In an unusual move, unhappy employees of paper giant Weyerhaeuser are siding with native inhabitants of British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands, the Haida, in their legal battle against the company. Earlier this year, the Haida sued the company for control of the islands and their forests; on Monday, a reported 135 of 155 Weyerhaeuser employees on the island allied themselves with the Haida. The workers are fearful of losing their jobs because of poor economic conditions, and worry that the company’s unsustainable logging practices will leave the islands denuded and financially ruined. To some extent, the alliance might also be a strategic move on the part of the workers, some of whom see an impending legal victory for the Haida: “We said heck, they’re going to be our landlords, anyway. Let’s do this thing right and start working with them right away,” said Bernie Lepage, a Weyerhaeuser employee.
