June 4 , 2009

Court orders union to repay $800,000 in unlawfully collected dues

(Vancouver – June 4, 2009) In a ruling last Thursday, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ordered the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213 to repay more than $800,000 that it had collected unlawfully from its members.

In a class action case led by IBEW member Richard Frick, Madam Justice Gill ordered the union local to repay approximately 430 unionized electricians the extra dues it had collected to subsidize labour costs when unionized companies bid against open shop contractors. Frick, a certified electrical journeyman and IBEW member since 1988, brought the action in 2003.

“It was an important principle for me and I was subject to a lot of character assassination from my union’s leadership, but I’m glad the court has ordered them to stick to our constitution and repay the unauthorized dues,” says Frick. Frick’s portion of the judgement is less than $1,600.

Since 1992, the IBEW has collected five per cent of members’ wages above their regular monthly union dues for their “Electrical Industry Advancement Fund.” The union uses the fund to subsidize their electrical contractors, allowing those contractors to submit artificially reduced tenders on private and public projects when competing with open shop electrical contractors.

The court ruled that the IBEW was not allowed to take money from members working on certain projects earlier this decade, such as the Skytrain and Columbia Hydro construction projects, and ordered the money repaid.

This judgement calls into question the whole purpose of this fund,” said Philip Hochstein, President of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) of BC. “It is ridiculous to have union members subsidize the bids of union contractors. I would hope now that the membership will finally get rid of this fund.”

About ICBA (www.icba.ca)
ICBA services and represents B.C.’s construction sector. ICBA is pro-employee and pro-workers’ rights, and continues to support actions that protect the democratic rights of all workers.

- 30 -

Media contact: