IBEW 1003 KOOTENAYS

424- commonwealth construction - suncor - 1 month plus -5 journeymen- start date is july21- 10hr. 10/4 day shift . July 21st start - drug and alcohol test necessary-call the hall to get information .

2085- INCO at Thompson Manitoba- 1 month plus- 4 journeymen- start July 14th- 6x10 shift 30 day rotation- $450 each way initial/terminal travel- $150.00/day LOA- Must apply for Manitoba License.
contact the hall for details.

july newsletter
an interesting article from The Construction User -a publication of The Association of Union Constructors

BOLD ACTION TO DOUBLE
MARKETSHARE AND UNION MEMBERSHIP

OUR INDUSTRY CAN double both marketshare and union membership
in 10 years. I firmly believe this and also have a strategy
for you to consider that supports the objective.
First, let us look at what we are doing now: training; organizing;
client service; codes of conduct; restructuring; apprenticeship;
marketing; politics and PLAs; and workforce development. All
these are essential components of a viable business model, but
none of them are direct engines of growth. They are cylinders
only.
The key to growing marketshare and membership is to grow
union contractor capacity.
The union construction industry is self-restricted in its current
ability to grow due to limited capacity, with capacity being
defined as “How much total work can all union contractors and
workers perform at maximum output?” I propose that the primary
obstacle to our growth and expansion is the lack of qualified
field management. If contractors cannot find foremen and superintendents
to build crews around, there is nothing else that can
assist them in increasing the size of their firms.
Union contractor capacity is directly constrained by the
amount of work they can profitably manage. Thus, in many
instances a contractor comfort zone exists at current volumes
and especially in their current markets. Conversely, if there are
increases in qualified field management, contractors will build
crews around these individuals. Also, contractor risk is directly
tied to the capability of their field foremen and superintendents.
By increasing their qualifications and ability, we reduce contractor
risk in their profit-versus-growth calculation.

We cannot build marketshare on apprentices. They are a critical
investment for the future, but they do not increase contractor
capacity except at a basic level. Organizing importantly increases
capacity by adding new union contractors and workers; but if
more workers are added without foremen to lead them, they are
destined for a lot of bench time. Our other tools do not relate to
capacity. Contractors need to have real building blocks for additional
capacity and they will not expand further into current or
new markets without them.
IMPACT OF INCREASED FIELD LEADERSHIP
To examine the impact of qualified foremen and field leadership,
let’s review the following numbers.
In 2008, for example, let us use 1.5 million union construction
workers in the United States and Canada as our benchmark.
Now, how many workers are usually on a crew under one foreman?
Obviously, this depends on the craft. But again, for example,
let us say six guys per crew.
With this example, that would mean that there are around
250,000 foremen leading crews of six to seven guys on any given
day in North America.
If you agree that contractors can only perform as much work
as they can profitably manage, that means that adding management
capacity equals growth in crews. If 250,000 foremen equals
1.5 million union craftsmen, then one net new qualified foreman
equals six to seven craft workers. If you question this model you
might want to look at our competition whose ownership of 85
percent of the market is based on this principle (one good guy
and six warm bodies).
Now, how to really grow union construction capacity? Provide
every union contractor in the United States and Canada with one
new qualified foreman every year for 10 years. That does not seem
like such a large number. Only one guy per company per year? Well
let’s run these numbers and see what kind of impact it has.
Take all the building and construction unions in the United
States and aggregate all their signatory contractors. I wonder
how many there are? Well, if the average size company out there
employs 20 union guys, that would mean there are roughly 75,000
union contractors. If you don’t like those numbers, try 40 (a very
high estimate) as the average number of employees, and you still
get 37,500 union contractors. Let’s add just one foreman a year
per company for a contractor to build a crew around and see what
happens.
If 37,500 union contractors add one net new foreman per year
multiplied by 6 field craft persons, the result is 225,000 new possible
capacity and union members per year.
If 75,000 contractors add one net foreman per year multiplied
by 6 field craft persons, the result is 450,000 new possible capacity
and union members per year.
Now multiply these numbers times 10 years.
I know that the numbers above are rough and are not statistically
perfect. So I invite you to cut them in half again. You will
still come up with a very large increase in contractor capacity and
double existing membership in 10 years. And where will the workers
come from you ask, in this era of hand-wringing on workforce
shortages? Right from our competition; decreasing their capacity,
volume and market coverage.
Labor and management have been far too concerned with the
bottom of the construction field workforce pyramid. Easily $500
million to $1 billion a year is spent collectively by all the unions
and employers on apprenticeship and training. How much of that
is directed at foremen and supervisory personnel? How many net
new foremen are coming on-line annually (and what will that look
like as the Boomers retire)? Ten years and $5-$10 billion in training
funds from now where will we be? Where else do we grow our
capacity, if not here and now?
Contractors can and will grow their businesses if given the
right tools. There is no tool more powerful and compelling to build
around than highly qualified foremen. They make the money.
They drive the jobs. They mentor the young. They are the key.
And simply matching that foreman with one key man is how each
crew begins and each company expands.
Want to double up our marketshare and membership?
It’s going to require different strategies,
allocation of resources and a new leadership
development mindset. I think it can be done if
we build a new leadership culture that drives
capacity. Ten years. Let’s start now. ■

Mark Breslin is a strategist and author specializing in labor-management
challenges. He is the author of Survival of the Fittest, Organize or
Die and, being released this year, Alpha Dog and Million Dollar Blue
Collar: Managing Your Earnings for Life and Work Success, a book
on apprentice instruction. He addresses more than 50,000 labor and
business leaders each year in North America. More on his work and
profile are available at www.breslin.biz.

We have been doing training for foremen ,and I hope this gives some insight as to the strategy behind that training. Often we take for granted that slow periods are a reality in the business that we can do little about. We have the tools neccessary to increase our market share and enable our contractors to take on a larger number of projects, and the biggest one of those is training. i will be scheduling more foreman classes in the fall. please pre-register at the hall.

June newsletter
This month we held a social evening and awards ceremony for several of our long serving members. Notable among those was Carl Catton a 60 year member who was a local member when this local union was established. We were also pleased to deliver 55 year service pins to Lorne Trickett and Terry Sanford, both of whom served this local loyally. Many others of our retired members were able to attend as well as a good number of our active members, right down to a couple of our newest.
The evening was full of stories of past jobs, outrageous adventures and good friends and brothers, some of whom are no longer with us. We commenced the evening with a moment of silence commemorating members who have passed, then recognized some of the family ties within our local that have made us strong over these last 60+1 years. An interesting moment was our recognition for the members who had over the years participated in various offices within the local. There were few from those who attended who had not sacrificed, at the very least, a considerable amount of their time and energy in keeping this local alive and well over the past sixty years. There is a lot more to having a local union than maintaining a hiring hall and we owe a lot of gratitude to these members.
These events are an important part of bringing our membership together, introducing new members to the organization and building the strength that we all rely on to make our work sites safe. I would like to encourage anyone who hasn’t attended one of these events to come out and participate.

A Safety Moment
Occasionally choices are made on the job, for various reasons; to keep a job moving,or to finish a task quickly, that may seem necessary at the time. Some of those choices are made without enough thought to potential safety risks. Some of our newer members,coming from non-union workplaces may be unaware of their rights ,and responsibilities concerning workplace safety. They will look to more experienced members for guidance, and it is every member’s responsibility to provide a safe work environment for all.
There are many levels of regulation concerning occupational health and safety from the Canadian Labour Code , Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Regulation and WorksafeBC regulations to Company based safety rules and work place regulations. This may seem like too much to stay aware of, and too hard to stay informed. This is why it is important to attend , and to pay attention to safety orientation meetings.
Your first responsibility is to yourself, and if you have a question regarding a work procedure, a piece of equipment or a material or process you have a right and a responsibility to ask. No one expects you to injure yourself or do something dangerous to earn a living.

Right To Refuse Unsafe Work
Refusal of Unsafe Work – OH&S Regulation - WorksafeBC
3.12 Procedure for refusal
(1) A person must not carry out or cause to be carried out any work process or operate or cause to be operated any tool, appliance or equipment if that person has reasonable cause to believe that to do so would create an undue hazard to the health and safety of any person.
(2) A worker who refuses to carry out a work process or operate a tool, appliance or equipment pursuant to subsection (1) must immediately report the circumstances of the unsafe condition to his or her supervisor or employer.
(3) A supervisor or employer receiving a report made under subsection (2) must immediately investigate the matter and
(a) ensure that any unsafe condition is remedied without delay, or
(b) if in his or her opinion the report is not valid, must so inform the person who made the report.
(4) If the procedure under subsection (3) does not resolve the matter and the worker continues to refuse to carry out the work process or operate the tool, appliance or equipment, the supervisor or employer must investigate the matter in the presence of the worker who made the report and in the presence of
(a) a worker member of the joint committee,
(b) a worker who is selected by a trade union representing the worker, or
(c) if there is no joint committee or the worker is not represented by a trade union, any other reasonably available worker selected by the worker.
(5) If the investigation under subsection (4) does not resolve the matter and the worker continues to refuse to carry out the work process or operate the tool, appliance or equipment, both the supervisor, or the employer, and the worker must immediately notify an officer, who must investigate the matter without undue delay and issue whatever orders are deemed necessary.
3.13 No discriminatory action
(1) A worker must not be subject to discriminatory action as defined in section 150 of Part 3 of the Workers Compensation Act because the worker has acted in compliance with section 3.12 or with an order made by an officer.
(2) Temporary assignment to alternative work at no loss in pay to the worker until the matter in section 3.12 is resolved is deemed not to constitute discriminatory action.
Note: The prohibition against discriminatory action is established in the Workers Compensation Act Part 3, Division 6, sections 150 through 153.
These regulations exist for your protection, but they also work to protect other workers, and the employer from the cost of unsafe work. Some people believe that safety is a matter of “no harm, no foul”. In other words, if no one gets hurt, and no one gets caught ,and the job gets done, why all the fuss?
Some of the careless actions that you may take could have serious,life-altering consequences for yourself, your family or another worker. Think first, ask if you’re not sure and make the right choice. No one wants to be responsible for injuring someone else, or through inaction, allowing someone else to hurt themselves.
There are also serious consequences for our contractors, and for our work opportunities when we fail to maintain the “SAFETY FIRST” commitment our Union believes in and practices.

Safety Training
Do you have questions on basic ladder safety, fall protection or WHMIS? WE HAVE TRAINING INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB-SITE. Accessing the training site is as simple as checking the IBEW L.U.1003 website, click training,go to the training center ,enter” IBEW2” at password and enter your membership number from your dues receipt. There are a variety of programs available, pre-paid.

We had excellent turn-out to our recent training sessions ,both in Electrical Supervision and Structured Cabling Basics. Congratulations to the members who made the commitment to upgrade their skills. We will be delivering further courses, and I encourage all of our members to check for upcoming sessions on our site.

HAVE A SAFE AND REWARDING SUMMER.

Ray Keen,Business manager

May newsletter
The weather is heating up, and so is the work picture, as we are dispatching to several job-sites, ranging from J.L.Crowe high school to potash mines in Saskatchewan. We have committed a significant amount of market recovery funds toward a wide range of projects in our area, and our contractors have been successful in being awarded quite a few. The challenge now is in the memberships’ hands as we man these jobs and make them part of our proud legacy of union–built projects.

Projects Underway
Crawford Bay School- Crawford Bay
J.L.Crowe High School- Trail
Grandview Heights subdivision- Castlegar
Bulmer Sub-division- Argenta
Castlegar Toyota- Castlegar
#4 Acid Tank- Tech-cominco
Forest Crowne subdivision, - Kimberley
We once again participated in the Habitat for Humanity project in Nelson, with the participation of one of our contractors, Martech Electrical Installations. Congratulations to all the members who gave their time and skills. I know that your help was greatly appreciated and made a tremendous difference for a family.
This has also been a busy period for organizing, as we have had several new members join us, as well as a new contractor, SIGIT Automation, Inc. Based out of Oasis, this company is an instrumentation, and process control specialist, and should add opportunity for our members to add to their experience base.
I have recently made a trip into the north end of our East Kootenay area, around Invermere and Fairmont, and there is an incredible boom in multi-unit condominium and high-end residential construction. We currently have no presence in that area, but I am rehiring Macleod Daniels as organizer to specifically target that market. He will be starting June 1st. We will also be starting an advertising campaign utilizing Transit buses this summer for the next year both in the Cranbrook-Kimberley area as well as Castlegar-Trail-Nelson. Look for our ads.

Fred Makortoff
Sadly, we have lost another member this month to illness. Brother Fred Makortoff passed away following a year which saw him battle gall bladder and heart ailments. Fred leaves his wife Janet and children at the young age of 47. He will be missed by the brothers and sisters he helped as a shop steward and worked with on many projects. He was always a cheerful and hard-working participant in union activities, and served as recording secretary since December of 2000. Always a first-class wireman and union member, and a strong part of his community, he will be remembered.

We have had some members stricken with illness as well as having surgery, and I know that they would all appreciate a visit, or a call. If nothing else, you can usually get some pretty good conversation out of what is the Business Manager doing, and if something comes up that you want to share, come to a meeting.

We still have lots of room in the residential wiring update with Harold Rezansoff, the electrical inspector, the date of which has been changed to Saturday, June 14th, 9:00 A.M. at the union hall.

We are proud to have served electricians throughout the Kootenays since 1947

Please note the change to location for the June meeting.this meeting will be held at the Best Western at 7:00. the meeting will be followed by a social with some of our retirees.

Day of mourning events
This year we have, fortunately, no fatalities directly related to work-site accidents to report. All of our members and contractors have demonstrated a strong commitment to safe work procedures and practices, yet, circumstances beyond our knowledge and control have resulted in several members being exposed to asbestos contamination.
Asbestos is a contaminant that does not appear as an injury until 10 to 20 years after exposure. There is no cure, and no method of removal from the body once inhaled. The only effective method of preventing development of asbestos-related illness is avoiding contamination. When you are working in potentially contaminated area awareness is the first line of defense, and you will only get the knowledge you need by asking the question- “is there asbestos in that area”.
Don’t take your health and safety for granted. No one should be dying to make a living.

DAY OF MOURNING EVENTS – WEST KOOTENAYS

West Kootenay Labour Council 12:00 noon Workers’ Memorial at Lakeside Park
Nelson, BC
3:15 pm Trail Labour Centre/Steelworkers Hall
Trail, BC Gather at Trail Labour Centre with a Memorial March down Bay Avenue and ceremonies at the Workers Memorial
6:15 pm Workers’ Memorial
Castlegar, BC Meet at parking lot of 4th Street Videos and march to Kinsman Park for ceremonies

EAST KOOTENAYS
12:05 PM – Baker Park, 100 block, 14th Ave. S., Cranbrook

Training sessions
ELECTRICAL PROJECT SUPERVISION – Level 2- May 22, 23, 24 – 9:00 am – at the Union Hall. - Prerequisite is completion of Level 1. Please call the hall to register
If you are interested in obtaining level 1, please call the hall and I’ll begin a list.

Residential wiring update- Harold Rezansoff, Electrical Inspector- May 17th -9:00 am- Union Hall. Bring your Code Book, or buy one at the hall.

Basic Structured Cabling - Ken Vallee, Houle Electric – June 7, 9:00 A.M. – Union Hall
Cabling practice and procedure for voice, data and video installations.
Please call the Hall to register for these courses. We need at least 10 per class, and if you sign up, make sure you attend, as there is a cost for these courses.

I am currently arranging to have courses in renewable energy technologies and a PLC course. Please call to get your name on the list for these upcoming courses.

The strength of our local has always been built on our support for each brother and sister, in maintaining a safe, respectful and productive work place. We are the best and we must expect that standard from ourselves, each other and from our employers.
Other jurisdictions have adopted a “Code of Excellence”, which sets out those high standards, and I expect that our local will as well. It will, I believe, simply put in writing the same work ethic each of us brings to his work every day.

Code of Excellence
Come to work on time, fit for duty and ready to work.
Obey recognized customer and employer work rules.
Demonstrate zero tolerance for alcohol and substance abuse.
Exercise proper safety, health and sanitation practices.
Own up to "8 for 8" and be on the job unless otherwise allowed or authorized to leave.
Follow safe, reasonable and legitimate management directives.
Encourage respect for customer's rights and property, as well as for others on the job.
eXercise the skills and abilities of the trade.
Care for tools and equipment provided by the employer.
Eliminate waste and other forms of property destruction, including graffiti.
Limit lunch and break times to allocated periods; adhere to established start and quit times.
Leave inappropriate behavior to those of lesser knowledge.
Employ the proper tool for the job and maintain personal tool responsibilities.
Not solicit funds or sell merchandise without the Business Manager's approval.
Curtail idle time or pursuit of personal business during work hours, including cell phone use.
Expel job disruptions and refuse to engage in slowdowns or activities designed to extend the job or create overtime or any other conduct that would cast the IBEW in bad light.

Lower Bonnington Dam The Objectives of the IBEW are:

• To organize all workers in the entire electrical industry in Canada and the United States (including all those in public and electrical manufacturing) into local unions
• To promote reasonable methods of work
• To cultivate feelings of friendship among those of our industry
• To settle all disputes between employer and employees without the need for arbitration (if possible)
• To assist each other in sickness or distress
• To secure employment
• To reduce the hours of daily labor
• To secure adequate pay for our work
• To seek a higher and higher standard of living
• To seek security for the individual
• And by legal and proper means to elevate the moral, intellectual and social conditions of our members, their families and dependents, in the interest of higher standard of citizenship.