Settlement reached in three-month forestry strike

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071016.RSTRIKE16/TPStory/Business

WENDY STUECK

October 16, 2007

VANCOUVER -- Workers in B.C.'s coastal forest industry could be back at work as early as next week, if they ratify a tentative agreement to settle a strike that has hobbled the sector for nearly three months.

The strike in an industry that produces $2-billion a year in forest products has been a "difficult time for everyone and we are pleased that the union has accepted our latest offer," Forest Industrial Relations president Terry Lineker said in a statement.

The United Steelworkers, which represents the nearly 7,000 striking workers, says the tentative contract would remove companies' "unilateral right to impose shift schedules" and provide major improvements to safety.

Coast workers have been on strike since July 21 over issues including severance pay and job schedules, reducing the flow of lumber through coast mills and forcing some pulp plants to temporarily suspend operations because of a shortage of wood chips.

If the agreement is approved in voting this week, employees will be heading back to work in market conditions that have worsened since the strike began.

"You still have a high dollar, you still have the U.S. housing market in a crunch but the difference now is Japan," said Paul Quinn, a forestry analyst with Salman Partners Inc. in Vancouver.

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