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Summer work not as plentiful (September 2008) By Gary Kinnear, Member Representative and Brad Gerow, Member Representative Another summer is winding down and it has not been as busy as some. With no large highway projects, members are relying on the smaller projects to keep them working. A few paving jobs in the Kamloops area have kept Dawson Construction and B.A. Blacktop busy. Dawson was awarded the Kamloops Airport Runway Expansion project with completion expected at the end of November. A lot of work has to be done in a short time. Dawson is also out at Tobiano Golf Resort finishing the work there. Emil Anderson Construction is finishing up the last sections of the approaches and intersection for the Kelowna Bridge and now their workers are headed out to the subdivision projects they have in the Kelowna area. Vancouver Pile Driving is still at work in Kelowna disassembling the old bridge. There is some controversy over what is going to happen with the old bridge sections. Are they going to be taken into the lake and sunk or pulled out and recycled? The shops in the district are steady, even with the downturn in the forestry industry. Peace Country Freightliner in Kamloops went into receivership because of the economic downturn, too much inventory and overhead costs. The company closed its doors in May, putting more than a dozen employees out of work. They had eight union members. Several moved to James Western Star which has been looking for highly skilled people for some time. Members with Brentwood Enterprises in the Revelstoke area have been kept busy for the past two years doing utility work for the Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Members are also busy on the new Revelstoke dam project, which is going all out to meet its time line. The rumours of road work on Highway 1 are still just rumours. There are survey markers in the ground through Pritchard but nothing has been let. The project will require about 14 km of double laning through Pritchard. Safety on Hoffman’s Bluff is the next big issue to address. The road has claimed two more lives this year. How many more people have to die before our government fixes a LETHAL section of the highway? Road agreement up for renewal Bargaining is ongoing in all sectors. Currently, negotiations are going on with Grand Forks Ready Mix, Action Concrete, Kamloops Jet Vac, Village of Cache Creek, Cache Creek Machine Shop, SMS Equipment, James Western Star (Kelowna), Waste Services and Williams Machinery. Our Interior Road Agreement is up in February and members should think about changes they’d like to see. There are a number of agreements coming out early next year so it is time for everyone to start thinking. We hope that everyone has had a good year so far. Please remember to attend your local union meeting. The meetings are there for you. |
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