N.Y. Members
Build Ice Boom
'Beautiful Team' Battles Elements

Retired Pres. Stephenson
Earns Utility Award
Industry Group Recognizes
a Great Labor Partner

Local 1974 Forms in Iowa
Chartered to Better
Represent BAE Workers

North of 49°
Ontario Local Made Recruiting Female Apprentices a Priority.
It Paid Off.

Au nord du 49° parallèle
Le recrutement des apprenties de la section locale en Ontario a été une priorité et a porté fruit

Pam Pendleton

Places to Call Home

Workers have the right to form unions, and companies must negotiate with them when they do.

But the nearly 240 telecom workers who voted to unionize with Vancouver, B.C., Local 213 found out exactly how far it can be between the promise of the law and what it delivers.

About 1,900 days passed between the vote in 2017 and a precedent-setting decision by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board that construction giant Ledcor's slow walk to a first contract wasn't just trying to break the union but was breaking the law.

After almost 1,200 days of fruitless, demoralizing, dismissive "negotiations" that led to 160 weeks on a picket line, the CIRB ruled for first time in at least 40 years and only the seventh time in Canadian history that an employer was not bargaining in good faith and the CIRB would impose a first contract.

The hard-fought win, which came at a significant cost to Local 213 and the Ledcor workers in time and money, laid bare just how broken worker's rights are in Canada and provides a momentum boost for worker-friendly legislation like a national ban on the use of scabs.

"We didn't just outlast them, we outsmarted them," said Local 213 Assistant Business Manager Robin Nedila, who served as lead negotiator. "We knew they were going to stick-handle their way through the laws, do just enough to make the union spend all its money, give up and go away. But they didn't reckon on us having the resources, ambition, and, at the end, plain fury. We said it again and again: You don't [expletive] do this in B.C."

That the ruling was so starkly critical of the employer and yet took so long is a devastating indictment of the state of Canadian workers' rights, said Local 213 Business Manager Jim Lofty.

Cooper:
We Won't Back Down
Noble:
Keeping Our Promise

John O'Rourke;
Dave Reaves;
Ryan Reithel;
Louie Spencer;
Dave Fenton

Boston Local
Organizes Convention
Center Workers

New England Members Upgrade Nuclear Station;
Training Program for Foremen Helps Fill
Education Gap;
Alabama Power Members Build House With Habitat
for Humanity;
Detroit Tree Trimming Program Brings in New Workers, Garners International Attention

January 2023

Hazards & Heroes