More than 200 Tolko employees in Heffley Creek walked off the job at midnight Sunday night (Dec. 2) as part of rotating strikes.
Marty Gibbons, president of United Steel Workers (USW) 1-417, says their collective agreement expired June 30 of this year, and the Interior Forestry Labour Relations Association (IFLRA) has not come to the table with a serious proposal.
“The members are fed up,” he tells KamloopsMatters. “They want to send their employer a message that we are prepared to do what’s necessary to get a fair contract.”
Tolko employees in White Valley are also on the picket line today, adds Gibbons.
He says the Heffley Creek mill is a “pretty big fish in the plywood market” and that interrupting production even for a day does make a difference.
“Tolko is not a publicly traded company; however, they’re operating with the West Frasers and Canfors, turning hundreds of millions of profit.”
When asked if the strike could go into a second day, Gibbons says “probably not.”
In October, union members of the three locals (the other locals are USW 1-405, Cranbrook; and USW 1-423, Kelowna) voted 98 per cent in favour of strike action.
In an emailed statement, IFLRA says the two sides have been bargaining since Sept. 6 and spent 12 days in negotiations. Those negotiations culminated in three full days of mediation from Nov. 14 to 16.
“Although we are disappointed the USW has broken off talks and have now started job action, which negatively impacts the employees involved, we would be open to returning to the table at any time to bargain a fair deal for our employees and the industry,” says IFLRA president Jeff Roos in the statement.
The IFLRA represents 10 member companies, with a total of 17 operating divisions across southern B.C. with approximately 2,800 employees.
