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 District 4Along with the projects come organizing opportunities (May 2007) By Wayne Mills, Member Representative Greetings from District 4. We’re still waiting for the last of the frost to come out of the ground. Last summer was a pretty good season for paving and site work and we believe that this summer will be pretty good too. In our traditional jurisdictions, paving and site preparation will be the biggest employers of Operating Engineers in the North this summer. There is always work to do in the paving industry. The first phase of the Prince Rupert Port expansion wiill near completion late this year. Phase 1 is 500,000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units). The majority of the work for our members was on the water with Fraser River Pile and Dredge and on the dock for B.A. Blacktop. Phase 2, about $330 million, is scheduled to be let later this year with a completion date of 2010. It will increase the port to 2,000,000 TEUs. Just for comparison, Vancouver is currently at 1,500,000 TEUs. Our shops are still poaching mechanics from one another. They say that if they had more mechanics they would have more work. A thousand logging trucks traveling into the Prince George area every day are affecting road conditions. That is good news for the paving industry as these roads will have to be resurfaced, but we will have to see where the provincial government puts its money this season. Nova Gold’s Galore Creek, about 150 km north of Stewart with a reported 20-year life span, has its provincial permits. Federal approval should follow shortly. Construction should begin early this summer. We still don’t know who the contractor is. To give you an idea about what’s in the ground up there, the drilling results figure over 12 million ounces of gold, 190 million ounces of silver and 12 billion pounds of copper. Terrane Metals’ Mt. Milligan Project has held open house consultations in Mackenzie, Fort St. James and Prince George and is now getting ready for review. Kemess was in bargaining this past winter and we should hear by mid-June whether the environmental permits for the north property are going to be given. That decision will have a huge impact on bargaining and the retention of people. Hats off to Keith Johnston, the shop steward for mill operations A crew. He was nominated by the Mill operations general foreman to the company’s employee recognition program. The nomination states that “Keith was instrumental in discovering a serious overflow condition at the seepage pond area.” It goes on to say, “his quick thinking and actions helped mitigate the overflow condition that was occurring . . . He came to the correct conclusion [by] being aware and showing the required diligence.” Congratulations Keith for being aware and averting major environmental problems that could have been caused by the overflow. Prince George’s regional airport is on the “great circle route” between Asia and the eastern U.S. airports. A $33 million runway expansion is planned to provide refueling because Anchorage and Fairbanks are at or near capacity. The contract should be let late this spring. The Simon Fraser Bridge was $15 million over budget. It was cancelled and later brought back as two projects. Work should begin this summer. Wayne Watson Construction is doing the site prep for a couple of new stores in the Westgate Plaza. The community gaming center, estimated at $15 million, is under construction and is being done by ICL. Along with the Prince Rupert container port there is talk about an intermodal yard being set up in Prince George for the back haul of the containers. There are also a number of other projects on the drawing board including replacement of the Cameron Street Bridge ($10 million), the golf and curling club relocation ($15 million), a new RCMP headquarters ($19 million), Gateway Retirement Community ($32 million), the Coast Hotel expansion ($15 million) and a new Sandman Hotel ($15 million). There is a lot of work scheduled in the Prince George area, but when it will kick off and who will be the general contractors is anyone’s guess. Organizing will be at the forefront again this year as construction starts to pick up and the mining sector is in an upward spiral with all the exploration that is going on in the North. With the price of copper and gold at their highest in years, there are more and more mines trying to get off the ground every day. In closing, we want to thank our stewards and safety reps for their hours of hard work on behalf of the Local Union. Remember everyone: Work safely. |
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