Construction Maintenance Allied Workers

Waking up from an asbestos nightmare

2012-01-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

read full article at The Montreal Gazette
Asbestos was an economic dream for Quebec for more than a century; the towns of Thetford and Asbestos grew around the mines rather than vice versa. Quebec companies also produced brake pads, textiles, paper and concrete pipes made with asbestos, employing thousands of workers.

But the dream began to morph into a nightmare in the 1960s when medical science revealed much higher cancer rates among mine workers in Thetford Mines than in the general population. The world learned that when asbestos dust is breathed in, the tiny fibres become lodged in lung tissues and other internal organs, where they remain. Then, decades later, came news that those fibres can cause fatal diseases, like asbestosis, mesothelioma, lung cancer and other forms of cancer.

Today, exposure to asbestos is the single biggest cause of work-related deaths in Quebec. In 2009, more than half of the deaths compensated by the Quebec Workers Compensation Board - 102 of 185 - were a result of asbestos exposure. Higher death tolls are expected in the future because it can take decades (after exposure) for fatal asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma to develop.

While rules for protection of asbestos miners are much more stringent now, workers here and abroad continue to be exposed to asbestos dust when buildings are demolished or renovated, or when work is done on roads, water pipes and other infrastructure that has been reinforced with asbestos, or when natural disasters or terrorist attacks cause buildings to collapse.

NY: In blow to contractors, gaffe stalls union vote

2012-01-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

read full article at Crain's New York BusinessUnder the tentative agreements, employers would no longer be required to hire at least one-third of their workers via union referrals, and would instead be free to select any member of the union to work for them.Contractors have argued that so-called full mobility will save them money by increasing productivity, but union members contend that it will kill important protections like seniority and could lead to discrimination. Union members also say that the national union has pressed for the change because it will help it avoid the deluge of National Labor Relations Board charges filed by workers who challenge the union's role in hiring decisions.But now the future of full mobility, and indeed the contracts themselves, remain up in the air.

Doug McCarron: You Do Your Work - We'll Do Ours!

2011-12-19T07:20:00.000-08:00

Local Union No. 3, IBEW - Official Website:
In a tough economy, all the building trades need to pull together to protect our work and turn more projects into union jobs.
But that’s not the way it is in St. Louis.

The head of the Carpenters District Council in that town, Terry Nelson, with the support of UBC General President Doug McCarron, is wasting time and money attacking the IBEW and stealing its work.
While nonunion carpenters are working and UBC members sit on the bench, WHY is Nelson spending his members’ dues signing sweetheart deals with nonunion electrical contractors and lowering wage and benefit standards set by St. Louis IBEW Local 1 over generations?
And now they are going after IBEW union contractors. So we ask: Where will McCarron try to pull this next? Which other trades will be next in line for raiding?

In this town, we respect each other’s jurisdiction—for the Carpenters
and everybody—and resolve our disputes in a way that makes sense.
We don’t go for sweetheart deals and company unions.
Shame on Doug McCarron.
We ask ALL good trades men and women, especially Carpenters: Tell Doug McCarron to do his job and focus on his work, not everybody else’s.

Amalgamated Carpenters Union and IUPAT "meet and greet"

2011-12-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

click to read the full press release:
This is to advise you that the Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners Union (“Amalgamated”), in conjunction with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (“IUPAT”), are having a “meet and greet” gathering on December 20, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at Leonard’s, 555 Northern Boulevard, Great Neck, NY 11021-5103, to officially announce the formation of an affiliation agreement with IUPAT and a Charter from the AFL-CIO, and impending membership with the Building and Construction Trades Department, Washington, DC. IUPAT General President Jim Williams will also be in attendance on the 20th.

CAW working on biggest union merger ever

2011-12-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

read full article at thestar.com:
Two of the country’s most prominent unions are quietly holding merger talks in what could become the biggest consolidation in Canadian labour history.

In a response to harder times for organized labour in a tough economy, leaders of the Canadian Auto Workers union and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union revealed Thursday that discussions have started and will probably accelerate during the next few months.

“There’s a lot of work left to do,” said CAW president Ken Lewenza. “We’re moving along but we’re still at a preliminary stage and far off from a deal.”

Labour watchers say a new union between the CAW, which represents about 200,000 workers, and CEP, which has about 125,000 members, would mark the biggest single merger in the history of the labour movement here. The CAW and CEP are already among the 10 biggest unions in Canada.

More Like a Bank Than a Union

2011-11-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

read the full article by David Correia at CounterPunch :
Douglass McCarron: Union Boss or Ponzi Schemer?
More Like a Bank Than a Union

But one notable absence from the Occupy/organized labor alliance, the Carpenters Union, offers another reminder that some leaders in the labor movement are on the side of the bankers against working people. While many rank and file carpenters have shown support, the union, particularly Carpenter’s President Douglass McCarron has been silent.There are a number of possible reasons for the silence.

The Carpenters union under McCarron’s leadership is without question among the most conservative unions in today’s labor movement. Over the last decade McCarron has dragged the Carpenters union into an malevolent alliance with conservative Democrats and Republican politicians, demonstrated most clearly by McCarron’s sycophantic courtship of George W. Bush during both of Bush’s terms in office.

Even more, the anti-authoritarian, non-hierarchical structure of the Occupy movement contrasts starkly with the consolidated leadership structure of the Carpenters, a structure defined by McCarron’s dictatorship over every facet of union life and administration.

But perhaps more importantly, the Occupy movement’s laser-like focus on the social and economic costs of financialization on the lives of working people has revealed McCarron for what he is: a fugitive Wall Street ponzi schemer disguised as a labor leader. McCarron, it turns out, has more in common with Bernie Maddoff than he does with the rank and file members in his union.

CMAW Write Angle Fall 2011 Newsletter

2011-11-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

the Fall 2011 CMAW Newsletter is linked at
http://www.cmaw.ca/stories/rough-road-and-resolve-ride-it

or go directly to it at
http://issuu.com/foleydesign/docs/write_angle_fall-2011

Chinook Touchstones Nelson scaffold dismantle

2011-10-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

click to see the rest of the photos:

photos by Doc Livingston

B.C. court orders arrest of contractor for alleged asbestos scheme

2011-10-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

read full article at Vancouver Sun: VANCOUVER — The British Columbia Court of Appeal has ordered the arrest of a contractor who thumbed his nose at a court injunction ordering him to stop operating an asbestos removal business that employed teenagers and recovering drug addicts without proper training or protective equipment.

The injunction was obtained against Arthur Moore of AM Environmental by WorkSafeBC in August, 2010, after an investigation disclosed Moore was employing young people to demolish homes that he had cleared as being asbestos-free.

WorkSafeBC inspectors found Moore had no qualifications as an asbestos inspector and that reports he produced showing premises free of the dangerous substance were forgeries — using letterheads stolen from legitimate laboratories — that concealed the danger to workers.

New Shipbuilding Contract a Big Win for Trades Workers

2011-10-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

The federal government's awarding of a major part of its shipbuilding strategy to BC shipyards will create "hundreds and hundreds" of new jobs for CMAW members, says President Jan Noster.

The $8-billion contract, awarded to Seaspan's Vancouver Pemberton yard in North Vancouver, is expected to result in several hundred carpentry and scaffolding jobs for CMAW Local 1995 members and hundreds more for the Shipwrights Local 506. It is also expected to create over 3500 direct jobs and around 8500 indirect jobs in total over the next 15 years.

"It's great for us and it's great for the province," says Local 506 Business Agent Percy Darbyson. "We'll start off slowly, and as things progress we'll end up with over 800 jobs there."

He adds this new work is a real boom for the 200-member local, which has been struggling to get work over the past 30 years of stagnation and downsizing in the shipbuilding industry.

"It starts off with $150 million in infrastructure upgrades into the yard," Darbyson said. "Added to this is that there likely will be 15-year maintenance contracts for the ships we build."

Both Darbyson and Noster insist that the long-term prospects of this new work are the most exciting. They both worked diligently as key lobbying agents along with other maritime union reps and industry officials to get the contract.

"Once the infrastructure is done on the yard, it means it will be able to bid on more work," Darbyson, says, adding that the infrastructure work alone is a long-overdue development for what was until now a largely stagnant industry. "It means we can bid on BC Ferries other work."

"This is really a big win," Noster said. "It means BC has a shipbuilding industry again."
The contract accounts for the non-military portion of the federal government's $35 billion National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, which is aimed at refitting and upgrading the entire naval fleet. It represents a substantial departure from previous federal Conservative and Liberal government policies of promoting the down-sizing (which they called "rationalization") of the Canadian shipbuilding industry as part of their implementation of NAFTA.

These policies, started by the Mulroney government in the 1980s, helped drive the industry across the country into depression-like conditions, including yard closures and mass layoffs. The industry in BC suffered an additional blow in 2002 when the BC Liberal regime ordered BC Ferries to tender contracts for new ships abroad.

The new federal shipbuilding procurement plan is the first major federal government in over 30 years. The larger military-related projects in the plan will go to Irving Shipyard in Halifax.

Jan Noster
President, CMAW
cell 604.785.4904
office 604.437.0471
fax 604.437.1110
email: jannoster@yahoo.ca
website: www.cmaw.ca
Follow us on Twitter: @CMAWunion

the best dam carpenter shop in the west

2011-10-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

draft tube ribs - Waneta expansion project

Welcome to the Waneta Dam carpenter shop

Unions slam NDP as dangerous to workers and Canada

2011-10-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

read the full Calgary Herald editorial by Licia Corbella: James Smith, international vice-president and Canadian director of the 65,000-strong United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, asked: “What message are working people in my union to take from their no show?”
==================
Smillie, however, says the fact that the NDP opposes the pipeline shows how out of touch it is with the majority of labour members.

“The messaging has been hijacked by small labour organizations,” said Smillie. “The CEP (Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada) gets on the air and says organized labour is opposed to the Keystone pipeline because Canada will lose jobs. Well, I can tell you right now, our labour organization is much larger than the CEP or the Alberta Federation of Labour and we back the pipeline 100 per cent,” said Smillie.

Photos from Chinook Shookumchuck digester dismantle

2011-09-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

Skookumshut 2011
Doc's for really last shutdown!

AFL-CIO 9/11 Honor Roll of Union Victims

2011-09-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

click for list by union: AFL-CIO Honor Roll of Union Victims
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America
Sean Canavan • Martin Coughlan • Matthew Diaz • Paul Gill • Mauricio Gonzalez • Maurice Kelly • Chris Kirby • Benjamin Millman • Joseph Mistruilli • Brian Monaghan • David Ortiz • Joseph Piskadlo • John Rizzo • Daniel Rosetti • David Ruddle • Stephen Russell • Erick Sanchez • Robert Vecario • Patrick Woods

Carpentry Workers' Pension Plan of BC Meetings

2011-08-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

click for more info at CMAW.ca

CMAW BURSARY TRAINING/COURSE REIMBURSEMENT REQUEST APPLICATION

2011-08-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

click to download the form as a pdf
http://www.cmaw.ca/sites/default/files/CMAW-training-reimbursement.pdf

this is for BC jobs only, we are no longer paying for training workers heading to Alberia

CWPP trustees letter to members: Pension Plan Update and Plan Changes

2011-07-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

Participants in the Carpentry Workers Pension Plan of BC which manages the pension plan for the Construction Maintenance & Allied Workers (CMAW) have been informed that continuing significant reductions in the solvency level of their plan have forced a 30% reduction in pension benefits.

Retirees have been told that as of August, 2011, their pension payments will be reduced by 10%, and an additional 10% in each of the two following years until they reach the 30% reduction effective immediately for working members.

Solvency levels are a measure of what would happen if the plan were to be terminated today, and the assets were used to buy annuities to satisfy the plan's current liabilities to all of its participants. In 2007, the plan would only have been able to fund 88% of its then-current future liabilities. That figure has since fallen to only 72%.

In a letter to plan members, the plan's trustees say that to bring the plan to full solvency would require them to almost triple the current hourly contribution rate from around $4 to somewhere in the neighbourhood of $12.

Their only other option was to cut pension payments under the plan. This change will create a 100% fully funded plan.

To read the full trustees' letter (as a pdf), click here.

Scaffolding falls at Hendrick construction site; OSHA inspectors traveling to scene

2011-07-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

UPDATED WITH PHOTOS at Abilene Reporter-News

Greg Kendall-Ball/Reporter-News Abilene,Texas
An Abilene firefighter inspects the damage caused when several floors of scaffolding collapsed at a construction site at Hendrick Medical Center on Monday. Two men were injured in the collapse, and both were treated in Hendrick's emergency room.

so you want to be a carpenter?

2011-06-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Doc's last shutdown; it was one of the best. Johnny V looked worse but is camera shy.

photo by Mark Miller, VP Local 2300

IBEW Tells Carpenters’ Head: Stop the Raids

2011-06-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

video
IBEW Local 1 in St. Louis has provided the best trained and most professional electrical work force to the Gateway City since 1891. But now local Carpenters’ union head Terry Nelson, with the support of UBC President Doug McCarron, is attacking Local 1 and trying to stealing its work. Instead of organizing nonunion carpenters, Nelson is signing sweetheart deal with nonunion electrical contractors and lowering wage and benefit standards set by the IBEW over generations. But the IBEW and the Building Trades are fighting back, telling Nelson and McCarron to do their jobs and stop wasting rank-and-file carpenters’ dues money raiding other unions.

Chinook advanced scaffold course

2011-06-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

CMAW Castlegar Local 2300, Feb. 2011

all photos by Paul Wilkinson Local 2300

more photos

CMAW Local 2300 Confined Space Course at Kinnaird Hall

2011-05-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Instructor Paul Nedelec Jr. taught the fall arrest and confined space courses on May 18 and 19 at the Kinnaird Hall. Here he operates the hoist as each participant experiences being suspended in a harness. Thanks to Trowelex Castlegar for the equipment.

photos by doc livingston cmaw2300/cep2040

Death rate drops as B.C. loggers embrace safe practices on the job

2011-04-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

read the full article by Gordon Hamilton at The Vancouver Sun
There’s no single event that brought down the death rate, said Reynold Hert, president of the B.C. Forest Safety Council, an agency formed in 2004 to specifically address what loggers called the dirty little secret: The industry killed people. Everybody, from fallers to CEOs, had accepted that as part of a dangerous job.

“People are now coming to the belief that nobody needs to get hurt seriously to do this job, and that it’s a mark of professionalism to do this job without injury,” Hert said.

The industry is much smaller. WorkSafeBC estimates employment has fallen by 40 per cent since 2005, obviously a factor in the declining injury toll.

But the smaller workforce is seeing a lower rate of injury. The number of injuries per hundred person-years of employment is down 31 per cent since 2005.

“The forest industry used to be three times the provincial average severe injury rate; it is now two times. It’s still high but now it’s lower than some of the other industrial groups,” said Hert.

Hert attributes much of the change to the United Steelworkers union, which took over the old IWA in 2004. The union had successfully lobbied for the so-called Westray amendment to the Criminal Code, under which executives could be held criminally liable if their company was shown to be demonstrating a reckless disregard for safety. Steelworkers have launched a private prosecution in B.C. against Weyerhaeuser over a 2004 worker death.

“Quite frankly, the change from IWA to Steelworkers was a key point where a fresh perspective came in; there was a new look and people going, ‘How can this be?’”

Non-union fallers also became vocal about the number of them being killed.

“All of a sudden it wasn’t acceptable any more for people to get killed. It became headlines,” said Ron Corbeil, health and safety coordinator for the Steelworkers. He said news stories, led by The Vancouver Sun, had a strong impact.

“That started to change people’s psyche towards being a logger. It’s just not a price of doing business to injure and kill workers.”

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Death+rate+drops+loggers+embrace+safe+practices/4662443/story.html#ixzz1KYPDeAQy

Day of Mourning - WorkSafeBC

2011-04-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

order posters and hardhat stickers
from WorksafeBC

download a poster from the BC Fed website:
Day of Mourning | British Columbia Federation of Labour

new screw McCarron website: "Respect our Crafts"

2011-03-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

click: Building and Construction Trades Dept, AFL-CIO
Welcome to “Respect Our Crafts.”

The purpose of this website is two fold:

1. To commemorate and reaffirm the one singular ideal that gives strength to the union construction industry. And that ideal is UNITY.

2.To prevent the spread of an insidious and poisonous plague of “raiding” the work of other crafts that is being perpetrated by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters under the leadership of its General President, Doug McCarron. Read More>>

Wikipedia: Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit.

2011-03-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

Coles Labour Association Canada

CMAW Local 1926 Lockout going into third month

2011-03-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

read full article at BurnabyNow
Pat Haggerty, the negotiator for Local 1928, says the situation is at a standstill.

'The company is saying, you've got our offer,' he said.

'They're not hungry enough to negotiate,' Haggerty added.

The request by the union, to hold off on contract negotiations until this June, would not have cost the company any additional money, he pointed out.

'Our position was, there's not going to be an increase,' Haggerty said. 'And that wasn't good enough.'

Could final nail come down on Bremerton WA carpenters' local 1597?

2011-02-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

read full article at Kitsap Sun: "The threatened consolidation comes as the carpentry trade continues to suffer in the recession. UBC's national membership of 522,416 in 2005 had shrunk to 473,777 by 2009."

VANOC hit with $75,000 scaffold safety penalty

2011-01-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

read the full article at The Globe and Mail:
WorkSafeBC has fined VANOC $75,000 for less than Olympian safety practices during the post-Games dismantling last year of the snowboard stadium at weather-plagued Cypress Mountain.

According to a safety inspection report dated last March and disclosed this week, workers were climbing to the top of scaffolding by using footholds on vertical poles, rather than by ladder, as required by provincial construction regulations.

Although the workers were employed by a subcontractor, VANOC was listed on the safety report as the site’s prime contractor and hit with the penalty.

CMAW Scaffolders featured in WorkSafe Magazine

2011-01-25T08:13:00.000-08:00

read the full article at cmaw.ca
Mike Moore, owner of the Prince George-based Chinook Scaffold Systems, says he rarely sees falls from scaffolding on the larger industrial sites his company oversees. But since he began in the scaffolding business 25 years ago, he's been more concerned about the absence of training in the industry overall.

'In Europe,' he points out, 'not only does scaffolding have an apprenticeship; they're the highest paid of all the trades.'

Learn the ropes...and tubes and clamps

In B.C., however, Moore says it's usually up to individual scaffolding companies to provide their own training in the safe use of scaffolding. 'When we put out a call for workers, we may or may not get people trained in using a scaffold,' he says.

To address this problem, Moore recently asked two of his staff (one of them certified in scaffold training) to create a six-week scaffolding training course. Now when he hires carpenters for temporary construction work, he says he can rest assured they will first be trained to work safely around scaffolds.

The Chinook course, developed in 2009, is now widely available in B.C., and the Construction Maintenance and Allied Workers Union sponsors its members to take the training. 'Proper training in the construction and use of structure scaffolding is long overdue,' says Local Unit 1998/1237 business manager Ron Knellar.
==============

the link to the article in WorkSafe Magazine is found on page
http://www2.worksafebc.com/Portals/Construction/Home.asp

click the *Spotlight box - pdf link on the right: "High maintenance Scaffold safety and training"

or click here to download the WorkSafe article directly as a pdf

Worker who died after fall at Canada Place hadn't tied off his safety harness

2011-01-24T18:58:00.000-08:00

read full article By Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun
The worker who died two days after falling 14 metres while working on the sails at Canada Place Dec. 2 "was not using a personal fall protection system" at the time of the accident, according to an initial report by WorkSafeBC.

It appears that Diego Herrera, 30, was wearing an unattached safety harness when he fell through what is described as a "mouse hole" in the sails. The inspection report found there had been a number of violations of safety regulations at the work site and said there were grounds for imposing an administrative penalty against Birdair Inc. of Amherst, N.Y.

The company was hired to replace the sails at Canada Place by Ledcor Construction Ltd., which is managing the project on behalf of Canada Place Corporation.

"Further action on this administrative sanction will be delayed until Fatal and Serious Investigations has concluded its investigation and issued its findings," said the inspection report written by Stephen McCollum.

Karen Mathews, general counsel for Birdair Inc., said the company was cooperating fully with WorkSafeBC's investigation of the incident. She said Herrera was well trained in fall and safety procedures and was wearing a rope-access harness at the time of his tragic fall.

"While there were several tie-off points available at the location no one has the answer at this time as to why Mr. Herrera failed to tie-off," she said.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Worker+died+after+fall+Canada+Place+hadn+tied+safety+harness/4154437/story.html#ixzz1C0oO3olD

CMAW Local 2300 Stewards Course at Kinnaird Hall

2011-01-22T17:40:00.000-08:00

CMAW President Jan Noster gives an overview of the duties of the Shop Steward.

Business Agent Paul Wilkinson, left, in front of the new Local 2300 training sign as CMAW Executive Board member Paul R. Nedelec, right, discusses jurisdictional work assignments.

Jan Noster hands out CMAW pins.

CMAW Financial Secretary Mike Fenton outlines grievance criteria and procedures.

From top left counter clockwise to top right: Mike Fenton, Paul Wilkinson, John Post, Dean McKellor, Jodie Lemieux, Braeden McPhee, Dave Kutzner, Richard Steer, Jessie Gregory, Eric Salo, Ian McNeil, Darryl Cowen, Bob Laktin, Carey Bagg, Joe Hetherington, Stan Rilkoff, George Stevens, Myles Stearn, Kevin Blackman

Thanks to the instructors and members that spent the weekend improving our union.

photos by doc livingston cmaw2300/cep2040

CMAW 1928 Locked out

2011-01-21T18:44:00.000-08:00

British Columbia Federation of Labour:
CMAW
Date Commenced: Locked Out December 23, 2010
Local: 1928
Type: Strike
Employer: Cove Top & Flash Cove Employees
Issue: Concessions, Wages
Status: Current

LRB rejects the UBCJ dodge and feint as so much shuck and jive

2010-12-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

Read the LRB decision rejecting the UBCJ refusal to supply the modified collective agreement:
download the LRB decision as a pdf

and here is the LOU with Ski-Hi (letter of understanding) the UBCJ tried to hide during the raids on CMAW:
download the LOU as a pdf

Ledcor stops work for safety meetings

2010-12-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

read article at Vancouver Sun

2 Ledcor sites fatalities in Vancouver

2010-12-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

read article at Journal of Commerce:

Investigations are underway into the cause of two construction worker deaths at separate Ledcor construction sites in downtown Vancouver.

CEP Motion to the CLC regarding UBCJ Raids

2010-11-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

CMAW website

Change to Win elects Hansen, Hoffa as leaders

2010-10-04T06:23:00.000-07:00

read article at Workday Minnesota: "Change To Win now includes SEIU, the Teamsters, UFCW and the United Farm Workers. The Laborers left it to rejoin the AFL-CIO on Oct. 1. UNITE HERE split and left several months ago. The Carpenters left a year ago and are unaffiliated with anybody."

Pot Growers Join Union - ABC News

2010-09-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

video - ABC News
Bay area grow workers organized by Teamsters union

AFL-CIO 9/11 Honor Roll of Union Victims

2010-09-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

Asbestos flooding B.C. with a 'steady stream of death'

2010-09-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

read the full article: Vancouver Sun, September 5, 2010
In Trail, B.C., United Steelworkers officials began noticing several years ago that many workers who had retired from the Teck (formerly Cominco) zinc and lead smelting plant were coming down with asbestos-caused diseases.

They called a town meeting. About 80 victims and family members showed up. At the next meeting, 130 came. Now, the union has identified nearly 100 victims, people who toiled in the smelter from the late '40s to late '70s.

"I've seen first-hand what some of these people go through, and their families go through, and their grandchildren, and it's just horrible," says United Steelworkers Local 480 president Doug Jones.

"Somewhere along the way somebody has to be accountable for that. Someone has to be responsible for the shortened lives that people live and the pain and suffering that all the families go through. It just doesn't seem fair."

Teck spokesman Richard Deane says the company spends up to $2 million a year removing asbestos from its plant. "Ever since the negative health effects of asbestos were known we've been working diligently to remove and deal with any trace of asbestos," Deane says, adding that the company's responsibility to sickened workers is covered by its contributions to WorkSafe.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Asbestos+flooding+with+steady+stream+death/3484958/story.html#ixzz0yfLi5QnF

Wobble the job! The Building Trades 2007 Wildcat in Alberta

2010-09-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

read the full article: C.W.O.C. IWW
"This meant that the union hall and the union hierarchy were at least partially shut out. While officials attended some of the rallies and spoke to the crowd- mostly urging them to go back to work, the rallies and pickets were organized and carried out by rank-and-file workers. Calls to return to work were drowned out by heckles and chants of ‘general strike!’. Officials did not dare attend the pickets, not even to counsel a return to work, though, as we will see below, they handled this in a much more arms’ length manner.

“Dog shit and herring bones”

- Anonymous rank-and-file carpenter, in reply to his union’s executive request that he return to work.

Saturday Sept. 15th 2007."

Labour Day Commentary

2010-09-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

read full article at: British Columbia Federation of Labour
The trade union movement today salutes the hundreds of thousands of British Columbians who toil to make the province work whether they are in a union or not.

We pledge to continue to build a labour movement and a province that fights for everyone, not just those fortunate to have the dignity a union provides them.

Happy Labour Day.

AGC Union Contractors Exchange Views with Carpenters and Operating Engineers General Presidents at New England Regional Meeting

2010-08-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

read full article at: AGC - The Associated General Contractors of America
McCarron maintained that work preservation efforts like subcontracting clause concessions and job targeting programs must be accompanied by "aggressive organizing of the subcrafts" to be successful. He referenced the Carpenters' drywall industry organizing drive as an example.

Inefficient, outdated work rules are another hindrance to union contractor competitiveness, said one chapter executive. Project labor agreements - which often include inefficient work rules - exacerbate the problem in the area, he said. Also, out-of-towners often receive "sweetheart deals." He suggested an "experiment" of suspending the work rules for a year. McCarron said he thought that this was a good idea to try on a pilot project basis.

Kootenay partners forge ahead with $900-million power project

2010-08-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

read full article at VancouverSun
Columbia Basin Trust, Fortis to expand generating capacity on Waneta Dam

By Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun August 27, 2010

The Columbia Basin Trust intends to complete its mandate to develop hydroelectric facilities with a $900-million expansion of generating capacity on the Waneta Dam south of Trail, the trust and its construction partner, Fortis Inc., announced Thursday.

The expansion involves building an additional 335-megawatt generating station on the Waneta Dam on the Pend d'Oreille River, just south of Trail. It is expected to take a little more than four years to build, would provide employment for 400 construction workers and inject some $200 million in direct wages into the region.

"In terms of jobs and benefits to workers and people who live in the region, it's fairly big news," Victor Jmaeff, Columbia Power's vice-president of sales and development, said in an interview.

Jmaeff said the project adds a side benefit in wringing additional electricity from water that has already been sequestered by an existing dam.

"It is a project that will generate clean power in that it's being built on an existing dam and power plant and doesn't involve any additional dam construction," Jmaeff said.

The Waneta expansion is one of three potential hydroelectric developments, along with facilities at the Arrow Lakes and Brilliant dams, that the Columbia Basin Trust was endowed with when the provincial government created the trust in 1994 as a vehicle to mitigate damage caused in the region by damming of the Columbia River system in the early 1960s.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Kootenay+partners+forge+ahead+with+million+power+project/3448994/story.html#ixzz0xuvSDSyH

vote NO to CEP affiliation

2010-08-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

post comments on the new weblog

Douglas McCarron 2010

2010-08-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

visit the new website: Douglas McCarron 2010 | President United Brotherhood of Carpenters | Raiding Unions Since 1988

Laborers to rejoin AFL-CIO

2010-08-17T06:17:00.000-07:00

read article at peoplesworld: "The Laborers' departure from CTW will leave only the Service Employees, the Farm Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers and the Teamsters in the smaller union group. Unite Here rejoined the AFL-CIO last year - except for 100,000 members who split off to join SEIU - and the Carpenters disaffiliated almost two years ago."

CMAW Registered Pension Plan Booklet

2010-08-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

A new booklet describing details of the CMAW/CEP Construction Registered Pension Plan is now available. A full PDF version of the booklet is available for viewing by clicking here

Gerry Lacasse plaque placed in Robson

2010-07-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

Gerry's stone was designed by Darlene Schultz and carved by Jeremiah Benbow

BC Carpenters Local 2300 on tools and on film

Gerry with a "G" is what he always used to say to the hole watch as we headed into one tank or another. I spent a good part of my career being partnered up with one of the finest carpenters I've ever met. Being on the road and away from your family isn't always easy, but having a good friend with you makes it a lot more bearable. I helped bury my friend on his birthday and Murray and I spent the extra time making sure everything was measured and level just as he would have wanted. Gerry may not be with us anymore but he will never be forgotten. He was a proud Canadian and a proud union member. He always wanted what was best for all members.

Even though he has been gone going on two years there isn't a week that I don't think of him. Most times I smile, some times I shed a tear. We should all endeavor to take care of each other on and off the job. My fondest memory was dismantling a scaffold in a really dirty tank and singing "Oh lonesome me" together then arguing about who wrote the song. He was right. Rest in Peace my brother and I hope we can make you proud.

John Voykin

Company in demo gone wrong broke rules: Report

2010-07-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

BCLocalNews.com
One wall of the building collapsed onto the street, narrowly missing a car and pedestrian. An excavator then brought down a second wall, which buckled and half spilled out onto the street, knocking down a streetlight.

Nobody was injured, but the incident was captured on video and posted to YouTube.

60,000 more to die of asbestos

2010-07-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

read full article: Britain / Home - Morning Star
The HSE has estimated that one in 10 carpenters born in the 1940s with more than 10 years of work in the industry will die of mesothelioma.

Despite Britain finally banning the use of asbestos in 2000, global trade in the carcinogen remains strong.

Before the ban, 60 per cent of asbestos in Britain came from Canada. Much of the trade has now moved to the developing world.

In recent years countries such as Angola, Argentina, India, Mexico, Nigeria and Thailand have all recorded increased use of asbestos products.

On Thursday construction union Ucatt staged a demonstration against Canada's continued exportation of asbestos at the country's embassy in London.

Ucatt leader Alan Ritchie said: "It is disgraceful that Canada continues to wilfully produce and export a deadly substance.

"It is essential that nationally and internationally unions and other sympathetic groups increase the pressure on Canada to end this lethal trade once and for all."

B.C.'s injuries on the job: 15,000 lost years since 2007

2010-06-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

read full article by Stephen Hume, VancouverSun
"Statistics Canada compiles injury reports from provincial agencies. Work-SafeBC records reported job-related injuries for this province.

Their records show that since statistics on workplace injuries began to be collected in 1928, the casualty count for B.C. workers on the job exceeds the total number of Canadian military and civilian casualties in every war we've ever fought by a ratio of more than 14 to one.

In B.C. alone, more than five million on-the-job injuries have been reported, more than two million of them over the past decade.

Since 2002, Canada has lost almost 150 soldiers in Afghanistan. In the same period, B.C. has lost 1,506 workers killed on the job."

Tarsands Jobsite with mixed union and non union labour. What fun!

2010-06-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

interpret the full article at what i see weblog:

"The electricians (union, IBEW 424) are doing great, capillary bunch of people, perfect safety record, excellent work environment, great condition and careful with good cleanup etc.

However LEDCOR is out to this place too (crane operation and pilings) and as a big non unanimity labour supplier, they shine like always. They have nearly killed a collection of people by toppling a crane. Not only did it be on the point down, it snapped and whipped back and forth, nearly destroying formulary of devotion trailers containing people.

We also have had a bad rash of franciscan friar incidents on site lately such as hand injuries, falls, a coupling small fires (!!!!) and other industrial related inattentiveness type of accidents.

As a eventuate Imperial Oil (the main owner) and ThyssenKrupp (the prime contractor) regard ordered us to stand down. The last 2 days we be delivered of sat in our lunch trailers basically thinking about what we’ve been doing like naughty kids.

Its a common procedure that has been shown to improve performer safety and end long chains of minor incidents that always serve to major injuries or deaths.

The carpenters can’t seem to preserve from falling and hurting themselves, the non union contractors cant assistance but blow stuff up and knock over cranes, and our electricians are basically going nuts sitting around."

Manitobans ignored in Hydro project: union

2010-06-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

CBC News - But the United Brotherhood of Carpenters said the consortium has been hiring most of its workers from Quebec and Newfoundland.

Vancouver Demo Fail - Hornby Demolition Gone Wrong

2010-06-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

YouTube - (Second Wall Crash)

here is the first wall crash

Nova Scotia Carpenters union to look into missing funds

2010-06-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

read the article at TheChronicleHerald.ca

CMAW BYLAWS

2010-05-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

Kamloops Convention - the last 7 pages from the CMAW Constitution and Bylaws Adopted April 24, 2007 Amended June 2, 2009

click "read more" to see all 7 scanned pages

BCFed (and CLC) letter of disaffiliation with UBCJA

2010-05-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

Letters: UBCJA quits CLC and Victoria 1598 turfed from BCFed - download the pdf

Kamloops convention photos

2010-04-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

new CMAW officers assemble

Pat administers the oath

say cheese

the torch is passed...

and Mike takes the mic

in honour of Secretaries Week: Joyce, Erin and Kim

Pat will keep an eye on our business for a while yet

CMAW 3rd Convention

2010-04-22T06:25:00.000-07:00

Kamloops BC, April 20 - 22, 2010

Jan Noster, CMAW, elected President
Mike Fenton, CEP 470, elected Secretary-Treasurer
Bob Eaton, Shipbuilders 506, elected 1st Vice President

Guest speakers: Dave Coles - CEP, Joe Mulhall - Canadian Union of Skilled Workers (CUSW), Jim Britton - CEP Western Region

April 21 banquet: announcement by Pat Haggarty that the last separation payment has been made to the UBCJA. President Emeritus Len Embree was in attendance. Original unedited film footage from July 7, 1999 at Local 513 "Lights Out McCarron" movie shown.

Retirements honoured: Don Pengilly, John Colburne, Tony Heisterkamp, Pat Haggarty and George Jalava.

CMAW to introduce scaffolding certification

2010-04-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

CMAW Spring 2010 Newsletter

Labour president trying to shame Olympic sponsor

2010-02-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

CTV British Columbia: "The BC Federation of Labour is trying to shame a major Olympics sponsor into paying its staff higher wages.

Federation President Jim Sinclair says McDonald's is paying new employees as little at $6.35 an hour under B.C.'s training wage, which is less than the province's eight dollar minimum wage.

Sinclair says McDonald's can find hundreds of millions of dollars to sponsor the Olympics but it pays less than the lowest minimum wage in Canada.

He's urging the company to honour the hard work of its employees by paying starting workers a minimum of 10 dollars an hour."

CMAW Loses Members on Vancouver Island

2010-02-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

CEP Union: From the UBCJ Local 1598 website

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
Local 1598, Victoria, British Columbia
Telephone: 250-383-8116

November 2009 Industrial Scaffold Services Ltd.

We are happy to report that the BC Regional Council of Carpenters was successful in our raid application for ISSL. ISSL was certified with Communication, Energy, Paperworkers Local 470. As a result of our organizing activities, CMAW also applied for certification to raid CEP 470 even though CMAW and CEP formed a joint bargaining council and CMAW is affiliated to the CEP. A majority of ISSL employees voted to change their representation to the BC Regional Council of Carpenters. We welcome the ISSL employees into our union.

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

2010-01-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-01-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

read article and take the poll at CBC.ca

Police say scaffold victims' harnesses weren't secured

2010-01-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-12-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-29T16:13:00.000-08:00

YouTube funnies from March 2009

Manitoba Hydro denies Quebec bias

2009-12-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

CEP Union weblog

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

2009-12-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-22T19:29:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-27T14:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

ubcja scaffolder sellout

click for a larger image

Some unions don't act like unions at all

2009-11-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

download the pdf

UBCJA substandard scaffold agreement

2009-10-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

download the pdf - what a crock!

CMAW Fall 2009 Newsletter now online

2009-10-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

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’

2009-09-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

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."

CMAW Spring/Summer newsletter 2009

2009-07-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

Click here to download the Spring/Summer '09 newsletter as a PDF.

Carpentry Workers Pension and Benefit plans Spring newsletter

2009-07-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

click to download the Pension and Benefits plan newsletter in PDF format

of special note on the last page are changes to the
Extended Health Care Online Centre
register by July 31 to win an iPod Shuffle

(a tip on registering, no spaces between your first and last name, a short password will be rejected, and the user id # is the full Green Shield card ID number, not just your Plan number)

one million visits to carpentersunionbc.com and one more McCarron cartoon

2009-06-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

It's been 10 years since I started carpentersunionbc.com and the visit counter is now over 999,000. By the start of July it will roll a million or go back to zero. To celebrate I have made the 100th poster satirizing Douglas J. McCarron, the CEO of the Carpenters Union. You can view it at the douglas j mccarron: the complete despot collection weblog where the other 99 cartoons now reside on the internet.

It's been 10 years since Doug McCarron ventured out of his comfort zone to have the lights turned off on him at Local 513 in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada when his restructuring initiative tried to take away the right to vote for contracts and officers. YouTube - Lights Out, McCarron It's been 10 years since the wildcat strike at the San Francisco airport and McCarron and Draper hung John Reimann of Local 713 out to dry by expelling him from the union. Since that time McCarron has not missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. He hobnobbed with George W. Bush on Labor Day in 2001 and 2002 when he flew to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Air Force One with Dubya. It's a been 7 years since he locked out the officers of Atlanta 225 and imposed trusteeship.

He tore down 101 Constitution Ave. in Washington DC and had condos built within spitting distance of the White House. He gambled your dues money on a new training center in Las Vegas and there are 2000 members sitting on the board there now. He lined his pockets with insider trading loot in the ULLICO scandal and had to give it back. He did his best to gut the AFL-CIO by withdrawing along with Hoffa's Teamsters and the Labourer's Union. He endorsed John Edwards (and Bush before him) for President.

He makes over a quarter of a million dollars a year plus tips over the last 10 years and is about as visible these days as Pauxutawney Phil at midnight. He only surfaces to be voted Construction Man of the year by the Association of General Contractors. He addressed them again on May 28th of 2009. Busy guy, but he hasn't done much for you, the rank and file carpenters.

UBCJA carpenters can print this Where's McCarron poster and hang it by the phone as you continue to wait for the call for work. Enjoy your summer off.

CMAW carpenters can take a bit of pride in the fact that McCarron lost face, bigtime, right here in BC.

You earned your autonomy.

1995 Elections results

2009-06-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

unofficial results of the 1995 election/June 16th

President, Bill Duck 193
Randy Smith 117

Vice President Randy Freeman 124
Eugenio Zanotto 190

1995 Elections

2009-06-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

I would like to congratulate the Bill Duck and Eugenio Zanotto slate for taking all positions in the CMAW 1995 election except for the position of Recording Secretary which was won by Randy Freeman.

Thank you for all your support.

Randy Smith
CMAW Local 1995 President

Good luck to the new executive in solving the many issues within CMAW. Hopeful the issues of being the construction arm of CEP get dealt with in a manner that all CMAW 1995 members can be proud of.

Retail Wholesale Union cuts pension benefits

2009-06-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

read article: Vancouver Sun
One of the plan's problems is that there are about 660 retired members receiving benefits and only about 400 active members paying into the plan. This is due, in part, to contracting out of some work that union members previously performed.

Even before the recent market meltdown, the plan was in some difficulty. As of Dec. 31, 2007, the plan had a 'solvency deficiency' of three per cent, DeBeck noted in his letter to members.

That deficiency jumped to 24 per cent by Dec. 31, 2008, due mainly to the plan's heavy weighting in equities, a weighting so heavy that by April 30 this year -- even after the stock market had suffered a sharp reversal -- the plan had 57 per cent of its $215 million total assets in stocks.

Alberta oil jobs returning, but N.L. workers see leaner offerings

2009-06-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

read article: CBC
The president of the Newfoundland and Labrador United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners says that at this time last year workers from the province couldn't keep up with the demand from Alberta.

Gus Doyle said many of his union's 2,000 members found work in Alberta's oilfields, but lost work when the economy tanked last year. Now Doyle said some of them are finding jobs in Western Canada again.

'I would say we still got 200 or 300 members working there,' he said.

But Doyle said workers aren't piling up overtime hours like they used to anymore.

'Now it's 40-50 hours a week, as opposed to 70 or 80 hours. So they're going to be more cautious about what they put in for overtime,' he said.

Judge orders union to return $800,000

2009-06-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

read full article: The Province
A judge has ordered that a union representing electrical workers pay back more than $800,000 in dues unlawfully collected from more than 400 members.

In a class-action suit, former International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 213 union member Richard Frick objected to dues collected from members working on the Vancouver Island highway deal under the then NDP government's union-only hiring policy.

The money collected on those projects was put in a fund to subsidize bids for contractors on other jobs.

B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Kirsti Gill found that the IBEW could collect dues for that purpose under their standard agreement, but not under the union-only deal.

Almost half of top unions have underfunded pension plans

2009-06-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

read full article: washingtonexaminer.com
Almost half of the nation’s 20 largest unions have pension funds that federal law classifies as “endangered” or in “critical” condition due to being underfunded, an Examiner review of federal actuarial reports shows.

Pensions with less than 80 percent of the assets needed to cover present and projected liabilities are considered “endangered,” while those that fall below a 65 percent threshold are classified as “critical” under the Pension Protection Act of 2006.
Unions are required to file 5500 forms that record the financial health of their retirement plans, show that union pension funds have lost their financial footing over the past several years.

Eight of the largest unions have underfunded plans, according to the most recent 5500 reports, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Laborers International Union of Northern America, the International Association of Machinists, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the International Union of Operating Engineers, and the National Plumbers Union.

The average union pension has resources to cover only 62 percent of what is owed to participants, according to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC). Less than one in every 160 workers is covered by a union pension with required assets.

CMAW Construction

2009-06-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

read full text: http://cepunion.blogspot.com
"I can (see) how one issue might bother CMAW Local 1995. CEP representative Mike Fenton is list on the CEP Western Region site a the Recording Secretary for CMAW. Who interests does Mike represent? I would assume the one that is paying him which would be CEP. I could see why CEP would like to have a representative on the board of CMAW. After all this is the construction arm of CEP ( well that is the way CEP likes to say it )

“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 Coles

CMAW views the relationship slightly differently in the CMAW Owners Manual it says ' as an independent Canadian union CMAW is organizing workers in construction in other fields...'"

CEP Union: Forestry Not The Only Protest

2009-06-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

read full article (and 1995 press release) via cepunion.blogspot.com

It is interesting that CMAW and CMAW Local 1928 went to get an order to stop protesting in front of their offices. Especially when CEP members across the country have occupied a number of member of parliaments constituency offices in trying to raise awareness about the forestry issues across Canada.

'An Order that the CMAW Bargaining Council Local 1995, its officers, members employees, agents and any other persons authorized by Local 1995 and Randy Smith and Mitch Nowak shall refrain from picketing at or near 2806 Kingsway, in the City of Vancouver BC which means refraining from attending at or near the entrances, exits, or premises of the building for the purpose of persuading or attempting to persuade any one not to enter that place of business or building, and includes any similar act at such place that has an equivalent purpose.'

This issue seems to have been an on going issue since the fall of 2008 when CMAW Local 1995 member(s) voted to leave CEP. Since that time CMAW has continued to (remit) dues on behalf of CMAW local 1995 members to CEP.

1999 Wildcat Strike - 10 Years After - part3

2009-05-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

Facts For Working People: full article: "Local 713 was probably the most militant local. Members of 713 sent wildcatters to all the other bay area locals to push for a vote against the contract and resolutions for the return of our right to vote on the contract. In June Local 713 voted 85 to 6 for a One Member One Vote resolution and at a following meeting, in a standing vote, passed a motion against the contract of 182 to 5. I can still see the faces of the 5 business agents up against the wall as their votes were counted."

UFO Drops Out Of Large Craft Over The Palo Verdi Nuclear Power Plant

2009-05-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

HBCC UFO Research, Box 1091 Houston, British Columbia, Canada
"I was one of the Electricians on the tower with 15-20 people from the Carpenters Union."

Coastal mayors prepare for showdown with Catalyst Paper over tax bills

2009-05-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

Company says the burden is unacceptable to industry in these tough times
read article: VANCOUVER SUN