficulties.”

Brother Briscoe, who started the
negotiations and took them to the
point where the agreement was

ready for signature, and then was
refused, got totally frustrated.

“This is worse case of negotiating
that I have ever seen with imma-
ture, emotional and unprofessional
negotiations on the employer’s part,”
commented Brother Caldwell, who
has been active in the I.W.A. for over
30 years. +

“We had to say a deal is a deal an
that the workers would not return
until the agreement was signed by

both owners,” he said.

“We can only hope that the com-
pany will learn how to deal with
their employees in a reasonable
manner during the time of our col-
lective agreement and on into the
future,” added Briscoe, who chaired
the negotiating committee with
members Spencer Popoff and
Dwayne Curry, who are now the
plant chairman and secretary,
respectively.

West Fraser Timber announces
buy-out of Zeidler operations

For I.W.A. CANADA Local 1-207
there was a sense of shock and sur-
prise. On August 4, West Fraser
Timber Co. Ltd announced that it
would purchase Zeidler Forest
Industries Ltd.

Zeidler — a name infamous in
I.W.A. history, is being sold to a com-
pany that has most of its sawmills
organized into B.C. locals of the
LW.A.

“We were pleased to hear that
both the Zeidler plywood operation
in Edmonton
and the com-
pany’s veneer
plant in Slave
Lake are bein;
sold,” sai
Local 1-207
President Mike
Pisak. “Any
change in own-
ership - I mean
any change at
at all - could
lead to benefits
for workers
down the road.”

The local union took on Zeidler in
the largest strike in its history. Two
strikes at the Slave Lake and
Edmonton operations, lasting from
1986 - 1993 were gue against
scabs, police and a belligerent
employer backed by the right wing
government of Alberta.

The union’s national strike fund
spent over $4 million on the disputes
and the local and national member-
ship spent countless hours support-

¢ Mike Pisak

ing picketers until the I.W.A. had to
call it quits in 1993. :

“There’s a lot of bitter labour his-
tory at those operations,” added
Pisak. “The employer, backed by the
government, clobbered workers and
forced them into taking cutbacks.
They took away wages, benefits and
workers’ rights like seniority.

Local financial secretary Bob
DeLeeuw said that workers inside
both plants, many of which are for-
mer I.W.A. members, have to catch
up to the rest of the industry.

“The Zeidler operations are being
touted as some of the lowest cost
producers in the industry and
there’s good reasons,” said Brother
DeLeeuw. “Among those reasons are
that workers in those plants haven’t
stood a chance since those strikes
began.”

Needless to say, the union would
like to re-organize both operations.
Zeidler also owns a non-union
veneer plant in McBride, B.C. which
West Fraser intends to sell off.

But organizing in Slave Lake and

ight prove difficult.

Edmonton mi;
West Fraser, although being a ver
> (wit

lareerpeiee in the indust:
the takeover of Zeidler it will control
over 6.2 million cubic meters of tim-
ber in B.C. and Alberta), is not
regarded as one the union’s best
employers.

“The workers could do better than
West Fraser, but I think it will be a
change for the good,” said Brother

Continued on page nineteen

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18/LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 1999