International Operating Engineer - Spring 2016

Canadian News
Local 115: “We are BC’s dam builders!”
Campaign questions lack of job guarantees for B.C. workers
AT THE END OF MARCH, IUOE
Local 115 ran an ad in a special section
of the Vancouver Province newspaper
titled “Building B.C.” This was part of
the local’s ongoing efforts to pressure
the British Columbia government and
BC Hydro, the crown corporation that
delivers power to the province, to use
Project Labour Agreements for the Site
C dam.
Site C dam is an $8.3 billion mega
project being built in northern B.C. on
the Peace River and has been billed as
the last large-scale dam that will ever be
built in the province. “For the first time
in over 50 years, Operating Engineers
are not the exclusive workers who will
be completing this project. We are
working hard to turn that around,” says
Business Manager Brian Cochrane.
The newspaper ad accompanied
an article highlighting exactly why it is
so important to hire local workers for
projects paid for by British Columbian
taxpayers, and why it is even more
imperative to build those massive
infrastructure investments using union
labour. The article was widely circulated,
and since then, media coverage has
embraced the union’s stance that B.C.
workers should be building the projects
coming out of their taxes.
Historically, Local 115 members
have been B.C.’s dam builders. “During
the 1960’s, when the majority of B.C.’s
large power-producing dams were
built, it was Operating Engineers
who exclusively built those major
projects. This is the first time in more
than 50 years BC Hydro and the B.C.
government have moved away from
the Project Labour Agreement model,”
Cochrane explains.
Everyone in British Columbia has
benefited over many years from the
legacy of the hydro dams built in past
decades according to Cochrane. Those
projects met the highest environmental
standards and have produced reliable
power for industry and communities to
this day.
However, in the first six months of
this new project, there have been two
breaches of environmental conditions
caused by non-union crews. In addition,
the company created a job posting for a
human resources assistant where one
of the outlined responsibilities was
helping navigate the process required
to bring in temporary foreign workers.
That part of the job posting was later
redacted when the media began asking
questions, but that doesn’t mean the
scope of the job has actually changed.
Local 115 submitted several freedom
of information requests on how many
B.C. workers are employed on the
project. Despite vague talking points
repeated frequently by spokespeople
for BC Hydro and the provincial
government, the information showed
that as little as 65 percent of workers
on the project are local hires—even
less considering that permanent
administrative staff in a regional office
were included in the numbers reported.
The ads are part of a larger campaign
to win a commitment to employ B.C.
workers, and union workers, on the
Site C dam, as well as future LNG
projects currently under consideration
by the Canadian federal government.
A centerpiece of the campaign is a
website titled, “Jobs for Northern BC”
found at www.jobsfornorthernbc.
ca. While spreading the campaign
message, the website is also gathering
the names, occupations and contact
information of job seekers throughout
British Columbia—those potentially
looking for work on the Site C dam or
future LNG projects.
“Since our ad ran, BC Premier
Christy Clark has made a big deal about
awarding a small portion of the work to
BC Building Trade unions, including
Operating Engineers. However, in the
scope of the project, of the hundreds of
workers employed on Site C, only four
positions are going to IUOE Local 115
members,” adds Cochrane.
In light of this, Local 115 will
continue to apply pressure to both
BC Hydro and the B.C. government to
hire local workers. They want to make
sure the legacy of Operating Engineers
continues—they are, and will always be,
B.C.’s dam builders.
[above] The newspaper advertisement
run by Local 115 as part of the “Jobs for
Northern BC” campaign.
[left] An artist rendering of the Site C Dam
located on the Peace River in Northern
British Columbia.
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INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER
SPRING 2016 21