Steelworkers Union causing problems for NDP

[The Invisible Man]

Check THIS out. The Steelworkers union supports the BC Liberal government's position.

If the British Columbia government moves forward on major forestry changes that were floated in a cabinet document leaked last week, it will be with support from the main union representing workers in the sector.

And that may be putting the opposition New Democrats in a political squeeze, given that the union is one of the party's big financial backers.

The leaked cabinet document proposed various ways to free up more timber for milling, included logging at an unsustainable rate, cutting down more old growth and wildlife habitat, and allowing cabinet to make decisions instead of the chief forester. In an April 19 interview with The Tyee, a high-ranking Steelworkers official made it clear his union is supportive of finding more timber in the short term but also wants the forests better managed for the long term.

The immediate issue addressed in the April 7, 2012 cabinet submission was finding enough timber supply for Hampton Affiliates Ltd. to justify rebuilding the Babine Forest Products sawmill in Burns Lake, which burned down after a December explosion.

The options under consideration would undo some 20 years of land use planning and place more emphasis on short-term economic goals than on long-term forest health, and observers say whatever is done will set precedents for other areas where the forest industry is struggling.

Premier Christy Clark said that while the leaked document is not exactly what made it to cabinet, it does raise options cabinet is discussing and that the public needs to consider. "It does discuss many of the things that are under discussion in the community," she said in the legislature.

The rest of the 2 page report is HERE.