The union representing workers at mills in Williams Lake, Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Prince George, Mackenzie and Quesnel has voted 93 per cent in support of a strike.
In total 1639 members voted and 1509 of them voted in support of a strike.
United Steelworkers Local 1-2017 president Brian O’Rourke told the Tribune Monday it is “still very early in the game,” but the vote gives the bargaining committee a strong mandate.
“The bargaining committee is going to try get together this week and then will be notifying the employer — Council of Northern Interior Forest Industry Relations (CONIFER) — to find dates to get back to the table,” O’Rourke said, noting they last met on July 23.
Read more: Steelworkers to take strike vote at Cariboo, nothern B.C. mills
“We had proposed a number of issues that we had asked the employer to go away and consider and come back with answers. We didn’t get into length of contract or money or anything of that nature at the time. But the ones we proposed that we were hoping they would come back with answer for were ‘no’ so that’s what prompted us to go take a strike mandate from the membership,” he said.
Mills impacted in Williams Lake include Tolko Industries Soda Creek and Lakeview divisions and West Fraser Planer Mill.
The collective agreement in place expired on June 30, 2018, but O’Rourke said the employer usually follows along the same terms of the agreement until there is a new one.
Recently USW 1-2017 settled with its employer after a legal strike at Mount Polley Mine northeast of Williams Lake.
Read more: Mount Polley and USW reach agreement
A call has gone into CONIFER’s executive director for comment.
news@wltribune.com
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