Carpenters local in Sault forced to merge with Sudbury, North Bay and Timmins

read full article at The Sault Star - Ontario, CA
Local 446 was established in 1917 and was one of the longest-serving locals in the province. But it fell "well below the standards of a viable local union as of March, 2009," stated the board.

The international's decision to merge Local 446 with Local 2486 to ensure the viability and sustainability of the enlarged local is "not only fair and reasonable, but is fully justified. . . . It is consistent with the (international's) plan to revitalize itself."

Clement is still not convinced. "Apparently the international's constitution carries far more weight than the wishes of the membership," said Clement of the board decision, Local 446's last avenue of appeal.

Construction Workers Killed on The Job

CEP Union:
"How come CEP or CEP Constructions Arm have not made a comment about what has happened to the construction workers that were killed in Ontario."

Department of Justice Press Release

Federal Bureau of Investigation - The Detroit Division:
"Joseph Roxlyn Jewett, of Las Vegas, Nevada, pleaded guilty to giving a kickback to the former leader of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters (“MRCC”), United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today. The former union boss had engineered the use of Jewett’s company as a consultant on a deal involving the construction of a casino that was funded by the Carpenters Pension Trust Fund."

Workplace safety: How safe do you feel in your work environment?

read article and take the poll at CBC.ca

Police say scaffold victims' harnesses weren't secured

read full article at thestar.com: "Detective calls safety devices `useless' if not affixed as unionists decry migrant workers' lack of training"

Highrise scaffolding concerns halted work for months

read full article at the Toronto Star
Provincial records show the ministry gave Metron three more orders on Dec. 17 to ensure the swing stage was finally safe for workers.
One order was to ensure that every part of the project be outfitted "to support or resist all loads and forces to which it is likely to be subjected without exceeding the allowable unit stress for each material used." Another was to "provide guardrails to work platform being used for access to swing stage near the parking garages."
Until those orders were completed, the ministry stated, "no productive work can be carried out from the swing stage."
Later on Dec. 17, a ministry inspector returned to the site for a reinspection of compliance.
"Compliance achieved, stop work order lifted," a report concluded.
On Dec. 29, five days after the accident, the ministry issued a series of future orders, including a demand for copies of all contracts related to the work site and an outline of Metron's health and safety policy, records for "fall protection training of workers" and a list of all workers on site at the time of the deaths.
Meanwhile, Dilshod Mamurov, 21, the lone survivor of the accident, remained heavily medicated in Sunnybrook Hospital and unaware on Wednesday of the deaths of his co-workers.
Mamurov suffered broken legs and a shattered spine in the fall.
He has no family in Canada and still doesn't know that a friend from Uzbekistan was killed, said Bakhtier Shakhnazarov, a member of the local Uzbek community.
Michael Yorke, president of Carpenters' Union Local 27, said he's convinced the men wouldn't have died had proper workplace protocols been observed at the Kipling site, just south of Steeles Ave. W.
"We believe that this was a preventable accident," Yorke said. "None of the workers were tied down with a lifeline."
Labour Minister Peter Fonseca wasn't available for comment on Wednesday, after Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, called for a criminal probe into the construction accident.
Ryan called on the province to stop "carnage in the workplace," noting that the Criminal Code allows for charges to be laid when there is evidence of negligence causing death or harm to workers.

more funnies from Alberta

have seen this video before, but this post has new text and is on a pension site: B.C. CMAW C.E.P. just like CLAC

CEP Wants on The Menu to Lower Standards in Saskatchewan?

read article at CEP Union
A ROGUE UNION (CLAC) WANTS A LOWER WAGE FOR YOUNG WORKERS. WHY?

Alberta CEP Union Local 777 membership stripped of democracy!

YouTube funnies from March 2009

Manitoba Hydro denies Quebec bias

read full article at Winnipeg Free Press: "The unions estimate that at peak employment a month ago, 44 per cent of the carpenters and 60 to 65 per cent of the labourers at the site were from Quebec. Two of the three companies that make up the consortium awarded the general civil construction contract are based in Quebec.

The unions say that Manitoba Hydro and the provincial government should do more to maximize the number of Manitobans who benefit from the $1.6-billion megaproject.

Ron Evans, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said he's frustrated that trained aboriginal workers are not being hired as apprentices.

'The belief by the workers, by the people who have been laid off or didn't get a job, is that the contractor from Quebec is bringing in people from Quebec, using Wuskwatim as a training (ground) for them because they are going to be building two hydro dams in Quebec,' Evans said.

He said job postings from contractor O'Connell-Neilson-EBC (ONE) contain 'weasel clauses' calling for specific work experience that prevents aboriginals and other Manitobans from being hired. A ONE official didn't return phone requests for an interview."

Strange bedfellows: CLAC and CEP Support Passing of Bill 80

CEP Union weblog

CEP's Construction Arm Wants to be on The Menu in Saskatchewan

read article at CEP Union weblog: "Here is what Dave Coles said about choice....

“With 80% of construction workers in the province being non-union, and the remainder represented by American unions, this is giant step forward for construction workers in the province,” says Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

Here is what the CEP's National Construction coordinator said about choice....

'We just want to be able to put ourselves on the menu and help defend workers if they so choose us,' said Josh Coles, CEP's national construction strategy coordinator,

“The public policy results the people of this province, I think, deserve — and that is the protection of essential services, the democratic ethos that we see in the amendments to the Trade Union Act, the expansion and reinvigoration of the construction sector with Bill 80,” said Norris, who noted even some unions, namely the Communications Energy and Paperworkers, support the proposed construction bill."

Season's Greetings from CMAW

I'd like to take a moment to wish the best of the season to all Carpenters, Scaffolders and other Tradespeople in our Province and in all of North America - to all of the men and women who work in the same trade as the carpenter whose birth we celebrate at this time. I know the challenge continues for many working families as we weather this global recession that was certainly no fault of working people. The news we have been hearing from around North America about climate change and the economy has not been good news but we are proud of the work we do. We will pull though this, and we have pride that is expressed in our families, our homes, our jobs, our union, and our hearts this season.

I would especially like to thank those tradespeople who have joined us or remained with CMAW in spite of adverse economic times. I sincerely hope that all our differences of opinion in our union can be resolved in the seasonal spirit of peace and harmony. Some of our Brothers and Sisters around North America continue to try to make the UBCJA more democratic and sometimes at a great personal cost to themselves. Thank you for your efforts. We here in Beautiful British Columbia are actively resisting raids by that same union that has lost its way as it tries to undermine our glowing light of Canadian autonomy - and just like the three wise men who followed a bright light on Christmas Eve so long ago, we will make that light our destination.

I would like to extend a challenge this holiday season to all Canadian members of the UBCJA to join us and help us build a big strong, democratic, Canadian union for Carpenters and other Tradespeople - a union that works for its members - not against them. Rise up. Be brave. Call us at (604) 437-0471. My best wishes to all of you for a safe and enjoyable holiday and a prosperous entry into 2010.

Work safe

Jan Noster

Silly Raiding Season ON in BC Construction

read full article at CEP Union
We will be looking at the facts and myths of construction during the raiding period in BC which starts from November 1 to December 31. I think this would be an interesting look into what CEP members money is spend on. I thank those that have been sending me information about this and would encourage those reading to send an e-mail with any facts to comenpa@gmail.com.

CMAW likes to call it self an 'independent Canadian Union affiliated with the Communication Energy and Paperworkers Union ( CEP ). Let look at the FACTS.

First CMAW is not Independent. It is the Construction Arm of what some like to call CEP better know as the Forestry Union. In a March 11, 2009 press release the head of the Forestry union stated:

“CEP’s construction arm will work to change that, and we will also work to ensure that workers who are laid off in other sectors of the economy, can transition to construction, when skills permit,” says Dave Coles

If your independent the members on the executive board would be ONLY CMAW members.

new blog: ubcja scaffolder sellout

ubcja scaffolder sellout



click for a larger image

Some unions don't act like unions at all

click to read full CMAW article
* They don’t protect the interests of their members.
* They don’t come to your aid when you need help.
* Their agreements with employers protect the boss’s rights, not member rights
* They tell their employers one thing, then tell their members something else.

The annual raiding period is coming, and you will be hearing from some of these unions. It could be the International Carpenters who go by the name BC regional Council of Carpenters. It could be their cousins, who go by the name CAST. It could be the painters union.

UBCJA quits and stiffs the Canadian Labour Congress

download the pdf

UBCJA substandard scaffold agreement

download the pdf - what a crock!

CMAW Fall 2009 Newsletter now online

download the Write Angle as a .pdf
articles:
New 1995 president plans to move forward
CWBP cuts benefits to retired members
Coles says vision & strength needed like never before
Oldest chartered local in Western Canada turns 100
Dam expansion project will create work for carpenters
How the home reno tax credit works
New t-shirts for scaffolders available now

A different view outside AFL-CIO’s big tent

read full article By Michael Mishak, Las Vegas Sun
The fight goes back to 2001, when the carpenters, under the leadership of Douglas J. McCarron, split from the country’s largest labor federation, dismissing the AFL-CIO as a lumbering bureaucracy that had failed to adapt to changes in the modern construction industry.

The carpenters pledged to organize nonunion workers through so-called “wall-to-wall” agreements, designed to place all workers on a project under the carpenters umbrella. Such pacts, however, effectively meant poaching members from other trades, thus setting up jurisdictional warfare across the country.

After years of fighting, the battle seemingly came to a head in August at the painters union convention in Las Vegas. Painters officials called on the AFL-CIO to condemn what they called the carpenters’ “predatory behavior” and asked the federation’s new leader, Richard Trumka, to help them fight back.

Delegates exclaimed in unison: “It’s about time!”

The AFL-CIO responded at its convention in Pittsburgh last month, passing a resolution urging the carpenters to rejoin the federation. Failing that, the AFL-CIO gave its Building and Construction Trades Department permission to start organizing carpenters — with the ultimate goal of forming a competing carpenters union.

In a statement, McCarron dismissed the resolution as “a solution in search of a problem,” adding that his carpenters work with AFL-CIO unions on a regular basis to complete construction projects.

He said the federation’s officials should spend their resources “organizing the craft workers in the markets they used to represent, before they divert their members’ hard-earned dues in efforts to reach out to workers they lack the knowledge to represent and the skills or resources to train.”

The carpenters’ aggressive organizing strategy, McCarron said, reflects “the industry our members work in, instead of the industry our founders knew.”

Labor experts said they expect the conflict to intensify as more and more contractors engage in work that cuts across traditional jurisdictional lines.

The Situational Ethics of Union ‘Raiding’

read full article at Talking Union by Steve Early "CWA organizer"

Whatever their roots or rationale, schisms in the “house of labor” are invariably accompanied by much-feared “rogue union” activity.

That’s why, in Pittsburgh this week, AFL-CIO conventioneers called a brief halt to their torrent of speeches and resolutions about corporate misbehavior to deal with a menacing labor miscreant and outlier—Doug McCarron’s United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC).

The 500,000-member UBC left the AFL ahead of other CTW unions, saying its per capita dues were being wasted on ineffective “New Voice” programs launched by the now-departed John Sweeney. Then, in 2005, the Carpenters joined CTW. Then, last Fall—in a development concealed by CTW until this month–the UBC stopped paying dues to Stern’s new federation as well.

A week ago, McCarron made it official—he has quit Change To Win, several steps ahead of John Wilhelm’s UNITE-HERE, which reaffiliated with the AFL-CIO yesterday.

In the meantime, McCarron’s critics say, he has been undercutting AFL construction unions by offering contractors wall-to-wall labor agreements designed to replace other skilled tradesmen with his own members, who will be employed for less pay under more “flexible” work rules.

Not surprisingly, this has made his fellow building tradesmen–plus manufacturing and even public employee unionists–quite irate.

Mike Sullivan, general president of the Sheet Metal Workers, was among those convention delegates who denounced the Carpenters and bemoaned the “millions of dollars” spent “defending the rights of members who don’t want to be in their union.”

Tom Buffenbarger, president of the Machinists (IAM), declared that “this is not just a building trades issue. This is an issue for all others” in the federation (as indeed it is, since the IAM has lately been poaching truckers from the Teamsters).

These more conservative speakers were joined by former UE organizer Ken Allen, now the top AFSCME official in Oregon and a past Labor Notes conference participant. Allen blasted both the UBC and SEIU, headed by Andy Stern. (Stern’s top-down “modernization,” centralization of control over bargaining, and forced consolidation of locals has often been compared to the Carpenters’ own restructuring under McCarren).

Allen told the convention that affiliates “who left in 2005 opened the door for all kinds of trouble… SEIU and the Carpenters are doing the bosses’ work when they raid our unions.

Finance Minister welcomes investment from Chinese sources

read full article at Calgary Herald
"The high price of developing the oilsands has been a concern for China, which wants to bring in their own cheap labour to offset costs."