This strike is the first in almost 25 years, workers on the picket line told this reporter December 7.

“The key issue is benefits here,” Vince Lukasc, a worker with 25 years in the plant and a member of the union bargaining committee, said in an interview. “The company has been refusing to follow the Norske Pattern Agreement,” he added, which ties wages and benefits to the state of the industry, and contains provisions for higher severance pay in case of closure. The CEP signed the five-year contract with Norske earlier this year, and is trying to establish it as the standard in the forestry industry. The CEP organizes some 15,000 paper and pulp workers in the West.

As soon as the workers walked out, said Lukasc, “the company put up a fence, floodlights, and video cameras. They complained to the city about our fire barrels and are threatening to sue unless we remove them. They’re basically doing whatever they can to make us uncomfortable.” Meanwhile, in the background, this reporter could hear a lively discussion among strikers about what type of heater would best fit their picket shack.

Lukasc also said he had stopped by a woodworkers picket line a few days earlier to show support. Some 10,000 members of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA) are on strike on the coast of British Columbia. The strike was provoked by the lumber bosses’ attempt to unilaterally impose a contract that cuts back for night shift, weekends, travel time, vacations, and other concessions.

Talks between the IWA and Forest Industrial Relations broke down December 5 after less then an hour. In an interview with The Province, Dave Haggard, president of the IWA, said, “We’re going to hunker down and raise money for our members so they can survive through the winter and spring and into next summer.”

During a visit to the picket line at the Interfor mill in Maple Ridge, Ray, a woodworker who asked that his last name not be used, said, “We’re in it for the long haul. Next week there’ll be a Christmas tree, and next summer, if that’s what it takes, there’ll be palm trees.” The workers there also reported receiving a $1,000 donation from the local teachers’ union.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home