Sunday, March 5, 2023

Busy Spring and Summer Expected for Local 63 Members

Things are heating up, not only the weather, but construction and pipeline work across Alberta. Here’s a look at some of the work Local 63 members can expect to be involved in

Calgary and Southern Alberta

This summer will be busy in the construction sector in southern Alberta. In and around Calgary, we have had a lot of work being performed in the commercial, institutional, and heavy civil sectors by Local 63 members working for Bird Constructors Ltd., Flatiron Constructors Canada Limited, Golderado Contracting Corp., Integral Energy Services Ltd., Ledcor Construction Ltd., Maple Reinders Constructors Ltd., PCL Builders Inc., Strathcona Mechanical Limited, Technical Workforce Inc. (TWI), and other companies.

Meanwhile, work on the Springbank Dam project has started, and both TWI and Golderado are already on site with an initial portion of the work, while TWI continues to work on the final leg of the Calgary Ring Road. Other larger projects such as the Green Line LRT have recently announced they will be making decisions on who will be constructing it by early 2023. We are hopeful CLAC-signatory companies will be working on that project as well.

As mentioned in previous issues, renewable energy plays a big part of the construction work being performed in southern Alberta. Borea Construction ULC has Local 63 members working on as many as 11 wind or solar projects this spring and summer. In addition, Local 63 members with PCL Builders completed two solar projects, including one of the biggest in Canada. We have also seen Local 63 members with TWI and Westwood Electric Ltd. pick up electrical substation work on a variety of solar and wind projects. The work for 2023 in the renewable sector could be even greater than it was in 2022!

Wood Buffalo

Work in the Wood Buffalo region has continued to be very steady. Small- to midsize projects and some large projects that were delayed or paused due to COVID and economic uncertainty have continued or moved ahead with construction. This includes several projects at Suncor Base Plant, Suncor Fort Hills, CNRL Horizon, CNRL Albian, IOL Kearl, and several other smaller sites.

Steady-state maintenance continues, and CLAC contractors continue to grow in scope in this area; upcoming site shutdowns will also include several CLAC-signatory employers and hundreds to thousands of additional CLAC members coming in for short term work. Wood Buffalo is steadily busy, and in the broader context of Alberta, western Canada, and the rest of the country, employment rates are very high in construction and maintenance. The forecast continues to look very good, with projected labour supply to be very tight.

Collective agreement negotiations and wage reviews continue to be positive both in terms of wage increases, which have seen 10 to 15 percent increases over an 18-month period in response to tight labour supply, strong and stable oil and resource prices, and high inflation. Recent agreements that have been ratified include Division 26 Inc., Impact Safety Solutions Ltd., PCL Energy Inc. – Construction, PCL Energy Inc. – Maintenance, Woodland Constructors Ltd., WorleyCord Energy Solutions Ltd. – Construction, and WorleyCord Energy Solutions Ltd. – Maintenance, among others.

Greater Edmonton Area

In the Greater Edmonton Area, PCL Energy continues to employ hundreds of CLAC members at several different power plant projects such as the Capital Power Corporation project in Genesee, the Maxim Power Corporation project in Grande Cache, and the Cascade Power Project in Edson. They also continue to have consistent maintenance work at the Suncor South Refinery.

In the commercial construction industry, MCL Power Inc. and Ledcor are busy working on completing the new 2.9-million-square-foot Amazon warehouse sortation facility in Acheson. MCL also has members working on the Misericordia emergency department redevelopment project, which is scheduled to be completed this year.

Pipeline

Looking at the pipeline industry as a whole, we continue to see the majority of large-inch pipeline work going through BC. Here in Alberta, Local 63 members continue to see significant work with Midwest Pipelines Inc., Macro Pipelines Inc., and Ledcor Pipeline Limited in the central and northern regions.

Busy Spring and Summer Expected for Local 63 Members

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