B.C. loggers and truckers looking for union help

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. (Oct. 27, 2003) — Northern Interior truckers and loggers in B.C. are enlisting the help of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada to get higher rates and better job security.

Frank Everitt, president of IWA Local 1-424 told the Canadian Press the truckers are under such financial pressure from the forest companies that they’ve decided to find a way to come together. In some cases, truckers claim they’ve seen little or no increase in their rates over the past decade, while insurance, maintenance and fuel costs have risen dramatically.

It’s not likely the truckers would actually become unionized in a region with virtually no unionized truckers or loggers. Instead, it was hinted that the IWA might act as a bargaining agent for the independent truckers.

There have been a handful of meetings already and Everitt estimated the union has met with about half of the estimated 400 independent truckers in Prince George. The drivers are still deciding who the officers and spokespersons for their new group will be.

The Central Interior Logging Association, which represents about 400 logging and trucking companies, is pushing the B.C. government to change existing legislation to create a more even playing field for negotiations. They argue truckers and loggers have little choice but to accept the rates they are given because company mergers have meant there are few other businesses to work for in a given region.

— from Canadian Press