Friday, July 7, 2023

Impressive Gains, Continued Opportunity

Wherever one finds themselves in the Prairie provinces, you are never far from a CLAC member who is making life better for all of us

Guide Magazine

By Dennis Perrin, Prairies Director

Opportunities for members with CLAC-signatory employers in the Prairie provinces continue to abound.

Every sector that we are involved in is seeing high-paying jobs that are expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

We’re in full-swing shutdown season again as members preform maintenance outages in industrial facilities all around Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan throughout the spring and summer months. Members employed by signatory contractors Brand Energy Solutions (Canada) Ltd., Brock Canada Field Services Ltd., Heartland Constructors Inc., PCL Energy Inc., and several others continue to demonstrate the skills and expertise to perform major shutdown work.

Recently, CLAC concluded a Division 8 collective agreement with Dow Chemical for its Path2Zero project near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. This contract provides terms and conditions for all members working on the project.

Unlike other Division 8 agreements, this one also covers project maintenance. This helps ensure not only high-paying construction jobs, but also long term, high-paying maintenance jobs for members well into the future. Work has already begun on the project, with the majority of construction expected to be performed in 2024 and 2025.

Path2Zero is just one of many large projects happening in the Prairies, and all this work is helping to secure some very impressive wage increases. Construction and maintenance agreements are seeing strong increases across the board that are not only keeping pace with inflation, but also exceeding it. This provides for the financial support of members and their families’ well-being.

Impressive wage increases are not only being secured for members in construction. In the early part of the year, we concluded and ratified a collective agreement renewal for over 500 members employed by Save-On-Foods in Manitoba. This was the first renewal agreement for these members since they joined Local 306 in 2016.

The three-year contract includes wage increases that allow these members a good quality of living while also introducing a much-needed night-shift premium. It also introduced language that addresses work-life balance. CLAC is committed to providing for the physical, psychological, and financial health of members, and one way to achieve that is through the negotiation process.

One significant area that we are investing in is training and workforce development. CLAC Training in Alberta was recently a successful recipient of the Alberta at Work – Apprenticeship Partnership Grant. This generous grant from the Alberta government allows us to provide a Train to Employment program in three valuable trades: insulating, scaffolding, and welding.

The program combines classroom instruction with hands-on practical training and runs for two weeks. Graduates are then matched with CLAC-signatory employers for a four-week job placement. We have added 34,000 square feet of training space in Edmonton to deliver this program. We are thrilled to be able to offer these opportunities to help fill the much-needed shortage in skilled trades while supporting industry.

Impressive Gains, Continued Opportunity

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