IUOE News Winter 2013

It’s been a good year
for us.
Stewart Miller,
Member Representative
Looking back on the year, it was good to see that most of
our companies were able to provide steady work, and some
even reported that there was more work around than in previous
years. From aggregate to grain product, to fuel hauling to
construction—it seems all the companies kept the membership
busy, and as I always say, busy is a good thing.
How long we can keep this going
will be another story. Most of the big
projects around the Lower Mainland
are slowly winding down, so the
demand for aggregate will start falling
soon, and the domino effect will go all
the way back to the pits and ultimately our members who
work in the aggregate supply chain. So as we move into 2014
we can only hope new projects come on line and we can
continue to keep ourselves busy.
One of the biggest challenges over the past year has got to
be putting the first Collective Agreement together for Harvest
“They soon came to realize they
were too late to make any
changes, and by this stage we
were done playing games!”
District One
Power. Negotiations were slow, as the company is based in
California and all communication had to be sent down south
for discussion and approval, even although they had a team
here in Richmond.
Then, after a successful ratification vote in the middle of
September, the company switched out their HR staff, which
caused further delays in getting the final Collective Agreement
out to the crew, since the new HR team thought they
could suddenly change a few things around with their “we
know best” attitude. They soon came to realize they were too
late to make any changes, and by this stage we were done
playing games!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the crew
working at Harvest Power for their support and patience
through these lengthy negotiations, and look forward to
working with all of them in the new year now that the kinks
have been ironed out and all the signatures
are in place. I must also thank
Brother Don Swerdan for his guidance,
support, and good humour
keeping the negotiations on track.
In closing, I would like to thank the
Shop Stewards for all their endless hours of work and support,
and let them know that their efforts do not go unrecognized—
every single one of you is greatly appreciated, and you are the
lifeblood of Local 115’s ongoing future growth and success.
I wish everyone a happy holiday and I hope the new year
will bring you and yours good health and prosperity.
Brothers Charlie Williams (left) and Josh Rudolph (right), both from Pollard Equipment.
News December 2013 9