IUOE News Spring 2014

Steady growth and our
industry influence will
move us forward
Frank Carr,
Member Representative
I hope you all had a great holiday season! The outlook for
work in the Lower Mainland for the coming months is promising,
with many of our contractors working on the Evergreen
Line Project. The project is quickly taking shape, with the
elevated guide way at Como Lake and North Road now being
constructed with its massive launching truss.
In Port Moody, GWIL Crane has
nearly completed the construction of
the tunnel boring machine. It really is
something to see, as many of the
pictures in this magazine show.
Following the line east to
Coquitlam we have many members
working on the Evergreen joint venture for our Road Building,
Crane Rental, and Pile Driving Contractors.
I’m happy to report Local 115 recently signed BFI Constructors
Ltd. to the Pile Driving Agreement via a Project Labour
Agreement. They are scheduled to begin work mid-February
through to June, and their requisitions to dispatch have
already started to come in.
With any big renovation there are
many obstacles and challenges
to overcome , but their skills,
passion and persistence readied
the ship for operation
District One
In Tsawwassen and Richmond, Geopac have six crews
working. Five of these are working on the Tsawwassen First
Nations Project (TFN), working 12 hours a day, six to seven
days per week. On the Fraser River, Vancouver Pile Driving is
keeping busy with the maintenance dredging of the BC Ferries
storage basin (Dease Slough) with the No. 2 and No. 4 derricks.
We held a Pile Driving Industry meeting at the end of
February to discuss the industry’s various changes and challenges,
as part of our efforts to improve it for all involved.
With your support we were able to secure a solid Collective
Agreement in this industry last year, and we will continue to
build on that success. These meetings give us an opportunity
to meet as a unified group to discuss our challenges for the
coming years, and how we plan to organize and educate the
non-union workers competing with us in the industry.
Fraser River Pile and Dredge Ltd’s new ‘FRPD 309’ (a 4,600
cubic metre trailing suction hopper
dredge replacing the Fraser Titan) is
now in service, and has been contracted
for 10 years to perform maintenance
dredging throughout the Fraser River.
I recently had the opportunity to
board the vessel with Tino Isola, Vice
President, Dredging & Surveys to observe the machinery in
action and meet with our members on board.
The FRPD 309 was purchased and sailed from South
America a year ago. Since then there have been crew changes,
and the ship has had to be extensively retrofitted and renovated.
The company and the crew explained that it hasn’t been
all smooth sailing (pardon the pun)—with any big renovation
Member Representative Frank
Carr and Brother Lu Veneziano
from FRPD.
The FRPD 309 doing duty on the Fraser River.
News March 2014 11