No end in sight to IWA strike

CBC News British Colombia. Nov 24 2003.

VANCOUVER - About 12,000 loggers and mill workers remain off the job as the the IWA strike against B.C.'s coastal forest employers continues.

The industry shutdown is the result of the companies imposing working conditions on the workers, a move that had sparked some earlier isolated walkouts across the Lower Mainland.

Then on Friday, the Labour Relations Board said Forest Industrial Relations, which represents the companies, had the legal right to do so.

The LRB based its decision on the one-day walkout by the IWA on Nov. 6., which the union called a study session. But the LRB says it was a strike.

That means the old contract was null and void - opening the door to industry-imposed new contract conditions.

FIR spokesperson Scott Alexander says despite the strike, negotiations will resume on Tuesday.

"We're hoping they can show us a way to further reduce costs. Our proposal right now reduces labour costs by about 15 per cent, and if the IWA has a better idea, we're more than willing to hear it," he says.

The union is expected to table a counter-proposal when the two sides meet.

"We have to get a settlement, we have to find a way," says IWA spokesperson Dave Tones. "It's a very difficult set of negotiations.

Doman stays open

While picket lines are up at most of the big companies' operations, there is one notable exception. Doman Industries mills on Vancouver Island. are still operating.

The 2,200 Doman workers are still on the job because the company is in bankruptcy protection, and company president Rick Doman is afraid a shutdown could kill the company.

So Doman broke ranks with the rest of the coastal industry, and didn't impose conditions.

Forest Industrial Relations approved the move because of the precarious state of Doman's finances. But FIR refused to allow Doman to withdraw from the FIR and negotiate its own deal with the IWA.

So now Doman is taking the FIR to court to force the issue.