!tt winter b 2005 - bc building trades...sheet metal, roofers and production workers rob tuzzi,...

tradetalktradetalkTHE MAGAZINE OF THE BC BUILDING TRADES

SPRING 2013VOL. 16NO. 1

WE BUILD BC™

Public

ations M

ail

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ent

No.

40848506

Tempora ryForeign

Workers

Exploitation of

foreign workers

Loss of jobs

for Canadians

Building Trades

take matter to

courtGerald Oldus, from CSWU Local 1611.

2 tradetalk BC BUILDING TRADES /Spring 2013

PUBLISHED BY THEBC BUILDING TRADES

EDITORTom Sigurdson

EDITORIAL SERVICESFace to Face Communications CFU 2040

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Tradetalk Magazine is published four times a year by the BC BUILDING TRADES#209 88 10th St. New Westminster, B.C. V3M 6H8778-397-2220bcytbctc@bcbuildingtrades.orgwww.bcbuildingtrades.org

All rights reserved. Material published maybe reprinted providing permission is grant-ed and credit is given. Views expressed arethose of the authors. No statements in themagazine express the policies of the BCBUILDING TRADES, except where indicated.

The council represents approximately35,000 unionized construction workers inB.C. and 10 affiliated local unions.

Spring 2013

ISSN 1480-5421Printed in Canada by Mitchell Press

Base Subscription Rate ––$24 Cdn. per year in Canada and the U.S.For subscriptions outside Canada and theU.S.––$32 Cdn. per year.

Executive Board and OfficersLee Loftus, President;

InsulatorsMark Olsen, Vice President;

Construction and Specialized WorkersJim Paquette, Secretary-Treasurer;

Sheet Metal, Roofers and Production Workers

Rob Tuzzi, Bricklayers and Allied TradesChris Feller, Cement MasonsJim Pearson, UNITE HERERay Keen, IBEW Provincial CouncilJames Leland, IronworkersBrian Cochrane, Operating EngineersDon Doerksen, Teamsters

Tom Sigurdson, Executive Director

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40848506 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to:#209 88 10th St.New Westminster, B.C. V3M 6H8

tradetalk SPRING 2013ThE maGazinE OF ThE BC BUiLdinG TradES

Tradetalk is printed on Forest Stewardship Council ®certified paper from responsible sources. The FSC® is an

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FEATURES6 Exploitation of foreign workers and loss of Canadian jobs

extend far beyond construction8 The mine that brought the problems to light9 Chronology of the HD Mining issue10 A temporary foreign worker's story12 Share-the-wealth deal boosts town’s economy14 Bentall memorial reminds us again that injuries

and fatalities continue16 Waneta Dam upgrade a source of pride in the Kootenays18 Trades stare down intrusive federal Bill C-37720 Next up, anti-union freeloader legislation22 Moving our issues to the top in the provincial election28 When the old ways don't work, it's time for something different

Spring 2013/BC BUILDING TRADES tradetalk 3

Cover: Gerald Oldus,from CSWU (aka theLabourers) Local 1611, at thetunnel job that will connectwater services betweenCoquitlam and Surrey. Photo: Apo Hekimhan

How the Temporary Foreign WorkerProgram affects the BC Building Trades—page 6

Gerald Oldus is one of many members of the Construction and Specialized WorkersUnion (aka Labourers) Local 1611 with extensive mining experience. In February, hewas helping to construct a 60-metre shaft on the McNally Aecon site in north Surrey.The shaft will provide access to a tunnel boring machine. During that next stage,which begins in June, Odlus will be helping to operate the TBM's segment erector.

How do we see ourselves?To the editor:

After reading the letter to the edi-tor regarding one of the magazine’scartoonist’s content in the fall editionof the Tradetalk I felt compelled towrite in myself to support our unionsister’s comments. Working in theconstruction industry for over 30years I have seen some modicum ofevolution and progress in making ourjob sites more tolerant, diversified,worker friendly and inclusive.

As union brothers and sisters, ourperspective of labour should be basedon respect so it is not good enoughto trivialize comments and feedbackin our union propaganda with out-dated adages such as “boys will beboys” or misplaced sympathy.

The inroads that workers who pio-neered and struggled for socialprogress and change in the construc-tion industry should be built on nottorn down or ignored.

There is a fine line between free-dom of speech, editorial licence andcensorship. The question is how dowe as union workers want to be por-trayed—as uneducated, beer-swillingworkers with plumber’s crack oras____________?

Marilyn LanzPlumbers & Pipefitters Union

Local 170

Starting Point


We welcome your comments...The opinions expressed in StartingPoint are not necessarily those of theBC Building Trades Council or its affiliates.

Send letters (the shorter the better) tothe editor at:BC BUILDING TRADES, #209 88 10th St. New Westminster, B.C. V3M 6H8 [email protected]

Letters must include your name,address, phone number and, where relevant, union affiliation,trade or company.

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Journeywoman: Swinging a hammer in a man’s world, published by Caitlin Press(Halfmoon Bay, B.C.), $24.95. For more information go to www.caitlin-press.com

Here’s an excerpt about her experience as athird-year apprentice, on a union job buildinga three-storey walk-up in Vancouver’s WestEnd:

“I love the exuberance of this crew, their ener-gy. And I’m getting better at “one-upping” alongwith them. When someone reports that the crewnext door asked how I was doing, I say, “Funny,they never ask me how you guys are doing,” andthe crew laughs. This, I know, makes me seem“okay.” It’s how you’re expected to talk – in oneliners, joking. I’m learning their language. Whenone of the foremen says, “son-of-a-bitch,” everysecond word, as in, “You can lay out that son-of-a-bitch wall next,” as a simple instruction, I actu-ally find it charming.

Then again, maybe it isn’t exactly the language I love; it’s what it’s a symptom of.I love talking with women, but our talk is at length, looping, circling, with lots ofdetail, context, background. These men are condensed. Everything – words, feelings,action – steeps inside them so it comes out Espresso. Their physical need may be forwomen – I seriously doubt there are many gay guys in construction – but theirromance is fishing trips and scoring the winning goal. Even if they don’t actually dothese things, they get satisfaction from imagining them – together. Men have thepower of knowing who they are together. I begin to think their mystery doesn’t lie intheir physical strength or confidence, so much as in their brotherhood. Though wefeminists talk about “sisterhood,” it’s a weak tea compared to the men’s potent, prac-ticed brew.

These are the best days I’ve had in construction, and yet on some days I feel des-perately foreign. When I ask one man outright why he’s giving me a hard time, hesays, ‘It’s nothing personal; just that you’re a woman.’”

Kate Braid has published five books of prize-winning poetry including Inward tothe Bones and A Well-Mannered Storm: The Glenn Gould Poems. See www.katebraid.com


Just another strategy to drive down wages?

THE USE OF THE TEMPORARY FOR-EIGN WORKER PROGRAM to bringin over 200 Chinese miners for workat a proposed site near Tumbler Ridgein northeastern B.C. has been in thenews frequently in the last severalmonths. The BC Building Trades,generally, and two local unionsspecifically (Construction and Spe-cialized Workers Local 1611 and theOperating Engineers Local 115) havebeen in almost every news story. (Seeour in-depth feature beginning on Pg.6.)

The media reports started soonafter the two unions sought aninjunction which, had it been grant-ed, would have prevented the compa-ny from importing the workers. Theunions and the BC Building Tradesare concerned that the federal gov-ernment has failed in its responsibili-ty to make certain that everythingwas done to find qualified and avail-able Canadians to perform the workprior to granting the permits.

In fact, over 300 Canadians appliedfor work at the mine. Yet, the compa-ny said none were qualified. The gov-ernment accepted the company’s dec-laration and the permits were grant-ed.

Surely, of the hundreds of appli-cants, there had to be some qualifiedCanadian miners. Could this beanother attempt by a contractor toimport labour from other parts of theworld in order to pay hourly rateswell below Canadian standards?

In 2006, Costa Rican workers werebrought to Vancouver to help buildthe SkyTrain Canada Line. They werepaid $1,000 a month for working 66hours every week. At straight timethat works out to less than $4 anhour; if you factor in overtime rates,it is even worse.

These workers were organized bythe Construction and SpecializedWorkers Union Local 1611 whofought for fairness for these workers.They fought against a companywhich essentially argued that payingworkers wages equal to or better thanwhat those workers would earn intheir home country does not consti-tute discrimination. Ultimately the

company lost the argument (seestory Pg. 10).

Using a variation of that argument,HD Mining wanted to bring in Chi-nese workers and pay them between$10 and $17 an hour less than what aCanadian miner would earn.

Is this a contributing reason forwhy the government of Canada wasso willing to provide the permits. If aforeign-owned company operating inCanada can pay foreign workers sub-stantially less than Canadians, thenCanadian contractors would soon bedriving down the wages of ourdomestic workforce.

I am not given to conspiracy theo-

ries; in fact I find most of themlaughable. But, since the federal Con-servatives received a majority govern-ment, Harper and Tory MPs have cer-tainly advanced an anti-union agen-da. I would not suggest there was anycollusion between the Conservative

government and the granting of thepermits to HD Mining, but it appearsthere were corporate and ideologicalsynergies interacting in this instance.

How wonderful for the Tories.How wonderful for the company.How awful for the workers, both theChinese and Canadians.

This story is not yet complete. Weare back in court in April.

The Building Trades—Who we arePhone Web addressB.C. Building and

Construction Trades Council 778-397-2220 www.bcbuildingtrades.org

affiliated UnionsBricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local 2 604-584-2021 www.bac2bc.orgCement Masons & Plasterers Local 919 604-585-9198 www.opcmia919.orgConstruction & Specialized Workers Local 1611 604-432-9300 www.cswu1611.org

Electrical Workers Local 213 (Vancouver) 604-571-6500 www.ibew213.org Electrical Workers Local 230 (Victoria) 250-388-7374 www.ibew230.orgElectrical Workers Local 993 (Kamloops) 250-376-8755 www.ibew993.orgElectrical Workers Local 1003 (Nelson) 250-354-4177 www.ibew1003.orgHeat and Frost Insulators Local 118 604-877-0909 www.insulators118.orgIronworkers Local 97 604-879-4191 www.ironworkerslocal 97.comOperating Engineers Local 115 604-291-8831 www.iuoe115.orgSheet Metal, Roofers and Production Workers Local 280(Vancouver) 604-430-3388 www.smw280.org

Sheet Metal, Roofers and Production Workers Local 276 (Victoria) 250-727-3458 www.smwia276.ca

Teamsters Local 213 604-876-5213 www.teamsters213.orgUNITE HERE Local 40 604-291-8211 www.local40union.com

tom sigurdsonFrom the editor

If a foreign-owned company operating in Canada can

pay foreign workers substantially less than Canadians,

then Canadian contractors would soon be driving

down the wages of our domestic workforce.

Exploitation of foreign workers andloss of Canadian jobsextend far beyondconstruction

HD Mining Inc. said there were noCanadians with the skills to do “longwallmining” that would be required for itsmine near Tumbler Ridge. Local 1611Business Rep Danny Klein doesn’t believeit. “We have people with all kinds ofexperience. We’ve done hard-rock andsoft-rock tunneling. We’ve been doingthat kind of work for 50 years or more.We have miners in B.C. and Canada and,if we need more, why aren't we going toour neighbours in the U.S.?”



By Leslie Dyson“THE LABOUR MOVEMENT OWES Adebt of gratitude to the BC BuildingTrades, the Steelworkers and the immi-grant community for fighting for tem-porary foreign workers’ rights,” saidJim Sinclair, president of the BC Feder-ation of Labour. The enemy is the sys-tem that makes them second-class citi-zens.

“HD Mine is the flashpoint,” headded, “but it’s one tiny componentof what’s going on across Canada. It’sparticularly prevalent in the lowerpaid sectors.”

The federation has heard stories ofminers from China paying labour bro-kers $12,000 to $15,000 to work inCanada. A woman from the Philip-pines had to pay $5,000 to work as ananny in Hong Kong and another$5,000 to come to work in Canada.“Are we willing to tolerate this dis-crimination?” he asked.

The federal government has stream-lined the process to allow applicationsto be processed in as little as 10 days.Legislation now permits temporaryforeign workers to be paid 15% lessthan the prevailing wage in the area.“The official line is that companieshave to pay for transporting theseworkers and sometimes for accommo-dations, so that’s how they justify it,”Sinclair said. “But it’s a public declara-tion that is aimed at undercutting thewages of Canadians. It’s a huge stepbackwards.”

When the program began, workerswould come to work in constructionfor six months. Now the time periodhas been extended to four years. "Theprogram is fundamentally flawed[and] out of control," said Sinclair."There's nothing temporary about it atall.

“Everyone’s rights are at risk,” hecontinued. The foreign workers “don’thave the right to quit or bring theirfamilies with them. And it’s not goodfor our economy to have them sendtheir cheques home. But I’d do it tooif I was forced to leave my country tosupport my family,” he added quickly.

Exploitation of foreign workers atthe expense of a country’s own citi-zens is a “global crisis,” he said. Andyou only have to look at the U.S. tosee how bad things can become. The“guest workers” end up workingunderground and are no longerdeemed legal. “The most vulnerablebecome even more vulnerable.”

Ken Georgetti, president of theCanadian Labour Congress (CLC),said, “The federal government’s Tem-porary Foreign Worker (TFW) programis yet another example of Ottawa’s

meddling in the labour market tofavour employers and drive downwages.”

The excuse of a shortage of workerswould come as a surprise to the 1.4million Canadians who are unem-ployed. “The problem is a lack ofinvestment in training that wouldhelp unemployed workers find goodjobs,” Georgetti said. “This is a blatanteffort to drive all wages down ineverything from resource extractionand manufacturing to the service sec-tor.”

There are now more than 300,000migrant workers, according to Citizen-ship and Immigration Canada—triplethe number from a decade ago—andthey hold almost 30% of net new jobscreated in Canada between 2007 and2011, according to the CLC.

They are providing for their familiesat home by working in homes as nan-nies and caregivers, in abattoirs, hospi-tals, care homes, fish plants, fast foodrestaurants, in construction and in theoil sands.

Tim Hortons employs thousands oftemporary foreign workers.

The BC Public Interest Advo-cacy Centre filed a human rightscomplaint on behalf of fourworkers from Mexico who wereworking in two Tim Hortonslocations in Dawson Creek. Theworkers said they were subjectedto racist remarks and their land-lord doubled the room occupan-cy and their rent and demandeda $200 tip mid-month. Two ofthe workers were fired and sentback to Mexico.

Tim Hortons Inc. told the CBCthat it doesn’t condone theseactions. It also said many of itsrestaurants wouldn’t be able toremain open without the TFWprogram, according to the Huff-ington Post.

Labour organizations have

been documenting stories of work-place mistreatment, substandard hous-ing and unpaid overtime. (See the SELIarticle on Pg. 10.) However, manymigrant workers won’t risk registeringcomplaints because leaving a job orbeing fired means risking their legalstatus to work in Canada.

The CLC and the labour movementsupport people coming to Canada aspermanent immigrants to fill provenskills shortages.

“Our country has largely been builtby people who came here, workedhard, put down roots and became citi-zens,” Georgetti wrote in an editorialpublished in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix last May. “Our government,however, seems to favour importingworkers who can be sent home far tooeasily, and who are limited to just fouryears of work here.”

Last fall, delegates to the BC Fedconvention passed a motion callingfor a moratorium on the federal TFWprogram. “We need to get it back towhere it should be,” Sinclair said. “Itshouldn’t be a permanent cheaplabour program.”

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By Leslie DysonTHE HD MINING INTERNATIONALscandal in B.C. is an issue that willhave provincial and national implica-tions, possibly international as well.

All over the world, temporary foreignworkers are being exploited. Interna-tional companies are bringing in work-ers from countries that don’t have inde-pendent trade unions and that offerlow wages and poor working condi-tions. These labourers are then offeredsubstandard wages and working condi-tions when they go to work in Africa,Australia, Europe, the U.S. and Cana-da—to the dismay of local workforces.

Jim Sinclair, president of the BC Fed-eration of Labour, said there is big dif-ference between temporary foreignworkers and immigrants. “We do needimmigrants,” he said. “They can bringtheir families and help build our coun-try.”

However, temporary foreign workershave little protection. There are morethan 300,000 in the country and70,000 in B.C., according to 2011 fig-ures from Citizenship and ImmigrationCanada, the highest per capita in thecountry and in a province with one ofthe higher unemployment rates. “Not agood situation at all,” said Sinclair.

These workers are being treated as“second-class citizens,” he said. “Theycan be sent home if they want to join a

union or complain about safety.” HD Mining International is standing

by its story that there were no Canadi-ans qualified to work on the initialstages at its mine near Tumbler Ridge.

“HD Mining is the flashpoint,” saidSinclair. “It exposed the whole Tempo-rary Foreign Worker Program.”

Mark Olsen, business manager forLocal 1611 of the Construction andSpecialized Workers’ Union (CSWU),said the case is likely to set a precedent.

The Operating Engineers Local 115and CSWU Local 1611 went to FederalCourt in November 2012, saying HDMining could have found Canadianworkers to do the work and that thecompany advertised jobs at less thanthe going rates.

The unions requested a full judicialreview of the TFW Program and for theFederal Court to overturn the federalgovernment’s approval of the labourmarket opinions (LMOs) that openedthe door for HD Mining Internationalto bring more than 200 foreign workersto work in its mine.

The LMO process was designed toensure Canadians had the first opportu-nity to obtain available jobs, and tomake sure that prevailing Canadianwage rates, working conditions andsafety standards were respected. Unfor-tunately, that is no longer the case.

The company publicly acknowledged

that it received more than 300 applica-tions from Canadians but didn’t hire asingle one, claiming none were quali-fied. The mine site will use an under-ground longwall mining technique, notyet used in Canada.

“This is not believable or acceptable,”said Brian Cochrane, business managerfor Local 115. “For one thing, Canada isknown worldwide for its extensive min-ing industry, both underground andopen pit. For another, HD MiningInternational has known for 10 years itwas going to need miners. That’s ampletime to ramp up recruitment and train-ing programs for Canadians.”

Investigations by the unions and themedia revealed that the Chinese trades-people receive just three months oftraining for this technique. Obviously,these skills could be picked up by Cana-dian miners in plenty of time to meetproduction schedules.

Stephen Hunt from the United Steel-workers Union said, “From the begin-ning, this story hasn’t made sense. Itdoesn’t make sense that the B.C. gov-ernment has strenuously defended thisproject and HD Mining’s plans toimport temporary foreign workers. Thereasons the company gives for needingforeign workers don’t make sense…andit makes no sense for the B.C. andCanadian governments to let HD Min-ing get away with hiring temporary for-eign workers when there are Canadiansable and willing to do those jobs.”

Cochrane said, “We’re carrying thefight for these jobs on behalf of allqualified Canadian workers, includingthose who choose to join a union andthose who do not. We are fighting tomake the federal government account-able in their decision-making to allCanadians.

“Jobs weren’t adequately advertised,qualified Canadians were overlooked,wages were lower than market ratesand working conditions weren’t clear-ly specified. Any one of these contra-ventions should have signaled a redflag.

“Should Canadian workers have tocompete for jobs in Canada withworkers from other countries whosestandard of living is a fraction of ourown, and for whom our minimumwage is a good day’s pay?” he asked.

“In the short term,” Cochrane said,“we are disappointed that we havebeen met with such resistance fromboth the federal government and thecompany.

“If these labour market opinionsmet the criteria, prove it. If there wasa mistake, fix it. “For the governmentto continue to defend a flawed systemthat works against the rights of Cana-Ro

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HD Mining International

The mine that brought the problems to light


dian workers is simply wrong, andneeds to be corrected.”

In December, a Federal Court judgeordered the federal government to askthe company to turn over the supportingmaterials for the LMO applications.Ottawa requested the documents but thecompany dragged its heels.

In January, the unions went back tocourt to ask the justice to compel DianeFinley, minister of Human Resources andSkills Development Canada (HRSDC), todemand that the company turn over allthe documents, including the 300 Cana-dian resumes that were rejected by thecompany.

A lawyer for the federal governmenttried to argue that HRSDC regulations donot give the minister the authority tocompel documents to be produced andthat the sweeping authority suggested bythe unions would amount to an abuse ofpower.

However, Judge Michael Manson notedthat the department tells applicants tokeep documents for two years and thewebsite states that documents may beneeded “in the event that a Service Cana-da officer contacts you to verify youradvertising efforts.” He also stated thatthe department has the power to revokethose labour market opinions, at leastuntil a worker is admitted into Canada.

“It’s a very strange situation that twounions have to go to Federal Court toprove that the minister of HumanResources and Skills Development Cana-da actually has the power to run her ownministry and enforce its regulations,” saidCochrane.

The resumes of the workers were hand-ed over on Jan. 21 and it quickly becameclear that some of the applicants had sev-eral decades of experience.

“What these resumes prove is thatCanadian workers had jobs they couldeasily perform taken away from them byan unscrupulous company that wantedtemporary foreign workers all along andan incredible lack of enforcement of therules by the federal government,” Olsensaid.

In late January, the company, blamingthe unions and their court action, sentthe Chinese tradespeople back to China.With a temporary foreign worker desig-nation, the workers had no recourse butto comply.

Olsen said, “Amazingly, no one [todate] has challenged the basics of a pro-gram that brings 180,000 temporary for-eign workers to Canada each year and[no one has] asked for assurances thatrules are followed to protect Canadianworkers. This case is changing all that.”

A judicial review of Ottawa's decisionto issue the temporary foreign-workerpermits has been tentatively set for April.

April 2012HD Mining International Ltd. receivedapproval from Human Resources and SkillsDevelopment Canada (HRSDC) to applyfor permits to bring 201 temporary foreignworkers from China to extract a bulk sam-ple from its coal property at Murray Rivernear Tumbler Ridge, B.C. The permits wereapproved based on 10 positive LabourMarket Opinions (LMOs) which contendthat the company tried but failed to findany qualified Canadian workers.

October 2012Fifteen workers from China arrived in Tum-bler Ridge. An additional 61 were set toarrive in late December. The balance wouldhave arrived in spring 2013.

October 15Mark Olsen, president of the BuildingTrades’ bargaining council, wrote to PrimeMinister Stephen Harper and PremierChristie Clark calling on both governmentsto withdraw their support for importingtemporary foreign workers for coal miningjobs in B.C.

Nov. 2Lawyer Charles Gordon, on behalf of IUOELocal 115 and CSWU Local 1611, filed anapplication in Federal Court to overturnthe LMOs and later asks for all the docu-ments related to the case.

Nov. 8HRSDC Minister Diane Finley issued astatement saying, “We are not satisfiedwith what we have learned about theprocess that led to permission for hundredsof foreign workers to gain jobs (at theMurray River site). In particular, we are notsatisfied that sufficient efforts were madeto recruit or train Canadians interested inthese jobs…It is clear to our governmentthat there are some problems with theTemporary Foreign Worker Program.”

Nov. 13The Tumbler Ridge News reported that 13miners from China were taking classesfrom a HD Mining employee in English lan-guage, what to expect while living inCanada, work and traffic safety, personnelissues and interacting with Canadians.

Nov. 14Justice Douglas R. Campbell of the FederalCourt began the Case Management Con-ference. Charles Gordon pressed for acourt injunction preventing any additionalworkers entering Canada before theunions’ application for a judicial review washeard.

Nov. 24Canadian Dehua International Mines

Group, which owns a minority share ofHD Mining, announced it would shutdown its coal mine at Wapiti River nearTumbler Ridge because of the court actionbrought by the two unions. (The compa-ny later reversed its decision.)

Dec. 7Court documents revealed that HD Min-ing set Mandarin as a language require-ment. B.C.’s Inspector of Mines set out aproposal whereby signage would be inMandarin and English and safety manualswould be translated.

Dec. 13The judge turned down the unions’injunction application but warned HDMining against bringing in any more thanthe 60 workers prior to the Judicial Reviewcase being heard.

Dec. 17Documents revealed that HD Miningplanned to exclusively use temporary for-eign workers for 4.5 years before intro-ducing Canadian workers into the mine.BC Fed President Jim Sinclair noted thatits plan showed that Canadian workerswould only be introduced at the rate of10% a year, meaning that it would be 8years before the majority of workers wereCanadian, and temporary workers, withno rights to bring their families here,would still be working in the mine in2026.

Jan. 8, 2013The unions filed a contempt of courtcharge against HRSDC Minister Diane Fin-ley. They wanted the Federal Court tocompel the minister to demand that HDMining provide the unions with all thedocumentation including the resumes ofup to 300 Canadian workers who appliedunsuccessfully for jobs.

Jan. 16The Federal Court judge ruled that theminister did have the authority to compelthe company to turn over all the docu-ments.

Jan. 21HD Mining turned over the 300 Canadianresumes to the unions. A few days later itsent 16 temporary workers back to China.

Feb. 6In November, B.C. labour minister PatBells said the company had “no uptake”on its attempts to find Canadian workers.Three months later, he said the publicmust have confidence that foreign work-ers are employed in jobs that are “unfill-able by British Columbians…and that hasclearly not been the case here.”

Chronology of the hd mining issue

IGNACIO (NACHO) SANCHEZ IS 27YEARS OLD. He has been working asa Labourer since he was 18. Beforecoming to Canada he was part of thecrew that operated a Tunnel BoringMachine (TBM), to excavate a waterdiversion tunnel for the Turialbahydro electric project in Costa Rica.

His employer, Seli SA, enticedSanchez to come to Canada to digtunnels for the Canada Line in 2006,promising him and 30 other CostaRican workers approximately $1,000U.S. per month (net). Sanchezaccepted the company’s offer andcame to Vancouver; unknowinglytaking the first step in what would bea landmark human rights case inCanada.

The Canada LineThe Canada Line is a 9.2 km track

from Richmond to Vancouver. The $2billion line is the largest single con-struction project in the history of theMetro Vancouver region. SNC Lavalinwas the lead contractor for the project.It subcontracted Italian tunnel compa-ny SELI to construct the final 2 kmunderground stretch of the CanadaLine below False Creek, through thedowntown core and on to WaterfrontStation.

Working in CanadaWhen Sanchez arrived in Vancouver

with the other Costa Rican workers,he said, “the working conditions wereall right, we no complain about thework.” But working 12 hours a day, 6days a week, Sanchez was making lessthan $4 an hour (net). It wasn’t longbefore he and the other workers real-ized “the money wouldn’t take youthat far.”

He was working alongside a team ofEuropean workers, but the compensa-tion between the two groups wasmiles apart. He also learned that whilehe was being housed in a run-downhotel, the Europeans were living inluxury condos next to the False Creekwork site.

“We used to talk to the other work-ers,” said Sanchez. “We would tellthem this is about the work we are

doing together. We’re doing the samework. It’s not about what country youare from.”

Joining the Labourers’ UnionSanchez’s fortunes changed in May

2006, when BC Building Tradesresearcher Joe Barrett came to investi-gate a rumour that there were LatinAmerican tunnel workers being under-paid on the Canada Line.

“I remember meeting Joe,” saidSanchez with a smile. “He called to usfrom outside the fence [at the worksitelocated off to the side of the south-western corner of the Cambie St.Bridge]. He started talking to us inEnglish and then he started talking inSpanish and we realized he was speak-ing our language. That’s where it allstarted. Then we started having meet-ings.”

Sanchez and the other Costa Ricanworkers met with Joe and members ofthe Construction and SpecializedWorkers’ Union (CSWU) Local 1611countless times over the coming daysand signed union cards with Local1611 on June 11, 2006.

“Organizing temporary foreignworkers, especially those who do not

speak English, presented a significantchallenge for our union,” said MarkOlsen, business manager for Local1611. “It was critical that we establishand build trust with the workers, andthat we do so quickly, as these workerswere clearly being exploited andwould be vulnerable to managementpressure.”

“We all started getting together andtalking to each other,” remembersSanchez. “The union was saying ‘Thiscompany is taking advantage of you.’”

Barrett said, “A team of CSWU 1611organizers worked nonstop for threeweeks in June 2006. The vote wascounted on June 30: 37 in favour and22 against. This was the first time inCanadian construction industry histo-ry that migrant workers on temporarywork permits voted to join a construc-tion union.”

“The certification process went sur-prisingly well,” said Olsen, “and creditgoes to Joe Barrett; Manuel Alvernaz,our chief organizer; our entire team,and, of course above all, the workers,who stuck together and remainedtogether throughout the process.”

Within days of the union certifica-tion, the Latin American workers

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Ignacio (Nacho) Sanchez: “Every time I use the Canada Line, I see thousands of peo-ple. They don’t know who built it. We were hidden underground in the tunnel. I didthe work and I think, this is the place they ripped me off.”


Building solidarity underground

A temporary foreign worker’s storyBy Brynn BourkeOne of the most infamous cases of temporary foreign worker exploitation took place here in B.C. during construction ofthe Canada Line. The BC Building Trades and Local 1611 of the Construction and Specialized Workers’ Union workeddiligently for six years on behalf of the Central American workers. Justice finally came in December 2012.

hourly wage rose to approximately$10.81 an hour (net). The unionsmelled a rat.

“We spent the next four years pre-senting evidence to the LRB, BCSupreme Court (Justice Paul Walkereventually ruled that the LRB wasbiased) and BC Court of Appeal thatthe company illegally raised wages tobuy off the workers and break unionsolidarity.” Barrett recalled.

They were still receiving well belowthe wages being paid to Europeanworkers on the site. The union wantedparity for the Latin American workersand they were willing to go to court tofight for it.

Launching the human rights caseLocal 1611 filed a complaint with

the Employment Standards Branch. Inresponse, the company claimed it hadmade a mistake and was in the processof rectifying it. Once the workers werepaid back the equivalent of $14 (gross)per hour in retroactive payments, theEmployment Standards Branch closedthe case—leaving in place the wagediscrimination between Ignacio andthe European workers.

“Our best option was to proceed tothe BC Human Rights Tribunal, as wehad not received justice at the LabourRelations Board, and would be unlike-ly to receive adequate recompense atEmployment Standards,” remembersOlsen. “We needed to right thiswrong.”

“The union went to court on behalfof us,” said Sanchez. A discriminationcomplaint was lodged by the CSWU1611 at the Human Rights Tribunal inAugust 2006.

In September 2007, hearings beganat the BC Human Rights Tribunal.SELI argued it was within its rights topay the Latin American workers lessthan the European workers based on“international compensation prac-tices.” The union’s lawyer argued itwas clear discrimination.

On Dec. 3, 2008, the Human RightsTribunal ruled in favour of the work-ers, ordering SELI and SNC Lavalin toretroactively pay each worker thesalary and expenses comparable to theEuropean workers and $10,000 to eachworker for injury to dignity.

Damages totaled in excess of $2million. It was the biggest humanrights settlement in Canadian history.

SELI and SNC Lavalin challengedthe decision and waged a five-yearlegal battle that finally ended just afew months ago in December 2012with the companies finally settling.

“The union deserves credit,” saidSanchez. “The case took so long; Ithought it might never end. [The

union] never let it go. They stayedwith us.”

This spring, members from theLabourers union and the BC BuildingTrades flew to Costa Rica to personal-ly present the temporary foreignworkers with their long overduecheques.

“We are so proud of the foreignworkers we represented,” said Olsen.“It was, and is, a true honour for ourunion. The Human Rights Tribunalhas also sent a clear message toemployers. Do not bring your interna-tional compensation practices to B.C.if, in doing so, you are discriminatingon the basis of their place of origin. Italso sends a clear message to both theprovincial and federalgovernments that theymust ensure a properlevel of wages and ben-efits are paid to tempo-rary foreign workers.”

For Sanchez, now apermanent resident liv-ing in Canada with hiswife, the experience isbittersweet. “Everytime I use the CanadaLine, I see thousands ofpeople. They don’tknow who built it. Wewere hidden under-ground in the tunnel. Idid the work and Ithink, this is the placethey ripped me off. Iearned this money. Ibuilt that thing.”

Sanchez’s story maybe from one of themost famous tempo-

rary foreign worker cases in B.C. his-tory, but it is not the only one. Thereare over 70,000 temporary foreignworkers currently residing in B.C.They farm our fields, raise our chil-dren, clean our houses, build residen-tial towers and dig our tunnels. Manyof them work outside of the publiceye, in precarious conditions with fewrights.

Sanchez hopes that his story willforce companies to think twice aboutdiscriminating against foreign work-ers.

“In this country, you need to pro-tect your rights,” he said. “Don’t letanyone take advantage of you. Don’tlet the companies pressure you.”


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Key players in the campaign to help Central American construction workers on theCanada Line receive the wages they were entitled to: union lawyer Kevin Blakely;tradespeople Christopher Misura, Walter Quiros and Douglas Barbosa; lawyer CharlesGordon; tradesperson Anthony Gamboa, and (front) Building Trades former researcherJoe Barrett.

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By Marco Procaccini

WORKING PEOPLE DRIVE LOCALeconomies and that was recentlyproven in Trail, B.C.

Last summer, while many parts ofthe province struggled with the eco-nomic recession, the Kootenay milltown experienced a mini-boom inconstruction, renovations and big-tick-et purchases since the workers at theTeck-Cominco smelter won a record$10,000 signing bonus, in addition toan 18% pay raise.

The local chamber of commercewas enthusiastic about the deal andits effects. After years of economicdecline and people moving awaybecause of layoffs, the chamberreported increased sales of a widevariety of goods and services andincreased home renovations and newconstruction.

It brought even more good news forlocal area construction tradespeoplewho are already working on severalmajor construction projects in theKootenay region—from the WanetaDam Expansion Project and HughKeenleyside Dam Spillway Gateupgrades to the Red Mountain SkiResort expansion and the WildstoneGolf and Residential Development.

The United Steelworkers Locals 480and 9705, who make up the 1,180-member work force at Teck’s metalsmelting and refining facility, receivednationwide attention from labour,consumer and even local small busi-ness organizations for their winningstrategy. The locals promoted the ideaof long-term stability in return for agreater share of the wealth they createfor the company.

“As it turns out it was a good strate-gy,” said Local 480 President Doug

Jones. The company was pushing for alonger than usual agreement—fiveyears instead of the traditional four.The local’s members said they wouldagree if they were given some financialsecurity as well. After intense bargain-ing between managers and the local’selected negotiating committee, a tenta-tive deal was reached that included thepay raise and signing bonus. Theunion members voted 87% in favourof ratifying the proposed deal.

“It’s obviously the signing bonusthat got most people on board withthe deal,” said Local Vice-PresidentArmindo deMedeiros. “It’s one of thehighest ratification votes we’ve everhad here.” He said one key reason forthe enthusiasm is the fact that thereare more younger union membersworking at the facility and they arelooking to buy their first homes andstart families.

Share-the-wealth deal boosts town’s economy

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BCYT-BCTC President, Business ManagerInsulators Local 118

By Lee LoFtus

SKILLS ARE NOT A COMMODITYthat you buy, sell and trade on anopen market. Why do employers andgovernments treat skills training likea product they can order at any timeinstead of a community investmentthat requires long-term planning inorder to meet workforce needs?

It’s this commodification of skillstraining that has led to the skillsshortage in B.C. Employers wantskilled workers, but they don’t wantto invest in the process necessary toproduce them.

Take the recent example set byCanadian Dehua International innorthern B.C. Dehua filed a projectdescription for its proposed Gethingproject as far back as 2007 that said asmany as 400 foreign workers wouldlikely be needed to build the mine.Yet, no planning was done to trainBritish Columbians for the work.They simply expected to place anorder for skilled labour when the pro-ject began in 2012 and our provincialand federal governments were happyto let them.

Employers have a critical role toplay in supporting skills training. It’s

time that we held them accountablefor their part in preparing the nextgeneration of journeypersons.

Instead, it has become commonpractice in B.C. for employers to side-step hiring and training apprenticesin favour of bringing in foreign work-ers or unskilled labour.

This retreat from skills training isshort sighted and illogical. We need arobust skilled workforce in order tomeet the labour demands of the next10 years.

The Construction Sector Councilestimates that B.C. will need toattract 20,000 new workers from out-side the industry over the next 10years to meet labour requirements.

Investment in apprenticeship notonly allows for labour replenishment,but it also makes economic sense.

A Canadian Apprenticeship Forumreport found that employers make$1.38 for every dollar invested inapprenticeship after the first year.

Yet, these arguments will continueto be ignored without political leader-ship.

The last 20 years has seen a changein what goods are purchased and

sold. We have transitioned to a globaleconomy. Most of our goods comefrom abroad while Canada exportsevery major natural resource it has:oil, logs and even our water.

Our skilled labour is the last fron-tier in this race to globalize our econ-omy. And this is a line we cannotallow our governments and corpora-tions to cross.

There are no winners in this prac-tice, only losers. Our children are notbeing hired or trained in meaningfuland well-paying blue-collar careers.They will end up looking in from theoutside as we bring in workers andgoods from countries that have lowerstandards and working conditions.

As a third-generation constructionworker, I know the benefits of train-ing. Training has produced food,lodging, education and modernhealth care for three quarters of acentury to my family.

We have to stand up and fight forskills training in B.C. It’s an invest-ment in our economy, an investmentin our community, an investment inour children and an investment inour future.

president’s view

Training is an investment thatpays off now and in the future


By Michael Brophy

LABOUR REPRESENTATIVES, FAMILYMEMBERS of the construction workerswho were killed while working duringconstruction of the Bentall high riseproject, politicians, constructionindustry representatives and the mediagathered at the Burrard Skytrain Parkon Jan. 7, to commemorate the tragicevent which took place 32 years earli-er. On that dreadful day, four con-struction workers—Gunther Cou-vreux, Donald W. Davis, YrjoMitrunen and Brian Stevenson—fellfrom the top of the Bentall Four towerto the street below because a fly formwas improperly secured on the build-ing’s 36th floor.

Tom Sigurdson, executive director of

the BC Building Trades, who moderat-ed the ceremony, stated, “These mendied because they went to work in thisindustry. They went to work healthybut lost their lives due to unsafe work-ing conditions.” He reminded every-one that “we must think carefullyabout what each of us can do to bringthe culture of safety, which is so vital,into the workplace.”

The Construction Industry AdvisoryCouncil was formed following theworkers’ deaths. In 1982, the CIACproposed 60 recommendations toimprove safety for construction work-ers. It was the first inquiry of its kindin the province to look at theappalling safety record in BritishColumbia.

Despite advances made in safety reg-

ulations since the incident, workplaceinjury rates are not declining.

“There are fewer fatalities today thanin 1981 when this tragedy occurred,”said WorkSafeBC Director Al Johnson,but “injuries and fatalities remainstubbornly high…Some years havebeen higher, some years have beenlower, but fatalities and seriousinjuries continue to occur despite allof our best collective efforts.”

Sigurdson said, “Over the last 10years, the B.C. construction industryhas tolerated an average of 33 deaths ayear. That’s over 834 deaths. In 2011,there were 32 accepted fatality claimsin the construction sector, 17 due toexposure and 15 due to trauma.”

Stressing an urgent need forimproved safety measures in the work-place, various speakers brought atten-tion to the need for compulsory safetytraining, enforcement within industryand meaningful punishment for negli-gent employers.

“We know that workers who areproperly trained and qualified knowthe dangers of our industry,” said JimSinclair, president of B.C. Federationof Labour. “They learn throughouttheir apprenticeship that the para-mount consideration for all of thetasks that they perform is to do themsafely.” However, he added, “Wehave too many workers, especiallytoo many young workers, who havelittle knowledge of the tasks they areassigned because they were nevertaken through the apprenticeshipsystem.”

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Bentall memorialreminds us again thatinjuries and fatalitiescontinue

Tom Sigurdson, executive director of theBC Building Trades and the MC, andDon Davies, NDP MP VancouverKingsway, called on everyone to workdiligently to bring a culture of safety toconstruction worksites.


Don Davies, NDP MP, laid theblame for the deregulation of work-place safety standards on the federalConservative government. “With theHarper Conservatives I can tell youthat workers’ rights and the advance-ment of labour conditions are notpriorities for this government.” Headded that “the approach of the fed-eral Conservative government andthe provincial Liberals in B.C. is notreassuring for those of us who wantto see an improvement to thisappalling record.”

MLA Shane Simpson, provinciallabour critic, echoed his NDP col-league’s statements by emphasizingthe need for improvements to safetystandards. “We must ensure thatworkplaces are as safe as they can be,and [that] real consequences areenforced when there is negligence atthe workplace.”

Drawing attention to the need fora meaningful legacy for the fourworkers who lost their lives, Simpsonadded, “We need workers at thetable. We need government at the

table. And we need to do the workthat will dramatically reduce thoselosses we see today and year afteryear. If there is a legacy we can leavefor these workers and the hundredswho have lost their lives since, it isto meet these commitments. Only ifwe do this will we say we havelearned a lesson from this.”

Sinclair further stressed the impor-tance of enforcing the regulatorystandards for meaningful punish-ment. “If you are found negligent ina court of law then you should go tojail. There should be no get out ofjail free card just because it hap-pened in a construction building andnot on a street or in yourhome…The bottom line is thereshould be consequences when yourgross negligence takes a loved oneaway from a family in British Colum-bia.”

Other notable officials who spokeat the event included VancouverCity Councillor Geoff Meggs. andB.C. Minister of Health MargaretMacDiarmid.

Remembering thatday, 32 years agoBy Carol DavisYou know you’re going to die and

all you hear is a roaring wind in yourears. Thirty-six floors flash past in ablur and you only have a second tocry out to your family that you lovethem. ?My husband Don Davis, along with

Guenter Couvreux, Yrjo Mitrunen andBrian Stevenson, faced a terrifyingdeath. There was no chance to savethemselves as they grabbed onto the6,000 pound platform as it pulledthem over the edge. They trusted that authorities were

keeping them safe while they worked.Their voices were silenced that dayand have been silent for 32 years. They would never know that their

deaths would be the catalyst forsweeping changes in workplace safetyor that 32 years later we would beremembering them as we push formore inspections and accountabilitywhen incidents happen. Since this terrible tragedy, 834 con-

struction deaths have occurred butmost never reach the news. Thesedeaths are remembered as flowers areplaced on the dedication plaque intheir honour. I want to thank the BC Building

Trades for organizing this yearlymemorial and for the respect andkindness given to our families. Theflowers that you give to us are beauti-ful and I wish I could share them withtoday’s families who are suffering thesame loss. Too many lives have been lost build-

ing this beautiful province of BritishColumbia.

Bittersweet reconnection between Dianne Stevenson, sister-in-law of Brian Stevenson,and Carol Davis, widow of Don Davis. Labour critic Shane Simpson spoke for manywhen he called for “real consequences” when there is negligence that can lead toinjuries and fatalities at the workplace.


By Leslie DysonWORK ON THE $900 MILLIONWaneta Dam Expansion Project,south of Trail, began Oct. 1, 2010 andis expected to be completed in thespring of 2015. There are currently300 tradespeople on the site.

“We’re extremely pleased with theprogress and quality of the trades,”said Wally Penner, regional projectmanager for SNC Lavelin. The com-pany and workers are covered by theAllied Hydro (collective) Agreement,which has applied to most powerprojects in the Kootenay region sincethe 1960s. The agreement requirespriority hiring of local tradespeopleand those from sectors not usuallyassociated with construction.

“We try to treat workers well andensure extremely safe jobs,” Pennersaid. “We’ve had over a million workhours and only one lost-time injury.”

Most of the construction trades willbe called to this project.

“Issues do come up from time totime, but we work them out and we

have a very good relationship withthe [local union] business agents andwe respect each other,” he said.

“People are really proud of thework being done here,” Penner said.

Audrey Repin, spokesperson for theproject owners (Fortis Inc., ColumbiaPower Inc. and the Columbia BasinTrust), said “We’re very proud of andthankful to the workers and contrac-tor [SNC Lavalin] for their commit-ment to this project…We’re happy tohave access to the local tradespeoplein the region. In the Kootenays, wehave a rich culture of good tradespeo-ple. Their parents and grandparentsbuilt the original dams.”

Repin noted that the ColumbiaBasin Trust and Allied Hydro Agree-ment have proven to be effectivetools for development in the region,no matter which political party is incontrol in Victoria.

While acknowledging that theowners like the agreement’s no-strikepolicy, everyone in the region bene-fits. “It helps these smaller communi-

ties. Some people have had to travelnorth to other jobs but [with projectslike the Waneta Expansion Project]they can come home to their fami-lies,” she said.

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Waneta Dam upgrade a sourceof pride in the Kootenays

Last fall's aerial view of the powerhouseunder construction (left foreground),the existing Waneta dam (right fore-ground), the intake excavation (justbehind the dam) and settling ponds forthe contaminated materials taken fromthe intake area (right background). Theintake will have a two-gate structureand connect to two tunnels leading togenerators in the powerhouse. Onceconstruction is complete, the rock plugseparating the intake from the reservoirwill be blasted away to allow the wateraccess to the powerhouse. All photostaken by local photographer LarryDoyle


(Left) The concrete-lined tunnels, 10.5 meters in diameter, arebuilt in sections. After the concrete is poured, the collapsiblesteel form (seen in the centre) is shrunk and moved to the nextsection for the next concrete pour.

(Below) Inside the powerhouse you can see the two tunnels thatwill carry the water from the intake to the generators.

(Bottom) Looking down into the powerhouse, you can see thetwo cones that will be below the two generators that are still tobe fabricated and installed.


By Marco Procaccini

BUILDING TRADES COUNCILS ACROSS THE COUNTRY arepondering their next strategy after the federal ConservativeGovernment forced passage of the intrusive and prying BillC-377 in December.

This legislation will force unions to report every expendi-ture over $5,000 to the federal government. It will then bemade available to the public as well as employers and anti-union corporate lobby groups.

Unions already provide regular reports to their membersabout the costs associated with pension and benefit plans,grievances and arbitrations, legal counsel, organizing andcommunity campaigns, political contributions, member edu-cation and training. Financial decisions are routinely andopenly discussed and voted on by members at union meet-ings and conventions. Now that information will have to behanded over to the federal government as well.

The bill has been denounced as an attack on the labourmovement, freedom of speech and workers’ rights by labour,human rights and social justice organizations across thecountry. Many are preparing court challenges against it.

“It’s another attempt by the Conservative government totry to limit the role of unions in the workplace,” said TomSigurdson, executive director of the BC Building Trades. “Itmakes unions file all financial statements on activities andorganizing, printing, wages and salaries, rents and all sorts ofother information. It’s hugely cumbersome and expensive,especially for smaller organizations. It also makes all of this

information available to anti-union employers.”Sigurdson said lobbying efforts are now under way before

the Senate. “I expect the Senate will just rubber-stamp it, asusual.” he said. After that, he surmised, it would take severalmonths before a new bureaucratic regimen is set up to col-lect the information and enforce the act.

“Then we might be looking at court action—challenging itunder the constitution.”

The rationale offered up by the Conservative regime isthat since union dues are tax deductible, the public shouldbe able to find out what unions are up to. The bill was spon-sored by BC Conservative MP Russ Hiebert (South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale) who claimed, in a news release, thatthe intent is to, “increase the transparency and accountabili-ty of all labour organizations as a result of the fact that theyreceive substantial public benefits through the tax system.”The Conservatives say that tax credits for union dues costthe federal government about $400 million per year.

In contrast, corporations and employer groups account forover $80 billion a year in federal tax credits and subsidiesand they are not being held to such onerous reporting stan-dards. NDP opposition MPs and public interest groups saythis is a direct attack on personal and social liberties as wellas unions.

“According to the NDP, as well as the privacy commis-sioner of Canada, this bill goes too far,” said federal NDPLabour Critic Alexandre Boulerice. “It goes against theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and will bedefeated by the courts because it violates freedom of associ-

ation and the private lives of those who work for a union.”Serious questions are arising as to how the new law will

affect the construction industry specifically. As expected, anti-union contractor lobby groups have

greeted the bill with enthusiasm because it gives them directaccess to union organizing expenditures. Other corporate-sponsored groups, such as the Canadian Council on SocialPolicy and the National Citizens Coalition, have also wel-comed the measure, likely because it could hamper unions’involvement in political and public information campaigns.

“The Canadian building trades unions are very concernedabout the impacts of Bill C-377, which endangers our abilityto build projects across the country and create jobs,” saidBob Blakely, national director of Canadian Affairs for theBuilding Trades Council of Canada. “Our members and theirfamilies enjoy tax deductibility on the dues they pay to theirunions the same way other professionals like doctors andlawyers do. If enacted, C-377 will negatively impact 500,000Canadian skilled trades workers.”

Some provincial governments are concerned as wellbecause they don’t know how the bill will affect labour rela-tions and the business climate in the construction sector.“The bill has deepened the divide between union and non-union organizations in the Canadian construction industry,”said Ontario Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey in a letter to theSenate. “These requirements would impose an onerousadministrative burden on both organized labour and on gov-ernment to collect and file these returns, potentially com-promise the privacy of individuals, and could represent anunwarranted interference with the collective bargainingprocess in Canada.”

Even Revenue Canada has expressed concerns about thebill, saying the bureaucratic requirements are so onerous thatit could take over two years to set up the mechanism neededto collect and publish all of the information from the over30,000 labour unions and associations across the country.

That, critics say, could give the Supreme Court the time itneeds to strike the bill down.

Meanwhile in this province, Sigurdson said the BC Build-ing Trades “will continue our business as always. Obviouslythe anti-union elements in our industry will be waiting topour all over our books and look into our members’ griev-ances, arbitrations and organizing campaigns. But the lawhas yet to be proclaimed and there will likely be court chal-lenges to stop it.”


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By Lee Colldren

GET READY FOR THE NEXT UNION-BUSTINGlegislative assault. The federal Conservatives are nowlooking at legislation that would allow anti-unionfreeloaders to benefit from the collective bargaining andadvocacy of unions without having to pay union dues orrespect picket lines.

Pierre Poilievre, a Conservative backbench MP fromNepean-Carleton in Ontario, has the confidence and earof Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In October, Poilievre told Torstar News, “I am the firstfederal politician to make a dedicated push toward thisgoal…and I would encourage provincial governments todo likewise.” The Conservative Party in Ontario hasembraced this ideology.

Anti-union lobbyists and employers, taking a pagefrom American politics, are using terms like “workers’freedom” and “right-to-work.”

Union membership in Canada is 31.7% of workers. Inthe U.S. it is 11.8%.

There are now 24 U.S. states with this anti-union legis-lation. U.S. President Barack Obama has called it “a raceto the bottom.” These laws, Obama said, “don’t have todo with economics, they have everything to do withpolitics. What they’re really talking about is giving youthe right to work for less money.”

Opposition in Canada to this union-busting legisla-tion is expected to be intense.

Next up, anti-union freeloader legislation


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Director of Canadian Affairs, Canadian Office,Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO

view From ottawa By BoB BLakeLy

ABRAHAM LINCOLN SAID MANY,many very clever things and he saidthem in a folksy way that readilyappeals to people even today. Thoseadages were more than just cute; theycontained an enormous amount oftruth. One of those adages was,“God, must have loved poor people,because he made so many of them!”Have you ever wondered how govern-ments that harm the ordinary personcould actually get and remain elected?God created many more ordinary peo-ple of ordinary means than he did thewell-to-do and the comfortable.

There is a reason that those sorts ofgovernments thrive. It is not justabout the money that the well-to-dotoss into the campaigns and it is notjust the support of the media. It isabout engagement in the politicalprocess; average people don’t alwaysvote. Young people don’t always vote.The poor are badly represented at thepolls; our members are often too busy,away from home on polling day orjust too fed up to vote.

There is no betrayal of your owninterest greater than failing to vote.This means an informed vote as well.It means asking questions and decid-ing what suits you best in a politician.

Many of us vote for the people welink to. They are in our church, ourethnic group, or they agree with us ona closely held issue.

A brutal truth is that we would notlikely buy a car or a house based onthis sort of affinity. So why would wevote for someone who agreed with uson, say guns, without looking at theother things that that person stoodfor? You don’t buy a house based onthe colour of the siding, you don’tbuy a car based solely on the carpet inthe trunk so why would you vote forsomeone who agreed with you on onepoint and was opposed to every otherthing you stand for?

The single-issue voter is a fool andso is the person who stays away onpolling day. Pierre Trudeau (love himor hate him) was no one’s fool. Hesaid, “Those who don’t engage in thepolitical process are doomed to beruled by lesser men.” He was right!

We need to elect people who willidentify with and advance our issuesas tradespeople. It is your right toknow where they stand and wheretheir party stands; but you need toask.

British Columbia will have an elec-tion in two months. It will be an elec-

tion that will determine a number ofthings and many of those will be onesthat matter to you at work and toyour union in society. Will your sonor daughter be able to get the samesort of trades training that you got?Will there be construction industryjobs at reasonable wage rates and howsafe will your workplace be? Pretty bigstuff really! The choice as to how youvote is yours, but the threshold dutyof any citizen is to choose who ourleaders will be; your vote counts butonly if you allow it to be counted.VOTE! Vote in your interest and askquestions. The life you improve willbe yours and your children’s. Don’t letyourself down!

No greater betrayalthan not voting

Administration

Ph: 604-879-4191, Fax: 604-879-1110

Toll Free Number 1-866-562-2597

[email protected]

Business ManagerJames�Leland

PresidentCecil�Damery

Business AgentLaurence�Baker�

Apprenticeship and Trade Improvement

Ph: 604-874-6010Derek�DinzeyCo-ordinator

IRONWORKERS MEMORIAL BRIDGE

IRONWORKERS LOCAL 976891 MacPherson Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5J 4N2

Building BC and the Yukon Territoryfor over 106 years

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By Brynn Bourke

TheBC Building Trades is getting ready for thenext provincial election. Over the comingmonths, we will release six fact sheets on

important election issues like: project labour agreements;apprenticeship and skills training; safety and WorkSafeBC;the Labour Code; fair wages; and taking action.

Building Trades members in key electoral ridings willreceive the fact sheets in the mail. All members are wel-come to download them from our website at www.bcbuild-ingtrades.org/factsheets.html

The next provincial election will have a direct impact onyou. Everything about your life is shaped by the decisionsyour government makes, from investments in roads andtransportation to decisions on major projects.

In order to get our issues as construction workers across,it’s important that we participate and help shape the con-versation.

Over the coming months, you will hear a lot of peoplestress the importance of voting. It’s critical that you vote.Only 50% of British Columbians voted in the last provin-cial election. That means over 1,300,000 eligible votersstayed home. In ridings like Maple Ridge-Mission wherethe election was decided by 68 votes, greater participationby a handful of people could have changed the outcome.Your vote counts.

But voting is not enough. We must get involved in thepolitical debate.

The recent attention being paid to the Temporary For-eign Worker program and HD Mining (see article on Pg. 8)is a great example. Instead of allowing others to shape thisstory into a debate about Canadian vs. Chinese workers,we have an opportunity to turn the conversation towardsolutions. The problem is fundamentally a lack of supportfor trades training in British Columbia. By making cleararguments on this front and stressing the need for skillstraining, we can force every political party to make com-mitments in this election cycle that will benefit appren-tices.

That’s powerful. Over the coming months, we can work together to har-

ness these opportunities and shape the debate aroundworkplace rights, fair wages and safety.

Take the Labour Code for example. The code outlines therights working people have to organize. It outlines how aunion can be formed, what the process for negotiationswill be and how disputes will be dealt with. Over the last10 years, drastic changes have jeopardized our ability toorganize and protect workers’ rights. Tradespeople work job

to job and are subject to the cyclical nature of the industry.Construction workers need a union to fight for job securi-ty. The BC Build ing Trades has been a key player in secur-ing construc tion contracts for its members. The recentshipbuilding contract is a great example. BC BuildingTrades’ unions spearheaded the campaign to get the workand helped to secure 4,000 jobs for B.C. workers.

The next provincial election gives us an opportunity tosteer the electoral debate towards improvements to theLabour Code. It’s a chance that we cannot have pass by.

It’s not just a matter of being proactive. Our employershave been vocal in their opposition to labour rights.

Elections BC records show the Independent Contractorsand Businesses Association (ICBA) donated over $87,000 tothe Liberal Party over the past 7 years and has funding adcampaigns supporting the Liberals and attacking the NDP.During the 2009 provincial election the ICBA launched aVote Smart BC campaign, promoting its agenda and attack-ing workers and the NDP.

The ICBA has already started campaigning for the nextelection. In March 2012, a full 14 months before the May2013 election, the ICBA launched a series of radio ads.

Their campaigns have successfully led to deep cuts inemployer premiums to the workers’ compensation board(depriving injured workers of millions of dollars in com-pensation and reducing workplace safety regulations andinspections); gutted B.C.’s apprenticeship training system;repealed fair wage legislation and halted project labouragreements on provincial projects.

This election, we can put an end to 10 years of attackson workers. The campaign starts now. Get involved todayand help put our rights as tradespeople at the centre of theMay 2013 election.

Moving our issuesto the top in theprovincial election


MEMBERS OF THE BC BUILDING TRADES understand the impor-tance of local hire, it’s often a condition of project labour agree-ments. So it’s not a stretch to understand the motivations behindCUPE BC’s Ten Percent Shift campaign, said Clay Suddaby, com-munications director for the union.

The program encourages people to calculate their annualhousehold expenditures and shift 10% of their spending to locallymade products from locally owned independent businesses.

“It keeps money in the community and encourages more localownership and jobs,” Suddaby said. It’s also well known thatmany non-profit groups, like schools and community initiatives,depend on local small businesses for support. Other advantagesinclude lowering the impact on the environment by reducingshipping charges, excessive packaging and fuel costs.

The Ten Percent Shift campaign is a result of community con-sultations and conversations that the union initiated in 2010 dur-ing a tour of rural and resource-dependent communities in theprovince. The campaign was officially launched in October 2011in Prince George.

“We’re not trying to stop anything with this campaign,” saidBarry O’Neill, CUPE BC president, “we’re trying to start some-thing new.

“A resilient, sustainable local economy is a vital component ofstrong communities, and we believe that the Shift will give citi-zens the tools they need to adopt a local-first mindset.”

The campaign is explained on a comprehensive website (ten-percentshift.ca). British Columbians who want to support theirlocal economy are encouraged to make an official pledge, whichthen gives them access to a database of locally owned businessesand locally made products. An online forum allows them to con-nect with others in their community who’ve made the pledge andprovide additional suggestions for promoting local purchases.

“Everywhere we went, people talked to me about how they feltlike they had no ability to change how their local economy wasworking—or not working,” O’Neill said.

“The Ten Percent Shift gives people an easy, doable way tomake change in their own community simply by changing theway they shop...The response has been overwhelmingly positive.From chambers of commerce to union halls, and everywhere inbetween, people see an immediate benefit from shifting.”

CUPE BC, with sponsorship from credit unions, Pacific BlueCross and BCGEU, held a Local Economy Summit in Vancouverin February. The two-day event was moderated by Vancouver Suncolumnist Vaughn Palmer and gathered together community lead-ers and politicians to talk about building more sustainable, com-munity based economies.

Ten Percent Shift giving aboost to local economies

CUPE BCPresident BarryO’Neill hastaken the 10%Shift, local-firstmessage todozens of communitiesacross thecountry andmany morehere in B.C.

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Don schouten

Job safety

By Don Schouten, WorkSafeBC Manager of Industry and Labour Services – Construction

EXPOSED TODAY, SICK TOMORROW?With most hazardous substances,that’s not how it goes. Diseasescaused by exposure to asbestosfibres and silica dust usually takemany years to develop. Workersand their families then spendmany more years coping with theconsequences of the illnesses,which are often incurable.

To raise awareness of occupation-al hazards and industry trends,WorkSafeBC has created an onlineregistry. With it, proactive stepscan be taken to help workers avoidworkplace exposures that lead todisease. This online database allowsworkers, employers, and others toregister a worker’s exposure to aharmful substance or agent atwork. On a personal level, theinformation becomes part of yourwork history and can be referred toif you become ill. On a societallevel, knowing where and how fre-quently exposures are happeningcan signal the need for change andhelp prevent other workers frombecoming exposed. The easiest wayto find the registry is to go to the“Hidden Killer” asbestos website(www.hiddenkiller.ca).

Given that construction is anindustry with so many physicalhazards that can cause deadlyinjury, it may be hard to believethat more than half of workerdeaths in 2011—17 out of 32—werecaused by occupational diseases.And all but one of those deathswas due to exposure to asbestos.

We’ve gotten better at improvingsafety on the job, but asbestos wasincorporated into many buildingmaterials until the 1980s, so when-ever older buildings are renovatedor demolished, there can be a riskof asbestos exposure. You may haveheard about companies being finedfor improper handling of asbestosthis past year. Certain employersknowingly exposed workers todemolition dust that includedasbestos from putty, drywall, ducttape, stucco and insulation.

Silica is the other big hazard onconstruction sites. Inhaling silicadust can cause a chronic lung dis-

ease called silicosis, which makesbreathing difficult and can lead toheart failure. Silica is a componentof most sand and rocks, and canalso be found in concrete andmasonry. Whenever concrete,masonry or rock is cut, drilled,crushed or pulverized, the dustproduced almost certainly containssilica. Silica sand is commonly usedfor abrasive blasting, too.

To protect ourselves and our co-workers from such risks on the job,we need to become aware of thehazardous substances on the job-site, and to learn safe ways to han-dle them. If you have concernsabout any products that you havebeen asked to work with or if youare working on a demolition orrenovation of any kind, ask ques-tions and make sure you are prop-erly trained and have the rightequipment to do the job safely.

Work-related diseases cost us andour families far too high a price.Let’s resolve to do everything wecan to protect ourselves, and thosewe love, from the devastatingeffects of occupational disease.

Please let me know yourthoughts on this article, or anyconstruction safety issue. Call me

at 604-214-6989 from the LowerMainland or toll-free elsewhere at 1888 621-7233, or e-mail me [email protected].

Teleclaim centre open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Workers who've been injured on thejob, can call WorkSafeBC's TeleclaimCentre between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.to file a report. A representative willcomplete the injury report, explainthe claims process and help directthe worker to other services if necessary. The worker’s employer isthen notified of the injury and boththe worker and employer can followthe status of the claim online.

Call 1-888-WORKERS (1-888-967-5377) or #5377 on

your cell phone if you subscribe to Telus Mobility, Rogers or

Bell Mobility.

New online registrytracks early exposures


By Lon RobertsPRIVATE SECTOR UNION DENSITY inthis province and North America wasin a freefall, but there are signs thatthe trend is reversing. It’s taken a lotof resources, doggedness, ingenuityand adaptation.

Some trade union locals have givenup on bottom-up organizing alltogether and revolutionized their dis-patch system.

Jared Hamlin, was an organizer forfour years for the Operating EngineersLocal 302 covering Alaska and Wash-ington. He recalled one incident as aunion superintendent in the Yukon,supervising the work of a number ofcrane operators working 12-hourshifts, seven days a week. It was a bigjob and he needed a couple moreoperators.

He said, “I called the union dis-patch at 3:30 on a Friday and theysaid, ‘Sure, we’ll get back to you onMonday.’

“But I needed guys right now. So I

said, ‘That’s no good! I’ll have to hireoff the street.’

“‘Oh, you can’t do that!’ they toldme.”

“I’m a pretty avid union person,”Hamlin said, “I believe in the com-mons.” But he had also been a smallbusiness owner of a company thatmade outdoor furniture. He under-stood the pressures of management.

He asked for a meeting with theunion executive to explain howunion practices were affecting con-struction sites and to ask for changes.Of course, a lot of union membershave done that and that’s where theprocess often stops.

From his perspective, the meetingdid not go well. However, 10 monthslater, his union offered him the job oforganizer. He took it, on the condi-tion that “they would allow me to dothings differently.

“It was an awkward first year,” headmitted, “but we had some quicksuccesses.”

The first thing he did was meetwith employers.

“Construction owners are alphadogs. That’s just the way it is. Andthey like to talk. If you give them theopportunity they will tell you theirneeds and problems.”

He wanted to find out who wasusing the hiring hall (not many) andof those who were, how they rankedthe service (very low). “The 25% whoused the dispatch list gave a 15%approval rating,” Hamlin said.

“As companies wind down, theirtop hands are laid off,” he explained.These were really good people, butthey were going right down to thebottom of the (dispatch) list.”

When the company started ramp-ing up again, the employer couldn’taccess the best people the union hadto offer. The union had a name-request clause, but only a memberwho’d worked with the company pre-viously could be called back.

Local 302 had been using the tradi-

Thanks to Wayne Mills, president ofthe Operating Engineers Local 115, forsupplying these points.• Gas up your car the night beforework

• Never cash your cheque in the bar• Don’t burn bridges (you may needto cross them again)

• If you think this racket isn’t for you,find something else to do, quickly

• A hangover on a workday doesn’t doanyone any good

• Clean up at the end of your shift,

not 20 minutes early• Show up early for work• Splurge on good work boots• Do your share of shit work• Don’t lend or borrow money on thejob

• Don’t lend your stuff• Don’t borrow stuff• Put things back• Don’t shortcut quality for production• Don’t shortcut production for socializing

• Don’t shortcut safety for production

• Coach co-workers when they need it• Be someone people look up to• Never put yourself above others• Mentor an apprentice• If you’re an apprentice, find a mentor

• If everybody at work hates you, geta dog

• Be proud of yourself• Believe in yourself

*…and a good reminder for experi-enced journeypersons too.

Good advice for apprentices*

When the old ways don’t work,it’s time for something different

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tional first in/first out dispatch modelbut that wasn’t working for the con-tractors or members, Hamlin said. Thelist also contained the names of mem-bers “who can’t get or hold jobs.”

In the meantime, their most pro-ductive members were frustrated.Many were not prepared to sit aroundwaiting for a call, Hamlin said. Theywere going to work for CLAC or non-union companies.

The union leadership realized thatthis system wasn’t working for any-one. The problem was turned over tothe Hiring Hall Committee whichproposed creating a new list of mem-bers who had worked 500 or morehours in the previous 12 months—“the money makers in the industry,”Hamlin said.

A proposal to change the dispatchsystem to allow this new group to bedispatched first was taken to themembership for a vote. “It was anoverwhelming yes at the meeting.”

Hamlin revised the membershipeducation classes to take a message tomembers about what they could do toadd value to their worth throughoutthe workday. Out of 4,000 membersin Alaska, he said he talked to 1,500.

Today, Local 302 is “a kick-assunion,” Hamlin enthused.

“We have to have a positive rela-tionship with the contractors andbecome their business partners.” Hedescribes the best partnerships as“two entities doing business and eachgets value and no one has to make bigchanges.”

His union was willing to be flexiblein its contract language, changing theword “shall” to “may” if it meantsigning a good agreement.

If you’re a construction union witha hiring hall and a training centre,you have a product and services…It’s

not ideology. It’s all about money.”Hamlin said it can be difficult for

union leaders and members becausemost have never owned a company.However, any union group can sitdown together and come up with alist of 30 valuable services that theyoffer, including: a flexible well-trainedworkforce, training, first aid creden-tialing, etc.

Hamlin approaches employers rec-ognizing that “they’re extremely busybut if I can get five to ten minutes, Ican show them how to make moneyand save time. I ask them, ‘Would youlike to hear my business proposal?’”

But anecdotal evidence isn’tenough. You have to quantify,” hestressed. “I’d say, ‘I hear you have acompany RSP plan. That’s great andgood for you! It must have taken hun-dreds of hours to research and set itup. Who’s taking all the calls fromemployees asking, ‘What is this?’ Andall that time, is money.”

He then talked about how theunion could take over all that admin-istration and employee support.

Alaska has a business associationsimilar to the B.C. Independent Con-tractors’ and Businesses’ Association.While Hamlin was there, he said itssole purpose appeared to be under-mining the construction unions. Henoticed that as he was signing upcontractors with Local 302, theyweren’t revoking their membershipsin the association. But “after they’dmade money and had a positive expe-rience with a union, they stoppedpaying dues to an organization thatwas constantly attacking us.” He saidhe also saw the association tone downits rhetoric.

He said union members should look

While some private sector unionsare struggling to hold onto theirmarket share, Operating EngineersLocal 115 has seen a 10% increase inmembership in the past two years.“We’ve certainly had a good lift ofmembers,” said Business ManagerBrian Cochrane. “We now have justover 11,000 members.“The biggest thing is the PLAs

[project labour agreements] and alsosome intake because of retirements.Spaces are opening up.“In my opinion, PLAs are going to

be the future and the way to accessthe major projects. They secure allthe work and workers get access tobenefits, pensions and representa-tion. I don’t see any disadvantageswith PLAs. It’s a win-win scenario.”Currently, there are agreements

that exclude some BC BuildingTrades affiliates. Cochrane said, “Hopefully, when

we have a new provincial govern-ment, we’ll have PLAs let by govern-ment that will include all trades andmake them true Building Tradessites.”PLAs fit in the category of top-

down organizing—getting contrac-tors to sign a collective agreement asopposed to the bottom-up modelthat has unions trying to sign upconstruction workers. “We need to rebuild and recapture

members whether top down or bot-tom up,” Cochrane said. “With thecurrent demand [for construction]there are good opportunities torebuild our jurisdictions.”

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Operating Engineersseeing great growth inmembership


Business Manager Jim Paquette

Assistant Business Manager Dan Burroughs

Business Representative Greg Mooney

Business Representative Ken Elworthy

at a CLAC worker beside them on aconstruction site and think, “that’s afuture union brother or sister ofmine.” And see that non-union con-tractor as a potential business partner.As union members’ opinions change,so do peoples’ perceptions of unions.

He’s got ideas about union jurisdic-tional overlap too. He thinks every-one would be better served if unionsbehaved the way construction compa-nies do. “When two companies arebidding on a job, just one is chosen.The company that has lost often goesto the winner and says, ‘Congratula-tions. Is there anything we can helpyou with?’ Often the first companywill say, ‘Yeah, you’ve got expertise inthis area. Why don’t you be the sub-contractor on that portion?’”

Darren Konopaski, business manag-er for Local 302, confirmed Hamlin’srecollection of events. “He did someamazing stuff…It’s phenomenal whatwe’ve been able to do.”

Konopaski said the thinking andapproaches had to change. “You are acommodity,” he said. “That’s theharsh reality, but some people don’tlike to hear that.

“If unions can’t supply the bestlabour, why would they [contractors]come to you? The old ways don’t

work in today’s world. We’re not beat-ing up contractors to sign agree-ments.”

He offered one story of a contractorin Washington State who agreed tosign an agreement with Local 302, butonly for western Washington. “I said,‘OK, let’s go on a date, but you will beprosperous because of signing withus.’ A while later, we didn’t go to him,he came to us, and signed up for east-ern Washington too.”

Konopaski said the local unionspent $5 million over five years tryingto organize on a bottom-up basis. Allit achieved was signing up one con-tractor and two new members. “We’renot doing bottom-up organizing anymore,” he said. “All our reps have abusiness development focus and wehave contractors calling us up out ofthe blue to say, ‘We need a contractright now.’”

Konopaski also stressed that theunion won’t sacrifice everything foran agreement with a contractor. “Wedon’t always agree. But we are to thepoint where they succeed and we suc-ceed, where everyone makes moneyrather than costing each other money.

“Even with the downturn in theeconomy, we’ve been able to main-tain close to the membership peak of10,500. We’re at about 10,000 rightnow.”

Hamlin was born in Ketchikan andmoved to Wasilla. Sarah Palin (theinfamous former governor of Alaskawho ran for U.S. vice president) washis neighbour. “I’m not making itup!” he said.

Seven years ago, he took a job as aforeman helping to prepare the sitefor the new Vancouver ConventionCentre and met members of Operat-ing Engineers Local 115. He likedthe Canadian culture. It was a betterfit with his personal values, he said,and especially so when he and hiswife Sandra, started having children.“The North changed for us when wehad children. It was not where wewanted to be.”

The Hamlin family, including hisnow five- and three-year-old chil-dren, emigrated to Canada threeyears ago and settled in a co-hous-ing development in Roberts Creekon the Sunshine Coast. As an orga-nizer for Local 115 since July 2011,he’s meeting union and non-unioncontractors all over the provincetelling them about the benefits ofpartnership with Local 115…andsigning them up. He’s signed up sixalready.

You can talk to Hamlin. He’shappy to converse with other unionpeople who are as driven as he is tosee their union memberships grow.

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