IUOE News September 2014

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District Six The dangers of using social media: when you publish online, you’re writing to the world Rob Foskett, Business Representative Hello out there! It has been a very warm summer with a great amount of work being done around the east and west Kootenays. The Waneta Dam expansion in the west is winding down. Components are being tested with water from the river, back filling to test the gates and so on. The projected Elko Dam expansion in the east is quiet with no start date yet announced. Selkirk Paving has been very busy with contracts throughout the entire district as well as north of us. They are continuing to bid on tenders with hopes of winning more work, and keeping our members working well into the fall. On the bargaining front: • New Denver Public Works – we are presently in negotiations • Line Creek Mine – we are presently in negotiations • Columbia River Reload – pre-bargaining proposals have gone out to the members • Castlegar/Trail/Nelson Ready Mix – pre-bargaining proposals have gone out to the members • Maxam Bulk Systems – we are set to commence collective bargaining I would like to remind everyone about the dangers of posting your opinions and venting your frustrations on various forms of social media. While you might think you are only chatting with your friends, the reality is almost anyone can read your messages. Essentially, what you share can go out to the entire world over the internet either by mistake or through someone sharing your posts with or without your knowledge. Talking in person with people is one thing. But to put something in writing, especially online, is completely different. Don’t get me wrong. We live in a free country and are entitled to our opinions and freedom of speech. But if you post something online you better be willing to own it for life. Something posted online can come back to bite you immediately or haunt you years later. In closing, please keep in mind that our local union officers and trustees continue to work hard in maintaining our united force. Join the fight and talk to non-union workers you meet. Tell them the benefits of working union. Work safe. Tail Race being back filled in order to test the gate seals, at the Waneta Dam Expansion project in the West Kootenays. 16 News September 2014
Benefits Plan Pension Plan investment policy passes stress test Shawn Hatch, Administrator The Operating Engineers’ Pension Plan follows a very carefully constructed investment policy which is weighted heavily in favor of fixed income investments like government and high quality corporate bonds. In general, a rise in interest rates actually has the effect of decreasing the value of the Pension Plan’s fixed income investments like our bonds. However, the Plan’s investment policy is based on the premise that as the value of investments decreases, so do the Plan liabilities so that the end result is that the funded status of the Plan remains stable. In other words, whether interest rates are falling or rising, the Plan should be able to cover all of its liabilities to members. For the first time in many years, interest rates were on the rise in the 2013. The rise was sharp but short-lived as rates quickly fell back to their historically low levels. This volatility was a good opportunity to see whether the Plan’s investment policy was performing according to plan. The good news is that the Plan’s investment advisors and actuary have confirmed that through this recent period of interest rate volatility, the funded status of the Pension Plan remained relatively stable and only minor adjustments to the Plan’s investment policy were made. Following is a summary of some of the results from the Plan’s April 30, 2013 Actuarial Report: • The dollar value of benefits paid for the year was approximately $50 million • There were approximately 3,800 pensioners • Total net investment income for the year was approximately $58 million • Going concern funded ratio was 101.7% • Solvency ratio was 101.2% • Total assets were approximately $1.058 billion • Total liabilities were approximately $1.040 billion • Going concern surplus was approximately $17.5 million • The plan continued to grow with 666 new members enrolled • The total number of active members was 6,480 Total hours worked as reported by employers for the 2014 Plan year (May 1 2013 – April 30, 2014) was up 6.3% over the previous year for a total of approximately 9.9 million hours. The dollar value of employer contributions for the 2014 Plan year was up 12.9% over the previous year for a total of approximately $41 million. It is projected that the value of pension benefits the active members earned for the 2014 Plan year will be almost $47.5 million. The Trustees of the Plan strongly believe that the Plan remains on track to meet the challenge of providing members with a predictable and stable retirement income regardless of ups and downs in the local and international economies. The trustees will continue to closely monitor the Plan’s investments. The BC Building Trades was a presenting sponsor at the Minister Shirley Bond: Skills for Jobs Vancouver Board of Trade Luncheon held on July 23rd, 2014 at the Coast Coal Harbour hotel in Vancouver. The BC Building Trades had a booth set up at the event where Apprenticeship Coordinators and Apprentices answered questions regarding their experiences in their respective trades. The representatives were as follows from left to right: IUOE Local 115 Training Coordinator – Randy Grisewood; IUOE Mobile Crane Apprentice – Will Terpstra; Cement Mason Local 919 – Ron Adamson; Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training – Hon. Shirley Bond; Cement Mason Apprentice – Victor Perez; Industry Training Authority Chair – Gwyn Morgan; Local 97 Iron Worker Apprentice – Luke Millican; Local 97 Iron Worker – Derek Dinzey; Sheet Metal Apprentice – Austin Paqualini; Sheet Metal Workers Local 280 – Jud Martell. News September 2014 17
Page 1 and 2: News PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT AND
Page 3 and 4: Let’s remember the importance of
Page 5 and 6: Crane Rental Association conference
Page 7 and 8: District One Lots of work and lots
Page 9 and 10: Bargaining, negotiations and ratifi
Page 11 and 12: Finding a strong and louder voice t
Page 13 and 14: Things are happening on Vancouver I
Page 15 and 16: some additional work to do and one
Page 17: Steady work and looking at Site C o
Page 21 and 22: Training Association How the Tool A
Page 23 and 24: Training Association Brother Brad R
Page 25 and 26: Training Association Brother Brad R
Page 27 and 28: Training Association Training Assoc
Page 29 and 30: Training Association News September
Page 31 and 32: Membership Service Awards May 2014
Page 33 and 34: Tyler Pankhurst Kelly Parkinson Kur
Page 35 and 36: Contact Details Local 115 District

IUOE News September 2014

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