News
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31 October 2012
Hazard Alert 2012-07
Combustible dust winter alert - increased risk in winter
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31 October 2012
Hazard Alert 2012-08
Hazard Alert - Gear Reducer Hazard
- 15 May 2012 Update on Sawdust in BC Mills Yesterday WorkSafe communicated they had discovered a similarity with respect to the Burns Lake and Prince George Sawmill catastrophes.
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8 May 2012
Statement on Mill Safety from Stephen Hunt and Bob Matters
Following the tragic explosion at the Lakeland Mill in Prince Goerge, the USW sent letters to the Minister of Labour, RCMP and Worksafe demanding information as to what is causing deaths, injuries and loss of job.
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7 May 2012
Out Front This Week
Chinese Log Imports Cool in First Quarter; Interfor, West Fraser Report Q1 Losses; BC Laggard In Terms Of Forest Job Creation
- 5 January 2012 | media release B.C. Jobs from B.C. Resources: United Steelworkers USW responds to the B.C. government's interest in exporting more raw logs by telling the province "don't bother." Instead, the union says it's time to rebuild B.C.'s wood-manufacturing sector.
- 5 January 2012 Submission to BC Ministry Of Forests On Log-Export Policy Log Exports Distort The Domestic Price Structure; Log Exports Are Killing BC Manufacturing; Log Exports Have Undermined The Forest Sector; Log Exports Help China's Competitiveness; Steelworkers Urge BC Jobs From BC Resources
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11 August 2011
Steelworkers Offer Pattern Deals in BC Interior
Negotiations in the southern interior forest industry continue as USW Local Unions in Cranbrook, Kelowna, and Kamloops talk up the southern interior pattern with larger industry players International Forest Products, Federated Cooperatives, and Louisana Pacific.
- 28 March 2011 Steelworkers in Southern Interior Forest Industry Vote Strongly in Favour of Strike Action to Reach Settlement BURNABY, BC - United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1-405, 1-417 and 1-425 members have voted 95 per cent in favour of taking strike action against member companies of the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association (IFLRA), if necessary, in order to back up their collective bargaining demands. Balloting was conducted in the Thompson-Nicola, Okanagan and Kootenay regions last week. USW Wood Council chair Bob Matters says the union and the IFLRA will be meeting on March 30 in Kelowna.
- 18 March 2011 Weyerhaeuser Summoned to Court in Steelworkers Private Prosecution for Lyle Hewer Death BURNABY, BC - Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. has been summoned to appear before a provincial court judge in New Westminster on March 28, regarding the United Steelworkers' private prosecution for the death of sawmill worker Lyle Hewer in November 2004. Prominent criminal lawyer Glen Orris will appear as prosecutor for the union, which is pursuing charges under the 2004 Westray amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada. Weyerhaeuser has retained criminal lawyer Leonard Doust of the international law firm McCarthy Tetrault.
- 15 March 2011 Virtually No-Cost Log Exports from Federally-Regulated Lands in BC, say Steelworkers BURNABY, BC - Most British Columbians would likely be shocked and amazed to learn that raw-log exporters operating on federally-regulated private lands in BC pay nearly nothing to export logs, say United Steelworkers. In fact, according to the BC ministry of forests, huge firms like TimberWest, Island Timberlands and Merrill Ring pay only a $14 licence fee for a permit to export each boom of logs, which combined total millions of cubic meters of BC logs a year.
- 14 March 2011 Forest Industry Strike Vote Ballots Shipping to Southern Interior Locals BURNABY, BC - Strike vote ballots are being shipped tomorrow to USW Locals 1-405, 1-417 and 1-423 in the BC Southern Interior. Union members who work for affiliate companies of the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association will be able to participate in the strike vote at times scheduled by their local unions.
- 9 March 2011 Raise Fee on Log Exports to Create BC Jobs, Say Steelworkers BURNABY, BC - BC should substantially increase its levy on raw-log exports or risk losing its wood-manufacturing sector, say United Steelworkers. In a letter to provincial forest minister Pat Bell, the union representing BC woodworkers urges him to immediately at least double the so-called fee in lieu on raw logs exported from BC, currently 15 percent. And Steelworkers also want Bell to urge the federal government to similarly discourage raw-log exports from federally-regulated lands in BC.
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7 March 2011
Out Front This Week
USW Still Fighting for Justice in the Death of Lyle Hewer • BC Production Up November 2010 over November 2009 • West Fraser Ups Production at 100 Mile House • Ainsworth Posts Fourth-Quarter Profit
- 1 March 2011 Steelworkers Hopeful that Proposed Criminal Code Prosecution of Weyerhaeuser Over Sawmill Workers' Death will Proceed BURNABY, BC – United Steelworkers Western Canada Region Director Stephen Hunt says the union is hopeful that a BC Provincial Court judge will direct that process be issued against Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. for the death of sawmill worker Lyle Hewer in November 2004.
- 28 February 2011 Interior Bargaining Committee and IFLRA to Meet in Kelowna KELOWNA, BC - The United Steelworkers Interior Bargaining Committee will be meeting with the Interior Forest Employement Labour Relations Association on Wednesday here as it looks to kick-start stalled contract negotiations.
- 28 February 2011 Out Front This Week BC Lumber Sales to China Set New Record in 2010 • New Home Sales Fall in July • Tembec Close Tashereau Sawmill Permanently • Canfor Proceeds with Capital Improvement • Kayne to Take Over as Canfor CEO
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17 February 2011
Bob Freer Passes On - Service in Courtenay on Saturday
A celebration of Bob's Freer's life will take place on Saturday, February 19 at 1 pm at the Courtenay Fellowship Baptist Church located at 2963 Trail Road in Courtenay.
- 13 February 2011 Out Front This Week Canfor to Invest in Three BC Mills • Canadian Lumber Output Declines in November • Western Lumber Output Jumped 9.2 Per Cent in 2010
- 2 February 2011 Urgent Action Needed To Save Wood Sector, Say Steelworkers BURNABY, BC - British Columbia must urgently develop a strategy to encourage wood manufacturing or else risk losing its sawmilling, pulp-and-paper and value-added wood products sectors, say the United Steelworkers. Raw log exports to China are putting pressure on our mills,
- 31 January 2011 Out Front This Week Log Exports Up; USW Urges Steps to Promote BC Jobs • MacKenzie Sawmills Fire Costs 120 Jobs • Canadian Lumber Output Declines in November • North American Structural Panel Output Rose 7.7% in 2010
- 29 December 2010 NEW District Wood Council Webpage Coming Soon. To see current Wood Council webpage, click button on the right of this page.
- 6 December 2010 BC Liberal's Vicious Cycle Will End BC Wood Manufacturing - by Kim Pollock Under the BC Liberal government, British Columbia is quickly losing the battle to maintain its wood-products manufacturing base.
- 6 December 2010 Wood Council Posts Video to Mark Decade of International Solidarity Project with Chilean Forest Workers BURNABY, BC –The USW’s Wood Council has posted a Youtube video of a presentation first viewed at the United Steelworkers’ Wood Council Conference held in Saskatoon in November of 2010. The video marks a decade of progress of the Wood Council-CTF (National Confederation of Forest Workers of Chile) international solidarity project. In its first ten years the project has educated over 850 participants and has assisted Chilean Woodworkers in building capacity. During that period Canadian woodworkers have also sent funds to purchase computer equipment, assist in the renovation of education facilities and purchase a vehicle used for organizing and servicing. The project began in 1999 when the then IWA Canada and CTF signed a Mission Statement. The first group of Educational Instructors took place in March 2000.
- 25 October 2010 Steelworkers Private Criminal Prosecution to Begin Process Hearing on Tuesday BURNABY, BC – On Tuesday a process hearing will begin in the United Steelworkers’ (USW) private prosecution of Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. in connection with the death of millworker Lyle Hewer.
- 1 October 2010 Workers Compensation System Was Established to Protect Employers Against Expensive Lawsuits Our current day Workers Compensation system in British Columbia was set up to protect employers from expensive lawsuits. As the labour movement began to grow in the early 1900s, it assisted workers in their individual legal actions against employers. The breakthrough results were that workers began to win more and larger civil lawsuits against their bosses. British Columbians didn’t get a no fault system until January 1, 1917 – after Ontario and Manitoba had their system in place. That meant neither the employer or the employee could sue and that compensation would be paid.
- 21 September 2010 Steelworkers and FIR Reach Tentative Agreement in BC Coastal Forest Industry BURNABY, BC – The United Steelworkers (USW) BC Coast Bargaining Committee has reached a tentative four-year collective agreement with Forest Industrial Relations (FIR), an association that has member companies employing some 400 USW Local 1-1937 and Local 1-85 members in logging operations. The agreement provides wages increases of 2 per cent in each of the third and fourth year and enhances job security. New severance pay provisions are included to protect members in the event of permanent partial closures. The contract, retroactive to June 15, 2010, is based on a pattern collective agreement ratified with Western Forest Products in August.
- 9 September 2010 Cutting Emissions and Transforming Jobs in B.C. - By Bob Matters and Matt Horne Conventional wisdom says you can have a thriving, job-creating economy or a clean environment, but you can't have both. That is a fallacy. Facing the challenge of climate change will most certainly require big changes in how our economy operates, but British Columbia's leading environmental organizations and trade unions are ready to take up the challenge. We are coming together in the shared belief that we can create green jobs as we build a green economy in this province. Green jobs are high-quality jobs that are created or saved by economic policies aimed at shifting our economy toward greater sustainability. Some green jobs will be highly specialized and technical, such as installing solar panels or researching new building material technologies, but the vast majority of green jobs will likely be in existing occupations. For example, sheet metal workers, machinists and electricians will build wind farms, while civil engineers, electricians and dispatchers will work on better transit systems.