United Steelworkers (USW) and Mosaic Forest Management have reached agreements-in-principle that will bring increased collaboration, flexibility and certainty for workers and Mosaic across its South Island and Northwest Bay operations.
The agreements-in-principle are subject to finalizing definitive agreements, USW member ratification and corporate approvals, and will deliver:
- improved job opportunities and long-term security for USW members;
- better operational flexibility relating to the movement of contractors, equipment and logs across Mosaic’s South Island operations;
- unionization of Mosaic’s two shipping facilities at Island Terminals (Duke Point) and South Island Logistics Facility (Crofton); and
- certainty for USW members and Mosaic through a renewed collective agreement at Northwest Bay Operation which will run from 2020 to 2025.
“These landmark agreements, once ratified, will bring increased certainty for approximately 650 of our union members on Vancouver Island,” said Brian Butler, President of USW Local 1-1937. “Working together with Mosaic on unionizing the shipping facilities also reflects our collective desire for policies that support access to both international and domestic log markets. Given the current context, the USW 1-1937 supports immediate temporary relief on federal log export policy for private land to kick-start the Coastal forest sector, on which thousands of workers, their families and communities depend.”
Mosaic Forest Management Corp. is the timberlands manager for TimberWest and Island Timberlands – two affiliated companies that have operated on Vancouver Island for over a century, delivering sustainable forest management within their private forest lands and Crown tenure areas.
