IUOE News Fall 2013

Challenges from all
sides, but our
members keep us
strong
Chip Dhaliwal,
Member Representative
Hello Brothers & Sisters:
We will be commencing bargaining with Wastech in the
first week of October. Wastech has been a challenge as there
are three geographical areas—the Lower Mainland, Cache
Creek, and the Thompson Nicola Regional District—that
each have their own specific issues.
The Lower Mainland group consists of
five transfer stations, the Cache Creek
landfill, and the TNRD, which consists of
five landfills and 27 transfer stations.
Bargaining will once again be extremely challenging;
however I’m sure we can get a deal signed shortly. Shop Stewards
from each area will be assisting Don Swerdan and I
during bargaining, so hopefully we can get all the decision
makers and information into a room and put pen to paper.
I am also currently bargaining with Harrigan Rentals, and
Keeping busy is
always a good thing
Stewart Miller,
Member Representative
Hello Brothers and Sisters.
Lots has been going on around the collective bargaining
with Coast Mountain Fuels, while Parrish & Heimbecker have
been completed, and fortunately all went well.
Collective bargaining is back on track at Thermo King B.C.
We took a break after agreeing on a cooling-off period for
both sides to re-think what they want from the agreement,
and now we are back at the table again.
Negotiations with Richmond Soil & Fibre (Harvest Power)
went well, especially considering their head office is out of
California. Timelines were kept tight, resulting in a first
Collective Agreement being ratified at the beginning of
September. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but are
District One
should have something for the members to vote on soon.
Clean Harbors has also been an interesting challenge.
Clean Harbors bought a company called Safety Kleen for
$1.25 billion, and both companies have branches all over
North America, and even worldwide.
One of those Safety Kleen branches (non-union of course),
turns out to be right across the street from Clean Harbors.
Recently, Clean Harbors terminated half of the Union
members, and moved work across the street to the non-union
Safety Kleen facility. Adding insult to injury, they have Operating
Engineers from Clean Harbors picking up waste from
their customers, but delivering it to the non-union employees
at Safety Kleen.
The Union has filed our case with the Labour Relations
Board, and we will be presenting our case at the end of
“Adding insult to injury, October.
In closing, I want to say thanks to all
they have Operating
my shop stewards without whom there
Engineers delivering to the
wouldn’t be enough hours in the day to
non-union employees...” deal with all the issues that arise. The past
few months have been extremely busy and made me realize
what a critical part the Shop Stewards play in ensuring the
IUOE achieves its goals and grows stronger You are to be
commended for all your work on behalf of your co-workers
and the union itself.
Thank you for your support and stay safe.
moving in the right direction. This is an important agreement
as they could potentially expand their plants and operations
across B.C. in the future.
It’s good to see and hear that during the summer not only
the construction side of things kept busy, but the shops are
also reporting that they are keeping busy at their end too. This
is a clear demonstration of how, by keeping one industry
working and successful, the knock-on effects into other areas,
industries and occupations creates jobs for all of us. In so
many ways, our industries are tied together and depend on
each other to stay busy.
Busy is good; being busy means we are creating and growing
more skilled members, and this makes it easier for us to
compete with non-union contractors and businesses by
signing up new companies and signing new agreements.
In closing, I hope you all had a good summer, although we
look forward to continuing to be busy through the slower fall
and winter months ahead of us.
Remember, Union is a good thing—it’s no secret, and we
need to keep spreading the word that we’re always looking for
good skilled operators. It’s good for the Local, and its good for
our signatory companies.
Work safe.
News October 2013 9