Troubled times will welcome forestry workers back to the job in B. C.

A soaring Canadian dollar and a downturn in the US economy are just some of the obstacles that Coastal forestry workers return to should they vote to end the three month strike in the industry. The workers that took to the picket lines in July, reached a tentative deal with their employers last week, and upon ratification will be heading back to work in an industry that seems to be under siege from many directions.

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Patrick Brethour of the Globe and Mail paints a picture of a once dominant industry withering away, inefficient, bloated and divided within its own ranks both industrial and union.

The latest shutdown began when the Canadian dollar was still below par with its US counterpart a production asset that is now no more, even then the financials in the struggling industry had been wobbling for a long time. Across BC, increasingly sawmills and pulp producers have been taking more and more downtime and shutting down mills outright as the margins become crimped due to the loonies strength.

Sawmills have been hit by a number of roadblocks over the last few years as well, whether it be protectionist activities below the 49th parallel or the crash in the housing industry, the demand for Canadian lumber has begun to dry up in the States.

With controversial raw log exports heading across the Pacific to Asian ports, there's less and less activity in the Canadian forestry sector each year.

With all of that to chew on, the opposition in the Legislature is asking for a comprehensive forestry strategy from the Liberal government.

Some of their concerns over this once strongest of industries in British Columbia were outlined in Friday's Daily News in a front page story.

'TELL US WHAT'S IN STORE FOR FORESTRY' MLAs DEMAND
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, October 19, 2007

Pages one and two

With the end of the coastal forestry strike expected, North Coast MLA Gary Coons is again calling on the provincial government to release its vision for Coastal Forestry.

The province's Coastal Forestry Plan was supposed to be released months ago, said Coons.
"I'm hopeful that, with the government's co-operation, all the stakeholders can work together for the benefit of everyone," said Coons.

"It's disappointing that the communities, workers and families I represent have been forced to wait so long for the government to present their plan for the revitalization of an industry that is vital to our coastal economy. The government's apparent lack of interest in this sector is discouraging to industry and workers alike, and it adds more uncertainty to an already precarious picture."

The United Steelworkers signed a tentative deal Monday with Forest Industrial Relations (FIR) to end a strike at 31 companies, including several on the North Coast and Queen Charlotte Islands, that all but shut down the coastal forest sector in B.C.

The strike in B.C.'s $2-billion coastal forest sector came at a time when the rising Canadian dollar and a slump in the U.S. housing sector had already pinched industry profits.

The strike effectively shut down the entire industry locally and forced layoffs and production cuts at some pulp mills that depended on a steady stream of raw material from the sawmills affected.

Bob Simpson, the NDP Critic for Forests and Range, said Minister Rich Coleman sat on the plan for months after he claimed in the legislature that it would be coming out "very shortly."
The minister later claimed that the forestry strike on the coast was preventing him from releasing the plan, even though he began heralding the plan four months before the strike commenced.

"Now that the strike has been tentatively settled, the minister is out of excuses," said Simpson, the NDP MLA for Cariboo North.

"It's long past time we saw the Liberals' new plan that the minister claims will address the challenges facing the coast forest industry - challenges that were exacerbated by the Liberals' failed 2003 Revitalization Strategy," said Simpson.

No money has been invested in newer, more efficient mills on the coast since the Liberals took power in 2001, he said. The total number of jobs and value generated per tree in B.C. is lower than anywhere else in Canada, the U.S. and the world's major timber-producing countries.

"This long-awaited plan must address community needs by tackling the disparity between the local benefits created by British Columbian timber versus that demonstrated in other provinces and countries, as well as providing transition funding for the coast's hardest hit communities, " said Coons.

"There is no reason for us to be lagging behind; we have a skilled workforce and an excellent resource."

The union said this week the agreement, which includes a seven per cent wage increase over the three-year life of the deal, will mean the companies will lose the unilateral right to impose shift schedules, a key point of contention.

Steelworkers wood council chairman Bob Matters said the union is recommending acceptance of the deal and an end to the strike that began on July 21.

"Suffice to say, obviously we're happy with the tentative agreement," Matters said.
The tentative deal covers about 4,500 workers at the FIR represented companies