 |
|||||
|
|
Straight talk from one who knows We can’t solve today’s problems with the thinking that created them. We need a new way of thinking.—Albert Einstein, 1879-1955 By Leslie Dyson Labour lawyer Gary Caroline has an important message for Operating Engineers and all members of the building trades. “It’s important to talk about the doom and gloom…Just because you’re working doesn’t mean things are positive. You may be employed, but your share of union work is shrinking.” They’re tough words, but members attending the Local 115 annual general meeting in March left with a clearer understanding of the issues facing the unionized construction sector and what they need to do about it. “The Liberal government has a two-prong strategy for undermining unions,” Caroline said. It has weakened unions’ bargaining power through amendments to the Labour Code and it has been stacking the Labour Relations Board with pro-employer or ineffective board members. The construction industry is unlike any other. Because the work is cyclical, of short duration and workers must be mobile, special labour laws are required. Special recognition ended with the Liberal government. The B.C. government said changes to the Labour Code were needed to ensure B.C. businesses were economically viable. “We don’t disagree with that because if companies aren’t healthy we’re stuck at lower [wage] rates,” Caroline said. However, former labour minister Graham Bruce seemed to forget that the Labour Code was brought in to protect workers. He turned the purpose of the code on its head. Added to this was the appointment of Brent Mullins as chair of the LRB. “He has expressed some extreme views,” Caroline said. “He said the [Labour] code has to respond to changes in the economy.” He, too, has forgotten the reasons the code was introduced. Nonetheless, he sets the tone at the LRB. “This is the philosophy we’re dealing with.” Union certification used to come automatically when 55% of the workers signed union cards. Collective bargaining began shortly thereafter. Now there’s a 10-day period between the card signing and a mandatory vote. “Problems start when the employer finds out an organizer’s on site and that workers are organizing,” Caroline noted. In the past, employer intimidation resulted in an automatic certification. But those days are over. “Employers can say anything they want,” Caroline said. Workers often give up the idea of joining a union when employers threaten to close down immediately after. Perhaps the most insidious problem comes from a strategy that has appeared recently. We’ve seen several union companies wind down operations. With no employees, the union is no longer relevant. Then the owner starts up a new company under a different name with no union or with a CLAC agreement. The Christian Labour Association of Canada is a “government-created outfit out of Leduc, Alberta,” Caroline said. Working with the Dutch Reform Church, the Alberta government wanted CLAC on the pipeline work that was coming up. Caroline highlighted two “sleight of hand” LRB cases to demonstrate the problems affecting Local 115 members and other people in the building trades. Graehold and Murrin were two construction companies with the same owners. Graehold was union, Murrin was not. In 2002, the Labourers Local 1611 applied to the LRB to represent Murrin. The union was told that it couldn’t because Murrin was doing federal government work stabilizing rock faces along a CN Railway line. The union would have to go to Ottawa. The matter was dropped. In 2004, CLAC applied to represent Murrin. This application was unopposed by the company. Provincial certification was allowed this time because Murrin said that it had moved into road building work, formerly the jurisdiction of Graehold. In fact, Graehold ceased operations altogether and the Labour Board said that Local 115 was no longer entitled to represent its employees. Then there’s the case of PCL and Monad where “the mouse swallowed the elephant.” Monad was a small company represented by CLAC. It bought out PCL in B.C. which employed members of several building trades affiliates. “We’re now in a tough battle at the LRB. We could lose our bargaining rights with PCL,” Caroline said. The government’s initiatives are having the desired effect. There has been a dramatic decline in the number of new union certifications and the number of unionized employees in the province is falling rapidly. “You have to think about elections,” Caroline told the members. “You have to look at what politicians have done, not what they say…We have to be extremely proactive. We have to be inventive.” |
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Home / Contact us / International Union |
|||||
