Support Steelworkers Forestry Strike

The United Steelworkers will be out in force at 100 Home Depot locations nationwide on Sept. 29, asking the public not to purchase certain lumber products made by their 7,000 striking members in Canada. 

Calling it “bloody lumber,” USW pointed out that 65 forest workers have been killed in British Columbia since January 2006, performing the dangerous work of felling large trees and turning them into lumber.

USW is asking the public not to buy lumber supplied by Western Forest Products, Interfor and Weyerhaeuser (Cedar One).  “We’re not boycotting Home Depot,” said Gary Steinbock, USW subdirector for northeastern Ohio. “It is a public awareness campaign. We’re just asking people not to buy these products."

USW forest workers have been on strike against more than 30 companies in the forestry industry along the British Columbia coast since July, negotiating over worker safety, imposed shifts of up to 16 hours and job security. Since 2000, at least 39 major wood and paper manufacturing facilities have closed, and one in five workers in the industry has lost his or her job.

For more information visit www.usw.ca.