Employee Representation

Weyerhaeuser promotes employee involvement in as many areas of the business as possible. We have a number of avenues for employee representation and participation, including labor unions, participatory work systems, and offices for diversity and ethics and business conduct.

LABOR RELATIONS

Labor unions represent 28.7 percent of Weyerhaeuser employees. Our labor relations continue to be guided by principles jointly developed in 1994 with the union that represents a majority of the employees in our U.S.-based businesses. The principles are designed to foster cooperative relationships and employee empowerment.

Our company's labor principles allow North American employees the right to freely choose to organize and bargain collectively. We believe these rights are not at risk at any Weyerhaeuser operation.

Our labor contracts generally require five to 10 day advance notice to change employees' scheduled hours of work. In addition, the U.S. WARN Act requires 60 day notice of major curtailments. If the company needs to curtail operations sooner, we pay employees for the notice period.

LABOR PRINCIPLES

The principles that guide labor relations at Weyerhaeuser are to:

• Develop a shared vision for a profitable, competitive business enterprise that serves the interests and needs of all stakeholders.
• Build relationships and interactions based on trust, honesty, openness and mutual respect
• Emphasize cooperation and problem solving in addressing areas of mutual interest and concern.
• Foster continuous improvement through employee involvement and empowerment as the means by which we will achieve our shared vision.

Union representatives play a significant role in safety and health. They participate in joint union-management safety committees and represent workers in joint investigations, coaching and counseling. Weyerhaeuser first introduced high-performance or total-quality work systems in the late 1970s. These systems are designed to increase employee participation in decisions that affect their jobs and to improve business performance. In our union and nonunion facilities, participative work systems are part of our business strategy and planning. At our facilities with high-performance work systems, process reliability is higher than at our traditionally managed facilities.

ISSUE RESOLUTION

To resolve questions about business conduct, employment issues and benefits appeals, Weyerhaeuser employees have several resources:

• An issue-resolution process is available to all employees to pursue issues in areas such as job expectations or assignments; compensation; difficulty with co-workers; and possible violations of laws or company policies governing discrimination, wages, and occupational health and safety.
• At union-represented sites, employees can use the contractual grievance and arbitration process to resolve issues.
• The diversity office is a confidential resource for U.S. employees with questions or concerns about equal opportunity and workplace issues.
• The ethics and business conduct office provides confidential help in dealing with ethics issues and questions about business practices.
• A benefits-appeals process enables U.S. employees to appeal benefits decisions.