You don’t have to look far to read about the struggles in B.C.’s forestry sector. The industry has faced challenge after challenge through its decades-long softwood lumber dispute with the United States. Any day of the week, it seems you can find dire headlines that suggest serious decline for forestry and forestry workers.
Despite that ongoing turmoil, one company has been able to navigate the difficult economic landscape in the industry. Arrow Transportation is growing and thriving, a rare success story in an industry that’s seen sawmills shutter and fibre supply shrink. The company’s steady hand through those challenges, said vice-president Steve Gayfer, has everything to do with people, and that includes members of Teamsters Local 213.
“We’ve been able to navigate some pretty tricky times because of the trust and communication we’ve built with the Teamsters,” said Gayfer. “It’s a relationship that’s allowed us to think outside the box and keep our people working, even when the industry has been unpredictable.”
Arrow has stretched its footprint throughout B.C. and beyond — from the chip operations in Kamloops and Fort St. James, to mining transportation at the Red Chris and Brucejack mines, to a growing network of reloads and a bioenergy facility across Western Canada and the U.S. The company employs around 1,500 people, the majority of those represented by Teamsters 213. Our 213 members haul, load, maintain and operate the Arrow Transportation equipment that keeps the supply chain moving.
While much of B.C.’s forest sector has been mired in ups and downs, Arrow has expanded. The company has done this, not through luck, but through quick and thoughtful adaptation. Arrow has diversified into fibre grinding, bioenergy and port operations, finding new value in areas overlooked by competitors. This kind of systemic evolution within the company has required its workers to be skillful, flexible and to buy in at every level of change, no matter how challenging.
“Our members working at Arrow are consummate professionals,” said Tony Santavenere, principal officer of Teamsters Local 213. “They bring experience, training and pride to the job every day. That’s why Arrow can grow, because they know they can count on Teamsters to deliver the very best.”
For decades, Arrow and Teamsters 213 have built a partnership rooted in transparency and collaboration. Quarterly meetings bring management, union leaders and members together to talk openly about what’s working and what’s next. Gayfer said those sessions have become a cornerstone of the company’s success.
“It’s not an ‘us and them’ relationship,” he said. “It’s a partnership. When new opportunities come up, the Teamsters are there from the beginning, helping us figure out how to do it right.”
That shared approach has paid off. Arrow has grown its presence in the mining sector, strengthened long-standing First Nations partnerships across the province and recently teamed up with the Tahltan Nation on the purchase of the Port of Stewart, a key gateway for northern mining operations.
Through it all, Teamsters 213 members have been driving the company’s progress.
“We’re proud to represent the working people who make Arrow successful,” Santavenere says. “It’s proof that when labour and management pull in the same direction, everybody wins.”
While the forestry industry is faced with a lot of uncertainty, the partnership between Arrow and Teamsters 213 stands as a model of innovation in the face of economic adversity. And with a relationship based on trust, respect, skill and hard work, the future is certainly bright for Local 213 members at Arrow Transportation.
