The Lying King
"WILLY the BLADE" retired.............Lion Slayer
(the real brains behind the scene)... yes, he's a union man!
THE LONGEST STRIKE IN THE HISTORY OF THE
B.C. PULP & PAPER INDUSTRY ENDED ON
DAY 280
(JULY 14/97-April 19/98)
.........Warning:......
This site is produced solely for the entertainment and information to union members.
It may contain some material that some individuals may find offensive, especially if you have been brainwashed by Fletcher Challenge Canada.
It is NOT here for people to MISQUOTE or put into NEWSPAPERS.
Lying King Archives
NOVEMBER-97
DECEMBER-97
JANUARY-98
FEBRUARY-98
MARCH-98
APRIL-98
MAY-98
JUNE-98
JULY/AUGUST-98
SEPT/OCT-98
November 4-98
People often wonder how the cogwheels turn in the huge mill management team. The response you will hear most often is that management is piss poor at best because they are too wrapped up in their meetings. Others are running scared for their jobs (and some of them should be) while others just stumble blindly along. I got a notice of a meeting on Tuesday night from my foreman. The only problem was the goddamn meeting had happened about 10 hours earlier. It was to do with the company proposal on Trades transfer, I’m pissed that management cannot even notify their employees of important meetings in a timely manner. (it pretty well says it all doesn’t it)

"B" Bleach just started up after having the annual shutdown. The disc filter was worked on again and it was worse than ever. It has been in use for about 8 years and has leaked stock for about 7 ½ years. On Tuesday it went down again for repairs and after running for 6 hours on night shift it still was not leaking. With a bit of luck maybe the problem has been resolved.

There has been a motor laying on the floor in "A" Bleach for about a week now. A repulper motor is going to fail so the new motor is just waiting to go in. The problem is I suppose nobody wants to give the go ahead to shutdown and change it before it fails. Tuesday night was a good time to change it because brownstock inventory was low. So, was it changed? You guessed right. "A" Bleach kept running and "B" Bleach was shut down for 2 hours because of low inventory.

I keep hearing rumors that some staff are saying that it is the operators that are holding up production and that if the pulp side is shut down, it will be our fault. It sounds to me like we have a few gutless staff flapping their gums to protect themselves if this rumor is indeed true.  I know the part about the operators screwing production is not!!!! SM 
November 5
I left a voice mail for the guy in management who was responsible for not letting me know about the meeting that I missed on Tuesday. That was on Tuesday night, so Thursday I go into the union office and find out that I missed another meeting on Wednesday. I left another message on the guy’s voice mail and was a little rude this time but I don’t think he ever checks it so I’m probably wasting my time. If he did check his voice mail I certainly would have known about the Wednesday meeting.  SM 
November 12
Lots of people are curious about how the trades transfer agreement is going. All I can say is we met with the company again today and told them again what we feel is wrong with the document they had given us last week. They cut the meeting short saying they needed to caucus and would meet with us again tomorrow afternoon.  SM
November 13
We met with the company and by the end of the meeting they were starting to see what we were driving at (I think). The next meeting is scheduled for Monday at 10 am.  SM
November 17
Just a quick update on the meetings for the trades tranfers. It seems we have run up against the old brick wall again but that won't surprise too many people. These meetings are very frustrating to the sane and I suppose just another meeting to the ones who are already over the edge. SM
November 21
For those of you that haven't heard the strike in eastern Canada is over. The CEP was on strike for 5 months against Abitibi-Consolidated to set the pattern agreement for the east. Apparently one of the older mills in Quebec broke ranks and went back to work fearing the mill would be permanently closed. I don't know the details except what I read in the paper.
Sounds like a mirror image off what we swallowed except there is no mention of flexible work practises or having to work through Christmas. Their pension plan sounds pretty good.  SM
November 27

 
 

The vote on the trades transfer proposal from the company will be voted on December 1st at 2 special meetings. As I’m sure you already know the Standing Comm. & Wage Delegates are recommending rejection.

I’m personally very disappointed that an agreement could not be reached. I wanted to see some language that would protect us from dual trades. Management knew what we wanted to settle the dual trades issue but would not put it in writing, so can they be trusted? I think NOT! The language we wanted would not have been any skin off their asses unless dual trades is EXACTLY what they want!!!

I wanted to see a real commitment to no layoffs. I also wanted to see some more apprenticeships and that to me would have shown that the company was concerned about layoffs! As far as I’m concerned there will be a real shit fight if even one person is laid off.

We told them that they were cutting too many people and asked how they would live up to the agreement on contracting out. They say they will live up to the agreement but we feel that will be impossible as even now they are not doing it!

As meetings progressed the numbers kept changing and even they admit they are not sure what numbers are needed. That being the case why is this crap even being discussed? Shouldn’t Full Flex, that the company kept us on strike for 9 ½ months to get be enough?

Meetings are now taking place with our members and the company and from the reports I’m hearing different things are being said at the different little team meetings. This is bullshit to say the least when the company can call meetings and basically try to negotiate! Is this shades of unfair labour practices?
 

The bottom line is get out to the special meetings, listen to what your elected reps have to say and vote!  SM
December 1
The Trades Transfer was REJECTED by 59%.
101 YES.
143 NO.
NEWS FLASH
December 7

 
 

Effective December 31, Doug Whitehead the CEO of Fletcher Challenge Canada is resigning.

I only wish that he had done this before we went out on strike and maybe, just maybe we wouldn't have had to go through all the shit we did!

I hope now that some sanity can come to the corporate office in Vancouver.

In the news release I saw at the Fletcher Challenge Paper website it said that Whitehead would be going to another major British Columbia company as President and CEO. What a great New Years present for FCC employees. I'm happy that he is leaving but pity the company he goes to.  SM
December 11
Finning International Announces New President and Chief Operating Officer
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--Jim Shepard, chairman and chief executive officer of Finning International Inc., announced today the appointment of Doug Whitehead as president and chief operating officer of the Company.
Mr. Whitehead will assume the newly created position with Finning International in Vancouver on January 1st, 1999. He will be stepping down from his current position as president and chief executive officer of Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd., on December 31st, 1998.
Mr. Whitehead will have overall responsibility for the Company's operations in Western Canada, the United Kingdom and Chile. Ian Reid, president of Finning (Canada), Nick Lloyd, managing director of Finning (UK) Ltd. and Carl Cederberg, president of Finning Chile S.A. will be reporting to him.
Mr. Whitehead, 52, has led Fletcher Challenge Canada since 1992 and held a number of senior management and executive positions in the forest products industry in Canada over the past 27 years. He is a director of Ballard Power Systems Ltd. and is current chair of the Pulp and Paper Industrial Relations Forum and 1998 chair of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. Mr. Whitehead has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario.
Finning International Inc. is a Canadian-based international corporation which sells, finances and provides customer services for Caterpillar and complementary equipment. The Company's principal markets are located in Western Canada, the United Kingdom and Chile. Finning International's total revenue exceeds C$2 billion annually. The Company is widely-held and its common shares are traded on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges (symbol FTT).
January 16-99
Boy does time fly when you are having fun or what? I suddenly realized I haven’t written anything for a month. Well I’ll try and bring you up to date.

We had a meeting just before Christmas with the Vancouver bigwigs (Ida & Howard). We voiced our displeasure on many issues about what is going on at Crofton. They listened to us but I don’t know yet if they really heard what we said.

We had 3 Standing Committee meetings this week. One with Paper, one with Pulp and one joint. We are not up to date with grievances, that will probably take a couple of months but at least a dent was made.

On Thursday we were told that Crofton pulp was in tough shape and we had to make it through the next 11 days, don’t buy stuff you could do without (gloves was an example), don’t repair equipment that wasn’t totally necessary. I got pretty pissed off and said that the membership was tired of hearing the same old crap. I said they have been crying wolf for so long now that even if there were real problems that most people will not believe it. As usual it was like water off a ducks back and the story has been told to everyone. I hear that a lot of people are pissed as I knew they would be. It is not like we have much control over how the mill is run. We all know where the poor decisions come from.

Friday was a joint Standing Committee meeting. It was a good news meeting for some of our members because some of the hostages were given dates to leave. The Voluntary Severance package is also being offered to those members that earlier were denied the chance to leave. The number of people that they feel could be laid off is also coming down. Hopefully this number will go to zero with the new offer. We of course feel there can be NO layoffs with flexibility in the workplace. We had several hours of discussion on how the rest of the hostages would be able to be released but have not come to any agreement except that both sides want to see them released.  SM
March 6
I borrowed this from CEP Mackenzie.
WARNING FROM A FORMER UNION MEMBER Labour News (Anonymous)
I am writing to you to hopefully warn you to avoid what has happened to me and other union members in this plant. We were once members of an international union with the usual gripes about union dues. Slow grievance procedures, seniority disputes, incentives, overtime arguments, etc. We thought of our stewards and union officers as freeloaders with jobs that commanded no respect and that the company would treat us just as good with or without them, and were in agreement when someone said, "The union is selling us out". Never the company.
Well, we voted to decertify and break away from the international union. We are now non-union and pay no more dues. We no longer have seniority disputes because we are placed by ability, which means whoever is the boss's pet. The same goes for overtime. Our grievance procedures is no longer slow, it is non-existent. We don't have absentee problems; if you miss one day you must have a doctor's slip, those with too much of an absentee problem were fired long ago with nobody to represent them.
Our incentives are now do more work, or you will be disciplined for refusal to work. All this for less money, less hospitalization benefits, fewer holidays and seven days without overtime. If it's an emergency-which is almost every week. Our ex-stewards and union officers are no longer a problem; most of them have been discharged on one technicality or another, or set up for a discharge situation.
How did this happen? Well, one night at a local tavern a supervisor I know got drunk and was laughing and bragging to a friend about how they got rid of the union. The supervisor said the company hired a union-busting firm out of Chicago for several hundred dollars an hour to come in and train their supervisors and foremen in the skill of union-busting with the threat that any foreman disclosing this fact would be fired. He said they held a lot of management classes and they were taught the ten following rules:
1. Try to confuse the seniority system for layoffs, move-ups and overtime to get employees jealous of one another. Then when the employees complain, send them to the unions, thereby shifting the blame, even if you have to create racial or sexual disputes. Most important: create fear and mistrust.
2. Draw out grievances as long as possible.
3. Threaten employees if they rile grievances or safety complaints.
4. Increase discipline for even minor offenses to cause an overload for the union, slowing down their effectiveness.
5. Make sure all employees get benefit books, letters on insurance benefits, pensions, etc. saying that the company provides these, not that they are union negotiated.
6. Increase management trainees of substitute foremen.
7. Get your stool pigeons to criticize union officials and union dues.
8. Hold department meetings with employees to convince them that you agree with their problems, but that the union has to do something. (Deliberately scheduling improperly is a very good example to use in this step).
9. Convince them that you are on their side about a job class increase or incentives on the job, but that your hands are tied and it's up to the union.
10. Last, but not least, the company must become the big brother, the good guy and the union becomes the enemy by distorting the truth about the agreement. By the time the truth is known, they won" trust the union anyway.
When I hear this, I realized they followed the game plan perfectly. All of these things happened to us and they were laughing at us the whole time. I felt I had to write this letter to warn you how easily we were led down the road to disaster.
I hope in some way this will help you avoid what happened to us. Don't go back 40 years in time like we have. Are some of these things going on in your company? They may be training your management now.
BEWARE!
I cannot sign this letter for fear of my job and my family. Hopefully, some day I will be back among you without fear.
This was a terrible lesson to learn.
March 25
We had a Wage Delegates meeting on February 22. At the end of the meeting it was decided that Willi Hardwick would make some small changes and then get the job descriptions and rates out into the mill. That way people could see in writing what the plan is instead of just going on rumors etc. Well that was over a month ago and guess what... yep you guessed right, not a damn thing has happened yet. If this is the kind of management that is running this mill then I think we have a problem.
They want to merge operating lines that have been apart and split lines that have been as one. Go figure that out. They have not bothered to think of the problems that will arise from doing this and we try to tell them but they don't seem to listen. They had wanted to rotate many of the jobs but have decided to put a lot of that on the back burner, for the most part. Why would they want to take the experienced operater and put him on a different job??? It takes years to really become good at your job and they want to destroy that..................give me a F...ing break. More to come.  SM

 

 

           March 30

I get really pissed off when I see garbage being written in the Croftalk. The story was about how OPSIM had discovered how valuable it would be to have the Salvage mechanics job reinstated. What rocket scientist came up with that one. It said that instead of throwing out an $800 valve that it could be fixed for $50 and put back into service.

The Standing Committee told the company at least 3 times in ’95 and ’96 that the job should be reinstated.

By August 16th of ’96 a committee of both union and company had looked at the Salvage mechanics job and showed all of the good points for reinstating and recommended a 2 year trial.

On April 28/97 the company said that now they would have to look at the job again because of the splitting of the company. We told them that we were very disappointed because we thought the job was going ahead.

The company finally did reinstate the Salvage mechanic after at least 3 years of being told they should do it, my but they work fast. The thing they did wrong was there was no posting for the job, they just picked who they wanted. It’s funny how the company finally does one thing that makes sense and then they f--k it all up by not following the contract. This is going to arbitration on April 30th because it is without a doubt a violation of our contract.

I personally wanted to see the job reinstated because it would employ one of our members. It would also help the company save some money and of course that in the long run is good for everyone. I wonder how many tens of thousands of dollars was lost (maybe hundreds of thousands) because the company didn't and still won't listen to us. I’m hoping that someday the crying poverty will stop but I’m starting to realize now that the crying will never stop. I think that maybe they go to school to learn that special art.  SM

 

 

May 4

Things are really going to start happening in the Kraft mill at Crofton now. The Power and Recovery area is going to be split into 2 lines of progression. Why you might ask and the only answer I have been given is that people like change!!! Well you know that might be true except that the thing is people like change for the better. Nobody likes to be jerked around and that is what is going to be happening. This stupid move is going to create havoc and yes it is going to cost lots of money for training and it will effect production.

The other area where the shit is going to hit the fan is the Bleach and Digester area. Here management has decided that after 42 years the lines of progression must merge. (Power & Recovery together must split and Bleach/Digesters separate must merge) Now if someone could only explain the sense in all this. There are serious seniority problems that the company will never be able to settle if they go ahead with the merge. The training costs will be higher than in P & R because people are coming from a different LOP. The downtime will be very high because people will not know their jobs like they know them now. They are also cutting the manpower so when there is problems the equipment will just sit there until people become available to address the problem. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

I was hoping that sanity would prevail but I have lost ALMOST all hope of that. All of this just for the sake of CHANGE?? Screw change, just let us go to work, make some pulp and then go home.
 

I wonder how many people realize the staff numbers are growing? It seems more people are coming out of the woodwork all the time. Typical....cut production jobs and make more staff. There are people at the mill who do nothing it seems. I even asked a staffer about one man in particular and he couldn't give me a good answer and he works in the same office area.  SM

 

 

September 6

It's been a long time since I last wrote anything and yet a lot of things have been going on.

Within the next week or so the management in Kraft is to decide whether they will merge the Bleach/Digester lines of progression. I have been told that it will be a business decision. That just that means the employees feelings/morale will not come into the equation at all.

The spliting of the Steam Plant LOP is going ahead and the company is not even interested in having crew meetings on the subject.
 

I'm moving the Lying King to Geocities so please bookmark the new site.  SM
December 29/99
The Way I See It Today
(Written for the December TWO'S NEWS)

A & W has been doing our maintenance for a few weeks now and I can actually see some difference. Now maybe it is just a fluke or can it be that some people are actually starting to think? I like the idea that if I need work done in my area that there are more maintenance workers to draw from now. It's not a new idea, it's just going back to the way it used to be before everyone was put into teams and the foremen were not willing to share any of their maintenance workers. I'm surprised that some of the foremen didn't get their asses kicked…….…well maybe they did behind closed doors. I hope for our sake that everything works out.

Since returning from the strike all we have heard is Doom and Gloom. The job cuts in the Bleach & Digester area HAD to be done by December 31/99…….period! Well the time is almost here and really nothing has been done as of the date of writing this. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see any cuts, it's just that they said it HAD TO BE DONE!!! I have said all along that the cuts are too much and all it will do is lead to more downtime which is exactly what we don't need. Let's face the facts that they don't know what they want and have no idea in how to get there. Since the time frame cannot be met I suggest that the whole idea of cutting more jobs and running short be dumped. If that means that the creator of this nonsense be fired then tough titty and BON VOYAGE!!! There are not enough people to keep the mill running now and let people off on vacation, etc. without having to pay overtime. The company has been negligent in not seeing that enough people are trained. The company has been negligent in letting the number of workers in the vacation and training pool get too low. In their rush to train an operator how to make an extension cord they have forgotten that operators run the damn mill. The company has just recently hired 5 more workers for the VTR pool but it is too little too late! Funny that they just gave some relatively new hires severance pay.

While the company is yapping on how they have to cut the workers, how is it that they can afford to hire 2 more staff foremen in production?? I'll never be able to figure the logic in this. How do they expect us to take them seriously??
 

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! May the new millennium bring some common sense to the workplace. SM
January 1/2000


So it would appear that the Y2K was the biggest hoax ever. I had done a Y2K test on my computer and it said the rollover failed but I could get a patch so it would be OK. I didn't and guess what the date rolled over fine and everything is still working. How much money was spent worldwide on the Y2K is anyone's guess but be sure it is in the billions.

It seems we have outlasted another manager at the mill. Rumors had been going around awhile ago about Hamilton leaving and when asked he wouldn't confirm or deny. It became official before Xmas. I hope the next manager will listen more to his employees and not be hustled by the higher up brass. There are still bosses walking around with their heads up their asses and have no clue as to how the mill really runs. I suppose it will always be this way to some point but I can always hope for a change can't I?

Looks like the pulp market is going to be good for a couple of years at least. With a little luck a company that is truly interested in making pulp and paper their business will buy us and get rid of this crazy pulpco and paperco.
 

The split mill for pulp will become a reality starting today and it is something that should work well. A Bleach will run Cedar grades from the RDH and feed #2 Kraft machine and the paper mill. B Bleach with the extra wash stage will run Fir grades from the 2 Kamyr digesters and feed #1 Kraft machine. Broke will be recycled from the pulp machine so the Fir does not end up in the paper mill.  SM
The Way I See it Today
(written for TWO'S NEWS Feb/00)
It is time to reflect over the last little while. What has changed in the Kraft mill? If you say sweet nothing (in language much stronger) then you would be correct. Sure there is Split Mill, the Broke Handling System and Washer 5 in "B" Bleach is on line. What I mean though is has the management style changed? We have a new boss in the Kraft mill and you would think something would have to give. Nope, I just don't see it. Communication is worse now than ever with another level of bureaucracy (A & W). I went to a meeting about operations checking motors, pumps etc. About a dozen people for an hour and nothing was accomplished, NOTHING, now I know why they have so many meetings. Washer 5 was put on line and it just sort of runs…..most of the time. Nothing has been done to try and get a better wash and a steadier operation. It's on line and now it is forgotten. It has taken pretty much the same route as the Oxygen.
I just completed 2 weeks of training on steady dayshift for the new position of Head Kraft Operator. I had to take TDG, Forklift, Propane, Ergo and some other crap that I don't even remember now. About as exciting as the flex training and just as useful. The second week was more on the stuff that we have to learn. It was a general overview of the Digester equipment. I want to thank Andy Friis for making me go to the top of the Kamyr so I could shit my pants. It was not my first time up there but it is the last, hell will have to be pretty much frozen over before I see the top separator again! We still don't really know what our new job will be like because nobody seems to know.
Something that is going to happen is the Essential Care of Equipment. I'm still not sure about all of the details but basically we will be checking all of the equipment again and cleaning it. This is something that has been lost over the years and one of the reasons for that is the Head Operator job was cut about 11 years ago. It is about time it was done again. The purpose of course is to make the mill run more reliably. Whether it works or not will be up to management. It will be in their hands as whether we have the time to properly do the job.
Even more people have been hired in the Kraft mill lately. Someone FINALLY clued in that there just was not enough people here to do all of the work, let people have time off and get some training done. The training has never been this far behind and yet management knew the crunch was coming but was not willing to do anything about it. If and it's not that big of an if, when parts of the operation have to shut down this summer because there is nobody to man the jobs it will be the fault of management and only their fault!
I can't believe the BULLSHIT that is going on again with the Kraft offices. We have had to listen for years about how the mill isn't making any money. We have to produce more pulp with fewer people while the staff numbers continue to grow. There was already an office shuffle with many offices being changed and now a lot of the offices are being changed again!!! What the hell is going on??? Who is responsible for this?? When is the insanity going to end??? How many tens of thousands of dollars has been spent on the offices in the last couple of years? Don't come crying to me about how the poor mill is doing while this crap continues. We don't even have parts in mill stores to do repairs to our equipment but we have money for this SHIT?! I will just come to work and do my job and let's just leave it at that!  SM
The Way I See It Today
(written for TWO'S NEWS April/00)
We have finally been sold. Fletcher Challenge Ltd will no longer be in the pulp and paper industry in B.C. I say "see you later and good riddance".
Norske Skog will be our new employer. They will have a chance to turn our mill into something to be proud of. They will have a chance to change the moral in the mill. Maybe we would even start enjoying coming to work….wouldn't that be something!!!
Norske Skog could make some changes to IR so there is not so much confrontation, especially on the paper side. They could get rid of the bosses who are not doing their jobs…they know who they are…..most of them are hoping for a golden handshake. I think it should just be a kick in the ass for doing a job so poorly. They have a chance to put this Pulpco and Paperco crap to rest and have the mill like it used to be. Trades could once again be used on both sides of the plant when needed.
The first week of April saw both Kamyr digesters and B Bleach shut down because nobody was available to weld a sample line (that had blown off) back onto a stockline. You have to ask yourself if everyone was called including the welders on the paperside. I would bet that the answer is a resounding NO! It would be great to hear of someone getting supreme shit about this.
On the bright side I'm enjoying my new job as HKO. I'm finding it interesting and learning new things every day. I was so tired of sitting in front of the computer consoles every day. On the down side I had to write this on my own time.
By the time this is in print the "ECCM" should be underway. It will be interesting to see how this works and whether enough time will be allocated for proper checks to the equipment or will this just to another snowjob.
I put in work orders pretty well every shift and some I feel are definitely safety issues. Do they get fixed? Certainly not as soon as they should and some have gone on far too long. Is the company waiting for a lawsuit before the safety issues get resolved? One excuse I'm hearing is there are not enough tradesmen?!! What a strange statement! Most people knew we needed more than the numbers the company was saying we could run the mill with. I guess that in a perfect world from a Vancouver office we don't need any trades or operators.  SM
June 16/00
I haven't updated for some time now and it was pointed out to me that I had said that the A & W deal was working well. You can forget about that. All we have now is more people at the top doing sweet F all. To put it bluntly the management fucked up big time....again! There is no where near enough trades to do the work.