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PA R CPrairie Arctic Regional Council

Spring/Summer 2013

Contact Us

Winnipeg:Ph: 204-774-1609Fax: 204-786-6811

87 Cole AvenueWinnipeg, MB R2L 1J3

Regina:Ph: 306-585-0900Fax: 306-584-7477

2551 Albert Street NorthRegina, SK S4P 2V8

Mail: 303 Albert Street NorthP.O. Box 26067 Northgate

Regina, SK S4R 8R7Saskatoon:

Ph: 306-382-4355Fax: 306-382-58283730 Kinnear Place

Saskatoon, SK S7P 0A6Toll Free:

1-888-271-3908www.myparc.ca

Sisters In The Brotherood CONFERENCE - “MOVING FORWARD”

Jason RoweExecutive Secretary Treasurer

On March 8th and 9th, the Prairie Arctic Regional Coun-cil held their fi rst Sisters in the Brotherhood conference

at the Saskatoon Training Centre. PARC is the third Canadian council to start a Sister in the Brotherhood committee and sis-ters from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Atlantic Can-ada came together to kick things off . Saskatchewan Regional Manager, Kelvin Goebel, commenced the conference at the wine and cheese reception on Friday evening and was followed by Cathy Pike, the Canadian Representative for the Internation-al Sisters in the Brotherhood Committee. Two special profi les were unveiled that evening as well: one highlighting the contri-butions of the women scaff olders working for Safway Scaff old-ing Services at the SNC Cold Coal Carbon Capture Project in Estevan, Saskatchewan and one profi ling Sister Irene Rombaut.

Vice President of the UBCJA Canada, Jim Smith, got the confer-ence started on Saturday morning with a very informative and encouraging session where he publicized his personal support for women in the union and in the trades. Brother Smith re-vealed that while he has been a long-time supporter of sisters in the union, having only sons himself, it didn’t really hit home for him until his granddaughters were born. He went on to say that with the shortage of trades’ people in Canada it was important

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In This Issue:

P 2 Saskatchewan NewsP 3 Local 343 President RetiresP 4 Millwrights Local 1443P 5 Carpenters Local 343 and 1985P 6 Millwrights Local 1021P 7 Local 1999P 8 Sisters in the BrotherhoodP 11 Contact NumbersP 12 Manitoba TrainingP 14 Saskatchewan Training OrganizingP 15 Feature: Temporary Foreign Workers

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Saskatchewan Newskelvin goebel, Saskatchewan regional manager

On December 04, 2012 the government of Saskatchewan introduced Bill 85. This omnibus Bill condensed 12 different pieces of provincial legislation which was contained in nearly 1,000 pages down to 184 pages. Some of the legislation affected is: The Labour Standards Act, The Occupational Health and Safety Act, The Trade Union Act, and of course the Construction Industry Labour Relations Act.

The government first announced their so called “consultation paper” near the end of May, 2012. They then offered two months for interested parties to respond, in writing, to their document. There were no public hearings. The timelines the government offered to solicit a response was unreasonable given this document covered 15 different pieces of legislation.

Some of the current protections to workers that will be impacted are as follows:

The end to the eight hour work day – It appears that workers will only get paid overtime after 8 hours of work per day only if they work 5 days per week.

The end of the 40 hour week – Current legislation granted protection to workers that refuse to work in excess of 44 hours per week. The proposed legislation permits the employer to require the employee to work in excess of 44 hours if unexpected, unusual or emergency circumstances arise.

Overtime – A new section in Bill 85 allows for the banking of overtime. No provision that the banked hours would be redeemable at standard rates or overtime rates. This effectively does away with overtime compensation all together.

The Bill also changes the definition of employee. It broadens the “managerial” exemption with the addition of three new “confidential” criteria which would exclude thousands of working people from belonging to unions. As you know, this may impact our foremen and general foremen. Another section requires for the creation of separate bargaining units for supervisors. This again interferes with the administration of unions.

The Bill doesn’t end there; it will allow for a voluntary recognition relationship between employers and a union. This could at times work in our favour but at other times not. We know how some employers move towards certain unions to avoid certification by legitimate trade unions. Furthermore, voluntarily recognized unions will not have the protection of several key sections under Bill 85. Section 6-64 ©, for example, would deem it to be an “unfair labour practice for failing or refusing to bargain” only in cases where the employer is certified. Also, there would only be access to arbitration in cases of suspensions or terminations where the employer is certified to the union. This means, voluntary recognitions would not have access to recourse in these situations.

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Local 343 President, Arnold Graham, will officially retire his position as of April 30th, 2013. Arnold has served as president for local 343 for 10 years and was vice president for the preceding 8 years. He has been a member of local 343 since 1994 when the Lath-

ers Union Local 147 and the Carpenters Union Local 343 merged. Arnold started his apprenticeship in 1964 and became a certified journeyman lather in 1968. He had a rewarding and fulfilling career on the tools for 45 years before retiring in 2008. During this time he held posi-tions as lead hand, foreman and supervisor and worked on many notable projects such as the Grace Hospital, Red River College, TD Tower and the Convention Centre. Arnold also served several terms on the Apprenticeship Board during his career and has been a delegate for both the Manitoba Regional Council and PARC for the entirety of its existance. Arnold has truly enjoyed his time as Presi-dent for Local 343 and wants to sincerely thank the broth-ers and sisters for allowing him to do so for the past 10 years.

Local 343 would like to thank Arnold for the years of hard work and dedication he has put in to supporting and lead-ing the union. He will be greatly missed but we wish him all the best in his retirement.

There are many more sections contained in this Bill that will negatively impact the working people of Saskatchewan. Rights that were fought hard for and won by our predecessors, over the past decades, will be effectively erased. Bill 85 is scheduled to be introduced at this spring’s sitting of the legislature for the 2nd and 3rd reading and subsequently passed by Royal Assent, probably, sometime in May. The passage of this Bill in combination of the previously passed Bill’s 5, 6, 43 and 80, all introduced by the Saskatchewan Party, clearly indicate what this government thinks of the working class of our province. Right wing provincial governments all across Canada are moving this same agenda forward in their jurisdictions. The Federal Tories, through Bill 377, are leading by example.

Our union leadership has been representing us well in the halls of Ottawa in terms of fighting back on Bill 377. Some amendments have been agreed to; however the net effect remains, for the most part, very damaging to labour groups. We, as individual members, have to do our part as well in terms of defending our rights as union members. We must become politically engaged. We have the ability to control who these lawmakers are by exercising our right to vote. We can volunteer to work for the political party that best represent our interests. The only reason these right wing governments bring their attack down on us is because we allow them to. Our struggles are never over.

On a much more positive note, I am proud to offer my sincere appreciation to all those from our Regional Council who were involved in the planning and implementation of our inaugural Sisters in the Brotherhood Conference. I am quite sure all those in attendance found their time was time well spent. The camaraderie among the attendees was impressive. The discussions that were held were thought provoking and challenging to us all. I can say that the future of our Brotherhood is truly in good hands as we march forward shoulder to shoulder with our “Sisters in the Brotherhood”. It was a job well done. We are looking forward to hosting our 2nd conference which I am sure will once again surpass our expectations. Again, congratulations!

OPEN HOUSENEW WINNIPEG OFFICE

All members are invited to join us for our open house on

June 15, 2013.

It will coincide with Provincial Apprenticship Contest, so come out to support the apprentices, take a tour of our new building and join

us for a hot dog and hamburger barb-b-que lunch.

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Millwright Local 1443Alan Szmerski, Millwright Representative

I am sad to announce that the Canadian International Representative of the UBCJA, Doug Urquhart, passed away February 24th, 2013. Doug worked hard on behalf of the UBCJA and all the members across Canada and will be missed.

As the winter took hold we did experience a decrease in work for local 1443 members, but I hope that everyone managed to stay busy.

Several of our 4th level apprentices have now obtained their journeyperson status so that has opened up room for us to take on several new 1st level apprentices. We have also had several new journeypersons join local 1443 in the past few months.

Work at Kelsey continues with a short call to stack about ¼ of the existing stator. Approximately 20 members are working on the last unit to be overhauled and finishing off work on the gates.

The overhaul at Great Falls, which was originally sched-uled to begin this April, has been delayed 8-12 months.

Pine Falls Generating Station may have work coming up this year as this plant has been waiting for overhauls to take place for 8 years.

Pointe du Bois Spillway Replacement Project has 6 members working on existing units. This is a long term job that is expected to run for 2 to 3 years and have ap-proximately 8 months of work per year.

Jenpeg started well for some members late in 2012 but had a three month delay until April 2013.

Both Gerdau and Griffin are starting to plan their sum-mer shut down; there are no dates as of yet.

In Brandon, Koch will need more millwrights for their shut down sometime this year.

While Club Regent is wrapping up, the Mint is manning up.

Pritchard Engineering has completed the last major portion of work at the floodway that had 8 members busy from mid-November to February.

I would like to thank the members for the dedication and pride they are putting into their work. Because of your work ethic and commitment we have increased our market share of maintenance days throughout the

city and for all our contractors which means more work for our members.

I attended a Canadian Millwright Conference in Toron-to and spoke with all the Business Agents there to get a broader sense of the work forecast for the upcoming year across Canada. Shut downs in British Columbia are scheduled to start between April and June and Kitimat will have 2 years of work starting in August. Alberta is experiencing an extreme number of shut downs and does not have enough manpower to handle it all. Both B.C. and Alberta have been asking about how many travelers we have available. Saskatchewan has enough work to support some travellers and Ontario is current-ly experiencing an increase in work in the nuclear, steel mill, and wind farm sectors. Quebec also has a lot of work at the mining mills, wind farms and hydro gener-ating stations. In the Maritimes there is a lot of work in Newfoundland but work shortages in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

I attended a workshop in Ottawa to go over the current 2009 National Occupational Analysis for Millwrights Industrial Mechanics and make changes to the text-book content. In approximately a year, once the changes come into effect, a new collection of I.P. tests will be de-veloped based on the new textbook content.

Negotiations:We have a negotiations committee in place but as of March 12th we have not been contacted by the CLRA to set up dates to meet.

At our February meeting, I was asked by our members to poll the other trades about having more than one meeting place for ratification meetings. I found that the common practice is to hold ratification meetings at only the union hall and did not hear of anyone offering a sec-ondary location. The Millwrights will be following this example by continuing to hold our ratification meeting at the union hall. Members will be notified of the meet-ing in advance.

As always, I encourage you to make sure you have your CSTS and to take all the training that is available to you so that you are ready to travel when needed. Drug and alcohol testing is mandatory in all western provinces and some employers are also requiring fit tests.

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Carpenters Local 343Sean Ramsay, Carpenter Representative

Spring is just around the corner (I hope) and with it the beginning of what is typically a carpenter’s busiest time of year.

Our members have enjoyed a number of years where the traditional “seasonal employment” of a carpenter has not been a reality and year round employment has become the norm. This year we have experienced a very slight lull in the middle of winter but the vast majority of our membership remains employed. With spring around the corner we will be looking to have our members that are currently out of work, back on the tools.

Projects on the horizon include the Keeyask project in Northern Manitoba. Britco has recently been awarded the setup of the main camp. Two of our members have been dispatched for this job so far and we expect more in the near future. Please keep in mind that for the hall to recommend a member for dispatch for this project you must have a current application with the JRS and have forwarded your reference number to Denise. Once the

main camp concludes, it stands to reason that the civil project will start up and this will require upwards of 450 carpenters.

Another Hydro project which is currently ongoing is the spillway at Pointe du Bois. This project is being run by Kiewit and is operating under an all trades agreement through UBC Local 1999. All carpenters dispatched to this site receive the equivalent wage and benefit package of Local 343. Any members interested in this job should call Samantha at 204-774-1609 extension 2226.

All of our contractors have ongoing projects and are no doubt bidding others as the height of the construction season is just around the corner. I have highlighted a few of the bigger jobs above but cannot get into specifics for all ongoing and upcoming jobs at this time.

Finally, we, as a local, have named a bargaining committee and negotiations for a new collective agreement have begun. Once we reach an agreement a letter will go out to all of our members to notify you of a meeting for ratification.

After a long, cold and exceptionally snowy winter, I’m sure everyone is looking forward to the spring. Since the last newsletter, we have moved into our new offices at 3730 Kinnear Place. It’s great having the new space to work in. Carpenters Local 1985 is about to enter into contract talks for the new Provincial Industrial agreement which expires on April 30, 2013. A negotiating committee was struck at the February executive meeting and hopefully we can come to an agreement with the contractors before the expiry of our existing contract.

The work situation in the province for the upcoming year looks very promising. There is ongoing work at a number of projects throughout the province including

the building of the camp at Janzen. Our contractors are also bidding work at the new K&S potash project. Besides the regular yearly shutdowns around the province, the shutdown which is scheduled for later this year at the Husky Upgrader in Lloydminster will require up to 200 members. If you are out of work, please check in with our dispatchers in either Saskatoon or Regina, and please make sure your safety training is up to date. This will ensure that you are ready to go to work when called.

Starting in March our Saskatoon monthly union meetings will be held at the new facility located at 3730 Kinnear Place at 7:30 P.M. Monthly meetings are held every 3rd Wednesday of the month.

carpenters local 1985lee naylor, carpenter representative

Local 1614 Flin FlonFrank and I have been talking and I would like to thank the membership for the stance they took on the issue being arbitrated by the local.

I will be heading that way and will set a date and time with Frank so that I can attend a meeting while I am there. Please call me if there are any questions.

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Millwright local 1021jeff austman, millwright representative

Hello brothers and sisters from the desk of Jeff Austman. I’ve been appointed the new business agent for local 1021 of Saskatchewan. I want to thank the Prairie Arctic Regional Council and Jason Rowe, the EST, for choosing me

and giving me the opportunity to represent my brothers and sisters. I was sworn in at our general meeting in Davidson on March 9. Jason Rowe and Al Szmerski were in attendance and answered questions and concerns from the local. It was good to have so many local members in attendance. I received a warm welcome from my brothers. I hope to be able to represent the members as well as my predecessor, Clarence George. In a recent conversation with Clarence he wishes you all well and offered me his best wishes.

I’ve worked with many of you in the past and look forward to reconnecting with you and also introducing myself to the newest members. In my years in local 1021, I have worked at many jobs throughout Saskatchewan and have been active in the local at meetings and on the job sites as steward. I hope to do a lot of travelling to the various job sites where I will meet and answer any questions or concerns you may have. As this is my first official week I hope you will be patient with me as I get up to speed with the Saskatoon staff and Al Szmerski, the acting 1021 business agent. Feel free to contact me at the office at 306-382-4355 or on my cell at 306-290-4294 or e-mail me at jaustman@myparc.ca.

There has been a lot going on in the past few months and shutdown season is now upon us! In the last few weeks I have attended, with Al Szmerski, two markup meetings in Regina - one for Estevan with BFI for an ID fan overhaul and one at Belle Plaine with BFI for a new compaction circuit (which is the same as the previous jobs in Colonsay and Esterhazy). Estevan has had a recent call out and also Belle Plaine, with more in the future as they ramp up. We’ve recently had numerous companies with callouts for journeymen to Estevan, like ES Fox,

and AB Western, Tesc. We’ve also had a maintenance shut down at Shand Power Station with Balzer’s. Work is still ongoing at Rocanville with Lockerbie and Hole, also numerous other smaller shutdowns at other locations with Kamtec and Jacobs. Upcoming shutdowns will include Popular River Power Station at Coronach with LML, Husky at Lloydminster, work at Belle Plaine and numerous upcoming shutdowns in Alberta and B.C.in April.

Alan Szmerski and I have also attended numerous other meetings; one with the C.L.R. which was informative about the fit for work issue which is in the arbitrator’s hands as of late. We also attended the General Presidents Maintenance Committee of Canada meeting, which was a good discussion on upcoming maintenance agreements and also possible upcoming maintenance work. Jacobs was there discussing upcoming maintenance in Belle Plain and Colonsay.

At our new office and training facility in Saskatoon, the Prairie Arctic Regional Council recently held their first Sisters in the Brotherhood Conference. Representing local 1021 was Brother Blair Smotra who gave a good presentation on the contractors’ panel. In other news regarding our Saskatoon training facility - we are proceeding with work and equipment installation and hope to have training classes up and running in the near future. We are receiving a donation of a small turbine for training purposes and the High Torque will be arriving soon at which point classes can proceed. Brother Dan Schimnosky has already held a rigging course for our members and the training department has also held many other courses. Make sure to check the training schedules for upcoming training on the web site www.myparc.ca or download the app. Also, if you haven’t seen our new facility we encourage you to drop by for a tour.

We are currently looking for an apprentice for the national Skill’s Canada competition in June in Vancouver, B.C. Also, we are looking for a representative for the U.B.C National Apprenticeship contest in August in St. Johns, Newfoundland.

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At the time of writing this article we are about to begin contract negotiations for Display Fixtures and hopefully, by the time you receive this newsletter, negotiations will be complete; maybe wishful thinking on my part. Work is steady for Display Fixtures. At Dormond Industries things have picked back up since December when they reduced work hours. I am optimistic that things will continue to improve.

I would like to welcome all our new 1999 members; this is an exciting new direction for our Union as local 1999 continues to grow. I’d like to remind local 1999 members of the procedure if you become terminated from your job:

• Please call the hall to go on the out of work list• If another position becomes available you may be dispatched to that job• In order to remain on the out of work list you cannot be suspended - to stay in good standing you have to continue to pay your monthly dues• Make sure you call the out of work list a minimum of every 14 days to maintain your spot on the list until you are dispatched

The Pointe Du Bois Project for Kiewit is starting to ramp up. This site requires a pre-access drug and alcohol test, fitness test and hearing test. We are trying to get members tested before there is a formal request from the employer as this will cut down the waiting time for the test and the results; this process usually takes about a week. If you are interested in this project and are unemployed, make sure you have your name on the out of work list and also let Jaylyn or I know that you are interested in the Pointe Du Bois Site.

The K3 Project in Esterhazy for Kiewit is also going well. This project is slated to be done mid-May. Both of these jobs are under a different collective agreement than the standard provincial agreement. If you have questions on the agreement please feel free to give me a call.

CentrePort is an ongoing project and is supposed to be done this September. They have not had a large labour request, as of yet, this year. If you are working on this site please remember that this is not the same agreement as 343 and if you do not have a copy of the agreement please let me know and I will make sure you get one.

Local 1999Samantha Warden, Representative

I encourage everyone to make sure your tickets and dues are up to date and to apply for the training positions if it interests you to be an instructor.

I hope you will all fill out and return the questionnaire you received in the mail about the change in meeting location. We hope this will bring out greater attendance from our members to the meetings.

I look forward to offering your services to the contractors as the best product out there because of our commitment to skilled tradespeople and our first rate training and apprenticeship programs. I hope to see you all in the near future.

Monthly Member MeetingsWinnipegCarpenters Local 343 7:30 p.m. 1st Wednesday of the monthThe Union Hall, 87 Cole AvenueMillwrights Local 1443 7:00 p.m. 3rd Tuesday of the monthThe Union Hall, 87 Cole AvenueLocal 19997:00 p.m. 2nd Tuesday of May, Sep-tember and December. Location T.B.ASaskatchewan Carpenters Local 1985 Regina 7:30 p.m. 2nd Tuesday of the monthRegina Union Center, 12th and AngusSaskatoon 7:30 p.m. 3rd Wednesday of the monthThe Union Hall, 3730 Kinnear PlaceMillwrights Local 1021 10 a.m. 2nd Saturday of the monthAt the Town Hall in DavidsonExecutive Board 9 a.m.

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Sisters in the brotherhood SNC Cold Coal Carbon Capture Project in Estevan Saskatchewan. UBCJA Local

1985 Members that are working for Safway Scaffolding Services- LAURIE TEMPLE

This picture was taken at the Bound-ary Dam Power Sta-tion at the Clean Coal Carbon Cap-ture Project located near Estevan Sas-

katchewan. This is the largest generating facility in Sask-power’s fleet. Unit #3 at Boundary Dam is being rebuilt with a state-of-the-art turbine and fully-integrated car-bon capture system capable of cutting CO2 emissions by more than 90 per cent or approximately one million tonnes per year. That is equivalent of taking more than 250,000 cars off of Saskatchewan roads each year.

These Sisters are members of United Brotherhood of Carpenters local 1985 and are working for Safway Scaf-folding Solutions, which is contracted through SNC La-valin. Christy Ennett is running a crew of three on the project’s night shift . Our members have been on this project since April 2012 and each week more members are joining this great team. In fact, 2 more Sisters have joined this site since this picture was taken.

The members on this site are also giving back to the community. They have started a recycling program and all funds taken in are donated to a breakfast program at one of the schools in the community.

On a recent site visit, I was able to talk to the lead Health and Safety Manager for SNC Lavalin who had this to say:“I’ve been quite impressed by the professionalism shown within your trade, here on site. I must say – I am very impressed with the skill your sisters have shown, here on site.

Working on a high profile project such as the SaskPow-er Carbon Capture project comes with many challenges – small footprint, multi trades, multi levels. Within the scheme of things we strive to promote worker safety. To date safety remains to be one of our foremost priorities.

Building a safety culture takes drive, determination and passion, all factors we’ve witnessed on site while work-ing with the sisters of local 1985.

Encouraging women in the trades is important – what I’m most impressed about in regards to the ladies of your trade remains to be the fact that not only can they outwork most of the men, they take pride in their achievements, have proven to be an important factor for building safety culture here on site and remain to do so in the most professional manor as they continue to smile throughout the entire process.

I look forward to working with the amazing ladies of Local 1985 on future projects. I am honored to witness the quality and craftsmanship in which they pave the future for others to follow. My hats off to your ladies!”Kind regards -Deeanne Compton, AEMCA, CHSO, Project Health Safety Manager

Rick Schmegelsky, Site Supervisor for Safway Services, who has run various jobs in his construction career, gave the following statement:“Early in my career I was fortunate to be on a crew led by a female journeyperson scaffolder. Her hard work and dedication to her trade instilled a belief in me that women can perform just as well as their male counter-parts in industrial trades. At that time, she was the only female scaffolder on our site. I have watched the culture change and grow over my career, and I am very pleased to now work on a site with a 1-3 female to male ratio. The entire team of scaffolders we have on site is one of the safest and most productive I have ever had the plea-sure of being a part of. I am very proud of this team. I know the future is very bright for the women of local 1985, and I look forward to what the future holds for our trade. Keep up the great work ladies!”

This site is among many that have Sisters working on it. I am proud to say that it is the highest rate of women to men that I have dispatched in the last three years. When watching these Sisters at work they are proud trades-people and will help with anything asked, on and off the job. They put in long hours and are proud of their trade. Keep up the good work!

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SiB CONFERENCE - “MOVING FORWARD”

to continue to recruit women, who make up 50% of the population, to fill the gap. He also encouraged the sis-ters to get involved in their union in any way they could and at all levels from local committees to elected re-gional council positions. Before he concluded, he took the time to answer many questions from the sisters and pledged to continue to attend future SIB conferences.

The morning moved along with breakout sessions on assertive communication and a discussion time for the sisters to brainstorm for the committee. Before break-ing for lunch, two very inspiring guest speakers, Valerie Overend and Denise Needham, two sisters who have been in the trades for more than 25 years, shared their stories of struggle and triumph as female carpenters. Both sisters share a passion for sharing their knowledge with other women and have pursued their ambitions to recruit and mentor female tradespeople. Sister Need-ham’s story was especially touching and emotional and had many in the room near tears with her transparency.

The afternoon line-up included Shelly MacNab who brought greetings from SIIT and shared her desire to see the treatment of women in the trades move from “tolerance” to “acceptance”. The contractor panel made up of Blair Smotra from Kamtech Services and Charlie Downs from Icon Scaffolding was a very educational session where the sisters got to hear the contractors view

on the importance and responsibility of unions em-ployees. Downs emphasized how they are always sell-ing union employees to customers as the most skilled tradespeople available and encouraged the sisters to take all the training that was available so that they could live up to that standard.

I had the honour of concluding the conference and took the opportunity to challenge the sisters to become more involved in their locals by attending union meetings and negotiations. In closing, I mentioned how the at-titude towards the trades has been changing and while it used to be thought of as a secondary choice for those who did not qualify for college or university, it is now thought of as a first choice for a rewarding and fulfill-ing career. With this in mind I encouraged the sisters to recruit other women into the trades.

The conference was a great success and many good friendships and bonds were forged. The sisters had an informative weekend and left with an optimistic out-look for the future of the union and the trades. I want to thank Laurie Temple for all the hard work she did to make this conference happen as well as all the PARC staff that helped her to make it possible. Thank you also to all the sisters who gave up their weekend to attend the conference, I hope to see you at the ones to come.

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Sister In the brotherhood profile: irene Rombaut, Local 1985

Irene Rombaut has been a Member of the United Brotherhood of Car-penters and Joiners of America Lo-cal 1985 since March of 2008. Irene started in the trades as a permit worker in July of 2007 for Aluma Systems at the Encana Site in Wey-

burn. Scaffolding began as a summer job for Irene who was a fulltime teacher’s assistant. She expected to return to this job in the fall but enjoyed her scaffolding expe-rience so much that she decided to leave her teacher’s assistant position and continue in scaffolding. With the

help of the apprenticeship program, Irene has become a level 4 Scaffolder and she plans on one day getting her Journeyperson’s ticket.

After working for Aluma Systems, she went to work at the shutdown for Steeplejack Services at the Regina Co-op Refinery. From there she was transferred to Potash-Corp in Rocanville and then off to the Mosaic potash mine in Esterhazy. After being on the road for a year, Irene wanted to work closer to home to be with her chil-dren and returned to the Co-op Refinery for Skyhigh Canada until the explosion in October of 2011.

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Manitoba

Reception: 204-774-1609

Executive Secretary-TreasurerJason Rowe: Ext 2227

Regional ManagerDirector of OrganizingJohn Reczek: Ext 2231

Carpenters RepresentativeSean Ramsay: Ext 2228

Millwrights RepresentativeAlan Szmerski: Ext 2223

Training DirectorKristina Peterson/Waldo Friesen: Ext. 2236

Training RegistrationDenise Schimnowski: Ext. 2222

Union OrganizerLloyd Jacobson: 204-781-5657

Outreach CoordinatorCharlie Moar: Ext 2234

Accounting DepartmentKaren Epp: Ext 2224Jessie Eilers: Ext 2225

Director of Council Operations1999 RepresentativeSamantha Warden: Ext. 2226

Northern Regional ManagerWayne McLennan: 204-781-3313 204-792-3758

Northern RepresentativeBrian Smith 204-781-3447 Out of Work Line Ext. 2232

Member BenefitsCoughlin and Associates 204-942-4438P.O. Box 764100-175 Hargrave Street Winnipeg, MB R3C 3R8Toll Free: 1-888-204-1234

Saskatchewan

Regina:Reception 306-585-0900

Regional ManagerKelvin Goebel: Ext 222

OrganizersColin Wiest: Ext 224

DispatchLaurie Temple Ext 223

Saskatoon: Reception 306-382-4355

Carpenter RepresentativeLee Naylor 306-220-2193

Millwright RepresentativeJeff Austman 306-290-4294

Director of TrainingRobin Mullock 306-227-7049

Training AssistantNancy Fahlman Ext 2227 DispatchDeirdra Barlow 306-382-4355

Member Benefits FAS 1-800-770-2998 info@fasadmin.com

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notice for all P.A.R.C. members

Visit our website for the most current training cal-endar information at www.myparc.ca. The training calendar for your province can be found by loging in under the red tab at the top of the web page that

says FOR MEMBERS. If you do not have a user-name and password for the website, you can email

avanmaiingan@myparc.ca to receive one. You can also access other member resources and information in the member area of our website.

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By the time you read this I will most likely be a new mom. That being said, Waldo Friesen will be handling most of my duties and instructing while I am away on maternity leave.

His contact information is as follows:Email: wfriesen@myparc.caOffice: 204-774-1609 ext 2236Cell: 204-799-5172

Should you have any apprenticeship related concerns or questions please contact Denise or Waldo. As always Denise remains your contact to register for training courses: 204-774-1609 extension 2222.

We have finally received our Private Vocational Institute status. This makes us an accredited facility and means we are able to offer pre-employment training to the general public as well as receive possible government funding.

Manitoba Trainingkristina peterson, training director

We are looking at several possible new skill courses to offer to the membership. We would like some feedback from you on which courses you would be seriously interested in taking. We are not able to run all the listed courses and intend to offer the courses with the most demand. If you are interested in any of them please contact me at wfriesen@myparc.ca or call me at the hall at 204 774 1609. If there are other courses that you are interested in that are not on the list, please let me know and we will look into whether we could start offering those as well.

please note: RATE changes

As announced in a previous mail out, I want to remind you to send a copy of your marks to the office after completing school. Apprenticeship Manitoba is not required to send your technical training marks to the

office and lately they have been inconsistent with what they send us. We require

confirmation of a pass grade in order to process your rate change.

waldo friesen, head instructor

Courses under consideration:Solid surfaces - how to install and repair solid sur-face counters Print reading - a look at how to read a set of blue printsDoors and hardware - hands on course on door hardware and installation.Edge sharpening - chisel and plane bladesFire stop - demonstrates the correct techniques for installation of fire stop materials.Welding - welding skills and CWB assessment for members with welding experience.Math upgrade - overview of math skills used daily by tradespeople.Stair Building - Covers stair calculations, layout and assembly of various staircases.

2013 Apprenticship Contest:

The Provincial Apprenticeship Contest is set for Saturday, June 15th, 2013. If you have become a Red Seal Journeyperson

through an apprenticeship since last year’s apprenticeship contest, you are eligible to

compete. All participants receive a variety of prizes with the top three competitors

also receiving a cash prize. The first place finisher will be asked to compete in the National Apprenticeship Contest as the

Manitoba Carpentry contestant. This year’s national competition is August 23rd & 24th,

2013 in St. Johns, Newfoundland.

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Move to new building in Saskatoon

Over the last few months we have fully moved into our new facility in Saskatoon. The carpentry shop still has a few items such as workbenches to complete but has been operational since fall. The additional classrooms and shop space have allowed us to offer more training than ever before.

The Welders, stationary power tools, hand and power tools for the millwright shop are currently being ordered. We anticipate the millwright shop to be fully functional by the summer.

Purchase of new building in Regina

We have recently purchased a new facility in Regina’s north end on over 3 acres of land. Renovations are underway in the shop area to provide a couple of classrooms and an office. Once completed, in the first part of April, the training department will move into the facility. In fall an addition to the building will begin to provide more classrooms, a lunchroom, washrooms and an office for the training department.

Training

The final scaffold apprenticeship class (Level One) begins in April in Regina. Apprenticeship training will begin again in September. All indentured apprentices should ensure that Form 6s are submitted by the end of June to increase you chance of getting into the September classes. Members that are not yet under an apprenticeship contract should complete the necessary paperwork so that they can get registered.

Member Training is available in Saskatoon and Regina on a continual basis. Submit your email address to receive the training calendars directly.

New Face in the Training Department

The next time you call or stop by the Saskatoon Training Centre you might meet the newest addition to the training department, Nancy Fahlman. She has joined our team as training department assistant and will be handling all training registration, updating and supplying members training histories and much more. Please make her feel welcome.

Saskatchewan TrainingRobin mullock, training director

Don’t forget to install our training app which lists news and all training available.

In Manitoba:The Kiewit project at Pointe du Bois is up and running. Bringing in a new contractor will always have its share of growing pains but I expect that most issues will be sorted out soon. The project should create a lot of hours for our members.SNC Lavalin at Centre Port is ramping up for another season of work. If any members know of people work-ing non-union who might help fill calls (for any of our projects), please let the organizing department know as soon as possible.Raiding of non-union companies for our projects is on-going and our contractors have taken dozens of carpen-ters that are new to our organization.

In Saskatchewan:In northern Saskatchewan, Legacy Interiors has signed a letter of assent on their way to becoming the first union drywall company in 20 years.A number of scaffold companies are also on the verge of becoming union in southern Saskatchewan. Companies in Rocanville and Estevan are close to being signed as new union contractors as well as some smaller contrac-tors that are new to Saskatchewan.

organizingjohn reczek, Director of organizing

15

Temporary Foreign Workers: Recent events have reminded me that sometimes, we can see what’s comingWayne Mclennan, Northern regional manager

“Canada now takes in nearly as many temporary work-ers as it does immigrants. The number has tripled in the past decade. These foreign workers aren’t just picking tomatoes. They are serving coffee at Tim Horton’s, and working at abattoirs and fish plants. In other words, they are doing permanent work.” The Globe and Mail, 2013.The Harper Tories have adapted the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and made it into a method by which employers can create a workforce at less cost than hir-ing locals. The program allows an employer to hire tem-porary workers after advertising for 14 days within a 3 month period before the project starts. The advertise-ments may be on a web page or local media and the po-tential employer must advertise through the H.R.D.C. (Manpower). There is no requirement for an exhaustive search for local labour. There is a mention of a need for outreach to underrepresented groups, but no stipulated requirements for what that outreach should be.The program also allows the employer to pay uptp 15% less to temporary foreign workers than the median wage for that occupation. As an example: a Certified Carpen-ter under our contract will earn $30.60 an hour, while a temporary foreign worker can be paid 15% less than the Winnipeg median of $17.00 - $20.00 an hour. The employer is required to pay foreign workers the same as their Canadian counterparts unless there are no Ca-nadians in that craft; then they can pay the minimum.I see this as a Harper strategy to drive down the earn-ings of craft workers by forcing them to take work at 70% of their regular employment rate when work is slow to compete with the foreign worker program. It fosters conditions that push workers into a race to the bottom. I can see a scenario where an employer could clean house of Canadians, do the minimal recruitment and bring in much cheaper labour. Also, since they need housing, why not have them stay in a company owned

facility and charge them rent (certainly, a way to maxi-mize profit).This situation is not new to our Council. In 2008, The Winnipeg Free Press reported the first time we dealt with this issue and it sounds eerily familiar to other sto-ries we are hearing today. In 2008, NDP MP, Pat Mar-tin, spoke out against Reemaco for hiring temporary foreign workers to do basic construction on the Win-nipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Air-port. This was work that could have been done by local trades’ people. In spite of this, I am proud to say that the Sisters and Brothers working on this site did their best to improve the situation of their foreign co-workers by agitating the company to the point that they obtained a $5.00 per hour raise for their counterparts. My thanks and respect goes to those scaffolders who recognized that no matter what, temporary foreign workers were still fellow workers and deserved better treatment.The growth of the Temporary Foreign Worker program makes it important for us to be diligent and active as union citizens. We must be able to organize and stand up for these workers; this program is perfectly set up to isolate workers. Foreign workers, tied to their em-ployer, living in isolation, and without representation are poised to be victimized. We must also actively par-ticipate in the political process. In order to limit the im-pact of the Harper Tories have on labour and our liveli-hoods, we must influence the system. Please volunteer for Political Action Campaigns, participate in organiz-ing and be informed. References:2008, August 29. Airport contractor rapped for using foreign workers. Winnipeg Free Press.2013, March 20. Temporary foreign workers: The rising risk of a guest-worker class. The Globe and Mail.

Irene was forced to take a year off of work to recuperate from the injuries that she sustained from the explosion. It was a long and painful recovery, but with the help and support of her children, family, and friends, Irene found the strength to return to Scaffolding. Irene not only wanted to prove to herself that she could return to the job that almost took her life, she also wanted to

teach her children that whatever life throws at you and no matter how hard life gets you need to persevere. You have to find the courage and strength to get back up and try your best not to let anything keep you down.

She is currently working for Safway Services at Bound-ary Dam on the SNC Lavalin Cold Coal Carbon Cap-ture Project.

Con’t from Page 9

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