BURNABY, BC - It's encouraging to see Canada's major forest industry association at last calling for action on the forest-sector crisis, say the United Steelworkers.

News reports this week cited Forest Products Association of Canada CEO Avrim Lazar's urgent call for action on what has become perhaps the worst ever crisis for Canada's forest industry. Lazar called for more than a meeting of deputy ministers in the face of thousands of lost jobs and dozens of closed wood processing plants.

"We agree with Mr. Lazar: it's about time the Canadian and BC governments began doing something about a situation that seems to just get worse and worse," said Steelworkers Wood Council chair Bob Matters. "Many workers are exhausting their EI benefits and running out of seniority or else seeing their plants close for good. Meanwhile there are all sorts of projects that could be undertaken now to improve our forests and increase competitiveness in our industry." He noted that about 15,000 forest workers in BC alone have lost their jobs since October 2007.

Matters also agreed with Lazar's call for direct action to assist the forest sector, echoing his concern that US states and the US federal government are funneling money to the industry while the Canadian and BC government sit idle.

"We're tired of this excuse that the Canada-US Softwood Lumber Agreement stops us from protecting our industry, assisting Canadian workers or improving the quality of our forests," said Matters.

Matters also expressed puzzlement about the recent actions of BC industry associations. Both the Coast Forest Products Association and the Council of Forest Industries recently rejected calls from BC NDP forest critic Bob Simpson for the provincial government to provide assistance to those organizations' member companies.

"I don't know what's wrong with those guys, frankly," Matters observes. "We have US states and the federal government helping their industry. We have FPAC calling for help. And yet those guys say 'no thanks.' Is it just political? Is it because both those organizations and their members channel hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to the BC Liberal Party? Surely what's good for the industry has to come before crass politics."

The USW supports direct assistance to the forest industry in spite of the lumber deal, stated Matters. "We know that no matter what we do, the US protectionists are going to howl. But we also know that there are plenty of things we can to within the agreement to enhance our forests, protect workers and start rejuvenating our industry. And we also know that we need economic stimulus, both in the form of income support in resource-based communities and infrastructure development."