IUOE News Fall 2013

Positive negotiations
are taking place on
many levels
Brian Cochrane,
Business Manager
As we begin to enter the fall season, we can look back over
the summer months and confidently say that this has been a
good summer for Operating Engineers from a work
perspective.
Crane operators remain in high demand; our members in
the paving sector have seen excellent hours; and our members
working the Kemano backup tunnel and Kitimat modernization
project have reached their peak employment numbers.
We have spent many months this year trying to secure a
new collective agreement for the blacktop industry in the
Lower Mainland. Without a doubt, this has been a frustrating
process, and trying to keep the contractors in this industry all
on the same page has been a challenge. At the time of writing,
we are currently conducting a mail-out ballot to all of our
members to try and ratify a settlement which will give these
members some certainty for the next couple of years.
Your bargaining committee is also currently in the process
of trying to ratify the industry-wide settlement agreements
that we have with the Construction Labor Relations Association
(CLR). Although most of our members working under a
heavy construction agreement (or an addendum thereof)
have been receiving increases for
quite some time, this ratification
process is required by legislation
for all industries and all building
trades.
A final ballot count will be held
in early November, at which time
we hopefully can conclude this round of negotiations and
prepare for bargaining again in 2014.
On September 9th B.C.’s Premier, Christy Clark, requested
a meeting with the building trades and other labour leaders in
British Columbia. I attended this meeting on behalf of the
Operating Engineers, and I can say that this is the first time
labour has been asked to sit at the same table as a partner in a
very long time.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how labour can
participate with business and government in the development
of northern British Colombia’s LNG reserves. This was
one of the Liberal’s election promises, and with billions of
“Hopefully the government will start
to place a higher value on the skills
of our members and especially the
efforts of the IUOE Training
Association in recent years.“
Business Manager
On September 9th, IUOE Local 115 joined B.C. Premier Christy Clark
and other influential labour organizations to discuss the
government’s and unions’ workforce training strategies for LNG
projects, set to start in the near future.
dollars of construction at stake, it was encouraging to see this
initiative take place. Hopefully the government will start to
place a higher value on the skills of our members and espe-
cially the efforts of the IUOE
Training Association in recent years.
With the provincial election behind
us, we must move forward and try
to advance many of these projects
that are currently being reviewed.
Along with the LNG projects, Site
C, Northern Gateway and the Kinder Morgan Pipeline are all
advancing as well, and we are meeting with a number of
stakeholders regarding all of these projects, to ensure our
members are engaged in as much of the opportunities they
create as possible. The combined numbers are staggering:
over $100 billion of investment with 100,000 jobs created, and
decades of employment opportunities.
Your President, Brother Wayne Mills, and Training Administrator,
Brother Brad Randall, have been working hard on
developing some training initiatives for First Nations in
northern British Columbia.
First Nations are a key stakeholder in the development of
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