PPWC Local 9 NEWS
July 30, 2010 I'm pleased that our members at Esther's Inn have a new collective agreement and I look forward with working with them in the future. The contract was signed July 20th and I think it's a good start. Next week I'm going to 100 Mile to attend a meeting with their bargaining committee and management. Hopefully we'll be able to bring something back to the membership to vote on or be serving strike notice before the snow flies. I heard Pacific Bio will be getting a new manager. Apparently when the old one left the fibre supply got very low and the mills almost got shut down. Hopefully it doesn't happen again. I've also heard some good news from Chemtrade. With the restarting of the Mackenzie Pulp Mill. Chemtrade will be able to restart Chlorate III and that's good for our members at that plant. When a mill goes down it affects everyone. I went on vacation for 2 weeks and one of the things I did was visit Elk Falls. I went out to the mill site and the falls. I'm thankful I'm not one of the people affected by the closure of the mill because I could have been and my heart hurts because of the way it all went down. The management there split the saw mill from the pulp and paper and that was the beginning of end. The NDP allowed the exporting of raw logs and the Campbell Liberals allowed the trickle of logs to become a torrent of logs. When the saw mill owners figured out that they could make more money selling logs than making lumber they shut down the saw mill. The Elk Falls mill was designed to make pulp from saw dust. With that saw mill closure the layoffs started. The saw mill owners are now the largest owner of Timber on Vancouver Island and they don't operate a single saw mill. The wood and jobs are going to China, Korea, and the US and that company has the largest quarterly profit in three years. If it's okay to put tariffs on our lumber why not copy the Russians and tax those raw logs for the benefit of the people of this province and keep jobs here? This week your executive has been working very hard on changing the By-Laws of this Local to reflect our multiple certifications. These By-Laws are the rules and guides that ensure the Local functions well in providing membership services to all our members from 100 Mile House to Prince George. This process will continue for some time and I urge all of you to attend the General Meetings so that you can take part in these changes. This is the members Union and as President my job is to make sure it stays that way. In Solidarity John A. Ball June 28, 2010 Esther’s Negotiations Update Your Negotiation Committee met with Esther’s Management Friday June 25th. We met with them 3 times and at the end of the day, reached a tentative agreement. We will have Special Meetings to explain the contract and have the Esther’s members vote on the agreement. The meetings will be held at the Union Hall on 3rd Avenue (across from Dairy Queen) July 6th and July 7th. The Meetings will start at 10am and 4pm, the new contract will be fully explained starting at these times. Every one please vote. In Solidarity John A. Ball Contract Special Meeting Place: PPWC Local 9 Union Hall When: July 6th & 7th Times: 10am & 4pm June 18, 2010 Last night I got back from conducting a Strike Vote at the Ainsworth OSB plant in 100 Mile. 109 members voted with 64 voting in favour of a Strike and 45 not. The Strike Vote was approved by 58.7% of the membership. The majority have spoken and I hope for our members working at Ainsworth, they learn to stick together now and get that contract they need. In Solidarity, John A. Ball President PPWC Local 9
May 27, 2010 Last week there was a special Standing Committee meeting to deal with the Relief Staff Positions. After a thorough discussion of the issues the company was given this letter. I have also co-endorsed a letter of support for CPLP Green projects for our mills on behalf of the Local. I grew up in a mill town and personally believe that the Pulp and Paper industry has done much for the development of this Province and Prince George in particularly. This week we had an Executive meeting and it was well attended. Today Ken and Myself meet with the Company to discuss the ADO issues at a 4th Step Meeting. In Solidarity, John A. Ball President Local 9 PPWC |
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