12-week Canadian forestry workers? strike settled

12-week Canadian forestry workersÆ strike settled A 3-month-old strike by British Columbia’s coastal forest workers that has crippled Canada's $2 billion timber industry, came to an end Monday, when striking loggers voted to return to work.
   A Monday vote of the 7,000 forest workers of the United Steelworkers Union voted 50.77 percent to 49.34 percent to approve the contract offered by the group representing employers. The victory was claimed by a thin 56-vote margin, according to reports in the Vancouver Sun.
   While union representatives and employers alike said they were happy with the vote, the close vote has highlighted major divisions within the union membership.
   Union locals in Duncan, Courtenay-Campbell River and Port Alberni were against approving the new contract, but lacked the votes of larger locals, such as those representing workers in the Lower Mainland to Terrace, Kitimat and the Queen Charlotte Islands, to keep the contract from being approved.
   Workers in some areas were expected to be back at work today, and some employers were trying to schedule shifts as soon as possible to get mills and other facilities back up to speed.
   Union loggers and sawmill workers walked off the job 12 weeks ago, hammering the Canadian timber industry that has been suffering from a downturn in demand due in part to a slow down in U.S. home building.
   The workers' main issue was scheduling of shifts, which they claimed was cutting into their time with family members. The 31 timber firms, represented by Forest Industrial Relations, said that flexible shifts were needed to keep costs down.
   The new contract does not guarantee workers weekends off, but it does require the firms to provide justification for ordering such shifts.
   Workers under the new contract will also receive a 7 percent pay hike over the next three years and partial severance in the case of mill closings. The timber firms also retained a major proviso during the negotiations, with the new contract allowing firms to continue contracting out work.