Monday, May 20, 2024

Bargaining and Building

Recent major bargaining has nearly concluded for Locals 62 and 501, while the construction season begins to ramp up for Local 68 members

Guide Magazine

By Kevin Kohut, BC Director

Bargaining Update

It has been over six months since we began the bargaining process for a first collective agreement for Local 62 members employed by Trinity Western University (TWU) in late October. Since that time, we have engaged in 19 full days of meetings between faculty representatives and the university administration. Overall, the process has been positive and collaborative as we have reached agreement on nearly every item of a first collective agreement, including significant and often complicated issues.

The only outstanding item is compensation, so both parties jointly decided to seek an external, third-party mediator to assist. Faculty representatives and the university administration are committed to securing a fair compensation package that balances the needs of the faculty while supporting the university’s financial stability. If mediation is successful, the agreement will be brought to the membership for ratification. (Note: this agreement has now been ratified.)

At the time of writing, more than 1,900 Local 501 members working at Rogers Arena for Canucks Sports & Entertainment are amid the ratification process following lengthy negotiations. The union bargaining committee has worked tirelessly over the past year securing a new contract for members. (Note: this agreement has now been ratified.)

Construction Update

CLAC has a substantial history of building as well as performing expansions and upgrades to many wastewater treatment plants throughout BC over the years. The long-awaited $3.8 billion North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant Program is finally under way—again. We anticipate that at peak, 600 Local 68 members employed by PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. will be performing construction of the project over the next several years.

The new treatment plant is being built to replace the antiquated Lions Gate Plant that was built 63 years ago as a primary treatment plant. When completed, it will provide service for over 300,000 homes and businesses in north and west Vancouver and will also ensure higher standards of treatment for wastewater released into Burrard Inlet. Meaningful work indeed.

The civil work on the Woodfibre LNG Plant has been ongoing for several months now, but I thought I’d share a recent success story that might otherwise go unrecognized. Integral to the success of the Woodfibre project is the accommodation plan, which is to provide a base for a former luxury cruise ship that will serve as a “floatel” for 600 workers at a time as they work on the project.

The ship made the 40-day trek from Estonia and arrived in January where it will receive the necessary work and maintenance in a local shipyard. But Local 68 members employed by Kiewit Energy Construction Co. ULC performing the pile-driving that would provide the home base for the floatel were under enormous pressure. Stringent regulations do not allow them to perform the required marine work within the “fish window,” which was to begin February 1. If the base was not completed prior to that date, it would effectively delay the entire project.

Over a span of weeks, shifts ran 24 hours per day, and these Local 68 members managed to successfully complete the work prior to the deadline. Great work by all!

Bargaining and Building

You might be interested in