Union Problems in Oilsands

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An Edmonton-based Ironworkers union has broken ranks with its provincial unbrella group so its members could work on a Northern Alberta oilsands project that has mared in contraversy over its hiring and pay polices.

 The Ironworkers are being offered guaranteed jobs and free direct flights to Fort McMurray, Alberta so hundreds of tradespeople will able to work on the $11-billion Horizen construction project.

 The union gave up on longstanding demands to be paid double time for some overtime hours in order to secure work at site located 75 kilometres from the city. The union is the only member of the Alberta

Building Trades Council to have signed a formal agreement with Horizon Construction, which is owned by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

It is projected that the deal may lead to more than 500 jobs that might have gone to non-unionized workers, said Darrell LaBoucan, business manager for Local 720 of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Ironworkers.

"Those jobs either would have (gone) to the non-union sector or they would have (gone) maybe to offshore people, maybe temporary foreign workers," he said.

The trades council has historically demanded that its workers be paid double time for most overtime. The ironworkers will be paid time-and-a-half instead, most of the time.

The ironworkers also agreed to a schedule that will allow crews to work for 10 days straight, followed by four days off. Traditional schedules see tradespeople work five eight-hour days followed by two days off, or four 10-hour days followed by three off.

Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan, whose membership includes southern Alberta ironworkers, said he was disappointed and surprised by the decision.

"There's a very good reason why the majority of building trades unions have made protecting double-time their hill to die on," McGowan said.

"When you consider the long hours most of these guys put in on the projects in the Fort McMurray area, it's clear how much is at stake. It's a difference in thousands of dollars in their take-home pay each year."

The union recognizes others in the labour movement are unhappy with its decision, LaBoucan said.