IUOE News Spring 2014

Bargaining and
agreements are
already in full swing
Bob Higgs,
Member Representative
Welcome new members at Lafarge Asphalt Technologies!
The first quarter of the year has already been rather eventful.
I started my year with a full calendar of bargaining that
began in early January and kept me at the table for most of the
month.
I assisted Brother Frank Carr in bargaining with Pitt River
Quarries; this was an agreement we
have had in place for a long time, so
bargaining fortunately went rather
fast. Brother Carr expertly maneuvered
around the table, finding an
agreement in a matter of days that
included a successful ratification vote.
Also in January, I led the bargaining with Lafarge Asphalt
Technologies. With the assistance of Brother Carr we had
great success in bargaining a first Collective Agreement for
our newest members.
Lafarge Asphalt Technologies maintains a tank farm in
Columbia Bitulithic’s yard on Leeder Avenue for most of the
year, and when they are not supplying asphalt oil they are
supplying salt for road de-icing. This part of production is
conducted from across the street in Lafarge’s yard.
The bargaining unit consists of seven members in
Coquitlam and one in Nanaimo, working out of Hub City
Paving’s pit on Nanaimo River Road. The new members voted
to join the Operating Engineers in mid November of 2013,
The new members at Lafarge
Asphalt Technologies voted 100%
in favour of their new agreement
and are now enjoying the
benefits of working Union
District One
and since then it has been full steam ahead, with us negotiating
a first Collective Agreement.
It took more than two months to put together an agreement
in principle—something we could take to the table that
resembles the long-standing agreements we are all used to.
After building a document that represented and defined the
type of work and the needs of the workers, we were ready to
take it to the table and present it to the company.
Between Brothers Frank Carr, Don Swerdan and myself,
we put together a document that did not need a lot of adjustments
to any of its language or body. This greatly reduced the
time needed to complete bargaining and made the negotiations
easier to manage and conclude.
The new members at Lafarge Asphalt Technologies voted
100% in favour of their new agreement and are now enjoying
the benefits of working Union. So again, welcome to all the
new Local 115 members from Lafarge
Asphalt Technologies.
It looks like the aggregate mines are
set for a busy year. All operations are
in full swing and set to increase
production as the year unfolds.
This is good news for the concrete
and asphalt industries. As I drive around the North Shore and
witness all the new job sites springing up almost daily, it is safe
to say the concrete industry will be using the lion’s share of the
aggregate the mines will be producing in 2014.
Rumour has it that some of the municipalities have held
back on portions of their roadwork programs until the
Highway 1 and SFPR road work has been completed. If this
proves to be true we should see the road crews working steady
through the year as this work is released.
All in all the year will likely not be as busy as the last few
have been, but we should see a steady flow of work throughout
most of the sectors.
Have a great year and work safe!
Many Local 115 members have
been kept busy by Brentwood
Enterprises Ltd. from Kamloops
in the Interior, building
Highway 1 east through
Pritchard. See the next page
for more pictures taken from
this project.
News March 2014 7