WORKERS RE-LAUNCH YOUBOU MILL LAWSUIT ABANDONED BY I.W.A.

Ken James, a worker formerly employed at TimberWest's Youbou Mill, today filed a new class action lawsuit against the Government of
British Columbia seeking compensation on behalf of the more than 200 workers who lost their jobs when the mill closed in January 2001. 

The closure of the Youbou Mill became possible when the Government negligently dropped the Tree Farm Licence Clause 7 that had previously specifically protected the Youbou workers' jobs.  

The reasons, if any, for the loss of Clause 7 have never been conclusively determined.  In June 2001 the government halted an independent investigation it had commissioned, before the investigator's final report was completed.  At the time the government claimed that the investigation was not necessary because the facts would come out in a lawsuit filed in May 2001 by the workers' former union, the Industrial, Wood, and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA). 

However, in June 2003, the IWA declared that it was
abandoning the lawsuit.  As a result, the individual workers have been forced to file the new lawsuit themselves.

"More than 200 workers lost their jobs as a result of the government's screw-up" stated Ken James, "The workers, their families, and the community will never get any answers or compensation unless we call the government to account before the courts."

Ken James has retained well-known Victoria lawyer Joseph J. Arvay, Q.C., of Arvay Finlay, barristers, to represent the workers in the new class action.

The Youbou TimberLess Society (YTS) was established by workers when TimberWest Forest Corporation permanently closed the productive Youbou Lumber mill and threw over 200 employees out of work.  The YTS continues to support those workers and their community.

For more information, contact Ken James at the Youbou TimberLess Society, phone (250) 746-8684, or Roger Wiles at (250) 749-3167 - www.Savebcjobs.com

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