The United Steelworkers (USW) Interior Bargaining Committee, which is the unified voice for 11,000 United Steelworkers members in the BC Northern and Southern Interior Regions, has the responsibility for bargaining the best possible collective agreements for USW members with employer associations and individual companies. Click here... for BC Interior bargaining facts.

We are taking the contract proposals of our membership, which were established at BC Interior Wage and Contract Conference in November, 2008, forward to bargain the best possible agreement that we can for our membership while improving labour relations with our employers.

Our intent is to maintain a level playing field between industry players, both large and small. That means maintaining and enhancing a unified wage and benefits structure throughout the entire BC industry.

The United Steelworkers sets the standards that all BC woodworkers and woodworkers in Western Canada go by – whether they are union or non-union. Non-union operators gauge the wages and benefits they provide by what happens in our collective agreements.

At all times it is our expressed intent to negotiate collective agreements without a labour dispute in the form of a strike or lockout.

That can only happen if our Employers are focused on our members' needs, including the primary issue of employment security.

During these difficult economic times and the cyclical downturn the industry is currently in, the unity and strength of the USW membership will play an instrumental role is supporting the Interior Bargaining Committee.

Our Unity and Strength will be key in determining the outcome of these negotiations.

The USW wants to work with employers on a basis of mutual respect and build a progressive relationship with each company and in each workplace.

We want labour peace. We want to work with our employers during these difficult times.

We do not want to negotiate concessions with our employers.

We want progress – not a race to the bottom.

 
Front Row L-R: Stan McMaster 1-405, Frank Everitt 1-424, Bob Matters USW Wood Council, Bill Derbyshire 1-425  Back Row L-R: Bruce Gardner 1-423, Marty Gibbons 1-417, John Mountain D3

The United Steelworkers (USW) union is currently in a process of renegotiating collective agreements for approximately 11,000 forest industry workers in the BC Interior’s northern and southern regions.

The majority of those workers are employed under the terms and conditions of collective agreements with two employer associations, and two major forest companies.

There are also some small companies that the USW bargains pattern agreements with.

The two major employer associations are the Council on Northern Interior Forest Employment Relations (CONIFER) and the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association (IFLRA).

The two major forest companies are Canfor Corporation and West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., which have USW mills mainly in the northern Interior.

USW members are employed in sawmilling and planing, plywood and panel boards, and other related industries.

At the bargaining table for the USW are five USW local unions: two from the northern Interior and three from the southern Interior. They form the USW’s Interior Negotiating Committee and are a part of the union’s Provincial Negotiating Committee.

In the north they are Local 1-424, headquartered in Prince George and Local 1-425, located in Williams Lakes.

In the south they are Local 1-405, located in Cranbrook; Local 1-417 located in Kamloops and Local 1-423 located in Kelowna.

Representing the union’s membership at the bargaining table are USW Wood Council Chair Bob Matters, Local 1-405 president Stan McMaster, Local1-417 president Marty Gibbons, Local 1-423 president Bruce Gardner, Local 1-424 president Frank Everitt and Local 1-425 president Bill Derbyshire.

The collective agreements with CONIFER, the IFLRA, Canfor and West Fraser expired on June 30, 2009. All terms and conditions of those agreements will stay in place until a new collective agreement is reached or if a strike or lockout situation should occur.

It is the union’s intent to negotiate a new collective agreement which will benefit and protect the membership during these difficult economic times.

The union membership’s contract demands were established in November of 2008 at the Interior Wage and Contract Conference which was held in Kamloops. During the conference a “programmatic” set of resolutions was formed after reviewing all resolutions sent in by the membership.

The union membership’s final demands, which were the result of the proceedings of the Interior Wage and Contract Conference, have been written into contract language form and presented to employers.

The Interior Bargaining Committee has decided to focus negotiations for a pattern collective agreement with the CONIFER. It is the union’s intention to negotiate an agreement that will form the basis of similar pattern agreements with the IFLRA, Canfor and West Fraser.

The maintenance of a level playing field with all employers, that include common wages, benefits, working conditions and expiry date has been a union objective and achievement for over four decades in the BC Interior Forest Industry.

The USW Interior Bargaining Committee intends to maintain that level playing field and will do so with the strong support of the rank and file membership.

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