en S en TN A ER IT LT CI

Workers fear job loss from gov’t, union plan

By DAVID TAYLOR SILVICULTURE workers and their bosses here are anxiously awaiting a government decision that could affect their livelihood,

Terrace may be included ina plan to hire displaced forestry workers for sil- viculture jobs,

What they'll do, say criti-

05. Of. the. plan,-is take the _ jobs of up to 200 existing silviculture workers. |

‘This will be the biggest job subsidy or welfare pro- gram ‘ever invented by the government,’’ says Davinder Sangha, owner of CanMex Silviculture. ‘It’s basically going to take tradi- tional silviculture workers out of the picture.’ ~ The jobs would be lost, contractors say, because they won’t be able to hire their own employees, In- stead, workers will be taken from a hiring pool, which will consist largely of dis- placed WA union workers,

It’s part of the govern-

ment’s promise in the Jobs and Timber Accord to pro- vide jobs to those displaced workers, To accomplish this, a body called New Forest Opportunities Ltd. (NewFO) was created last November. ‘NewFO is a subsidiary of Forest Renewal BC, It will be responsible for supplying workers for FRBC-financed projects. Contractors wou’t hire their own workers anymore — they will be provided by NewFO,

That potential loss of con- trai has silviculture con- tractors here worried. They say if they have to hire mostly inexperienced IWA workers for an hourly wage, the whole industry may not even be viable.

“New Forest Op- portunities, right. We call it No F---ing Oppartunities,”’ says Davinder Sangha. ‘Sure the silviculture indus- try has problems, yes it has

a few black eyes. But Zine? stead of fixing the problems they’re forcing the TWA down our throats.’’

Sangha says if that bap- pens, his experienced em- ployees — some of whom have worked with him for five or more years — will be left in the cold.

“The guys I really worry about are those who have lives and morlgages and kids here — the government seems to have deemed them absolete,’’ he says.

Contractors say the sil- viculture industry requires skilied workers. They argue

SILVICULTURE CONTRACTORS Duncan Morris and Justin Spearing are worried they won't be able to hire their own employees this year. The province is

considering bringing in unionized workers to fill the jobs.

they simply can’t afford to have rookie employees wandering around — the woods with chainsaws get- ting paid $20 or more per hour.

“T don’t know who thought this (NewFO) up, but it’s just bizarre,”’ says contractor Rob Geier, “If I end up with new batclies of

double the cost,”? says Dun- can Moris of Little Trees Reforestation. “‘And that’s a very conservative estimate. They’ve tried it on Van- couver Island and it just

doesn’t work, it’s too ex- pensive.”’ Right now NewFQ’s

mandate only covers coastal incremental silviculture

“The guys | really worry about are those who have lives and mortgages and kids here — the government seems to have deemed them obsolete,” says silviculture contractor Davinder Sangha.

people all the time Ill prob- ably pull cut of this busi- ness. It’s risky enough as it is.”

Geier usually hires 30-40 workers*[or the season. Hiss company, Geier Bros., bas’ an anual payroll of about $500,000.

“Thal’s a fair chunk of change for ihis com- munity,’* he says. ‘Mest of my guys live here, They have families here and they have mortgages here.”

The contractors may have to pull out of the business because using unionized workers under the NewFO system could cost two to five times more per hectare than the current piecemeal system.

‘We're looking at at least

projects, like spacing and pruning. The interior arcas were Jeft to be regulated by other agencies that would be negotiated into place.-at a later date. eo Or

But “even: though the spring season is rapidly ap- proaching, 110-one seems to know whether or not Ter- race and the Kalum Forest District will be included in the ‘‘coastal’’ region this year.

“At this point it (the Ter- race area) isn’t included,”’ says Brice Archer of NewFO. ‘‘But at this stage I can’t give you an answer whether it will or won’t be (included) this scason.”’

Forest Renewal BC doesn’t know either. Smithers communications

officer Lynn Christic says her office has not been in- formed of any decision yet.

And Kalum district forests ministry silviculture specialist Bob Wilson doesn’t know, even though he is ‘‘very concerned” about the situation.

Wilson says unionization “stands to have a profound effect on the way we (the mninistry) do business’’ but he is im the dark about whether or not NewFO is coming te town this year.

According to the agency representing silvicullure contractors, the Western Sil- viculture Contractors’ Asso- ciation (WSCA), NewFO is not supposed to include the Kalum forest district,

Coordinator John Betts says the Kajum was not part of the deal, and unless things have been changed without his knowledge, it stillisn’t. =~ .

“This is either a rumour

or it’s something not dis- cussed with the negotiating committee,’ he says. ‘‘NewFO is supposed to be confined to the coast.”’ ' But Betis warns that con- tractors here have reasons to be worried if the govern- ment is planning to bring NewFO, or a version of it, to the northwest. He says it could put jobs in jeopardy and create a great deal of disruption in the industry.

“Tm not saying the sky’s falling in,’? he says. ‘‘But maybe it is.’?

ominatioon s

Forest Renewal BC will honour individuals and groups from around the province who have made valuable contributions to forestry in British Columbia, with the third annual Forests Excellence Awards to be announced in June of 1998.

Awards will be given in each of the following categories: « Forest Management + Environment * Value Added » Labour * Community + Education + Communications/Media « Forest Service + Youth.

Entry deadline is March 23, 1998.

Call 1-888-432-4442 for information and nominatians forms.

FOREST LA

RENEWAL BC

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