Author: Jordan Bateman

Support the 2,252 Site C Construction Workers – go to Get2Yes.icba.ca and send an email to B.C.’s three party leaders! (See here for photos from today’s pink slip event in Vancouver.)

VANCOUVER, B.C.: With 2,252 jobs hanging in the balance, the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) launched a public campaign today to push the NDP-Green alliance to #Get2Yes on the Site C dam.

ICBA launched its campaign with a media event at BC Hydro’s Vancouver headquarters, using 2,252 Site C pink slips to illustrate how many people went to work this morning on the Peace River dam site. It is encouraging members of the public who support clean energy jobs to visit Get2Yes.icba.ca and send an email to B.C.’s three party leaders.

“In their power-sharing deal, John Horgan and Andrew Weaver agreed that Site C should be reviewed based on ‘current’ supply and demand metrics,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA President. “This stacks the deck against a project that isn’t being built for today, but to help meet B.C.’s electricity needs for the next century, and to offer a clean energy alternative to fossil fuels.”

“B.C. can’t simply throw away the $4 billion already spent on Site C,” said Jordan Bateman, ICBA Communications Director. “Taxpayers have made a significant investment in that clean energy project, one ratified by the people who live closest to it – the BC Liberal candidate won the Site C riding by 10 to 1 over the NDP.”

Site C spent more than a decade going through environmental assessments and regulatory reviews, and was signed off by both the federal and provincial governments – all of which was upheld by a unanimous decision of the B.C. Court of Appeal last fall.

In the coming weeks, ICBA will hold more #Get2Yes on Site C campaign events in Victoria and Fort St. John.

“The 2,252 men and women working on Site C today deserve our support as their jobs hang in the balance,” said Gardner. “When Horgan and Weaver talk about ‘yesterday’s economy,’ they demean the work of hundreds of thousands of British Columbians who put on a tool belt every morning and go about building our province.”

 

ICBA Vice-President Lindsay Langill and VP-Regional Development Mike Davis were in Prince George yesterday to sign a partnership agreement with the College of New Caledonia. As reported by 250News:

Specifically, both parties will partner on recruitment, retention and advancement opportunities for graduates in the construction industry.

“I think it’s an opportunity. It’s that seamless transition from our classrooms into the industry,” said Frank Rossi, CNC Dean of Trades and Technologies. “And I think there’s a gap with industry as far as the need for students and our students are always looking for opportunities. So, if there’s an opportunity for them to transition into an industry, that’s an advantage.”

It’s the first time the ICBA has signed an MOU with a post-secondary institution. Will it be the first of many?

“We want to be strategic in who we partner with and certainly the North has golden opportunities around many new projects that hopefully come to fruition,” said Dr. Lindsay Langill, ICBA VP. “And so, working with a college like CNC, which is the anchor of training in the North, is very important for us to make sure we’re a partner in assisting and helping them achieve their goals.”

CKPG News was also at the signing and did this story:

ICBA believes stability is key to growing the economy. Minority governments erode that, and proportional representation would bring more elections, more minorities, and more backroom dealmaking into B.C. politics.

ICBA President Chris Gardner opposes all that. From CKNW Radio:

Instead, he says he thinks the change is wrong on its merits and will lead to more elections and more political uncertainty.

“We will definitely be campaigning against proportional representation. It’s just wrong.”

Proportional representation refers to one of several models of vote counting, in which the percentage of the vote a party receives more closely resembles the percentage of seats they get in the legislature.

Gardner says the prospect of elections and uncertainty are no good for creating a climate for investment and jobs in the province.

“I actually don’t think there is anything wrong with a majority government, whatever the stripe of the party is. At least they can govern for four years. We know where they are going and at the end of that four years we can vote for that government or a different party.”

Our Site C pink slip event got a lot of media coverage yesterday – but don’t forget to send your email supporting the Site C’s 2,252 workers by clicking HERE.

Here’s what Breakfast Television reported:

Or, if you’d like to see what we said translated into Chinese, click here for a Fairchild TV clip.

Some other media hits:

• Roundhouse Radio Vancouver
• 250News Prince George
• Business in Vancouver
• News 1130 Vancouver
• Energetic City Fort St. John

Did you know ICBA is the single-biggest sponsor of construction apprentices in B.C., with nearly 1,300?

ICBA prides itself on our incredible customer service, and nowhere is that more evident than in our apprenticeship team.

ICBA is proud to be standing up for the 2,252 men and women working at the Site C dam today – here’s a video recapping our pink slip campaign:

Time for another ICBA Cast! Chris and Jordan talk about Speakers, the Throne Speech, the possibility of a summer election, a crazy Jordan poli sci theory, our #comeon moments, and Theresa May. Plus Chris’s song o’ the week!

Download it in iTunes (search for ICBA Cast) or listen below:

The following letter was sent by ICBA President Chris Gardner to the B.C. Utilities Commission today.

David Morton
Chair and CEO
British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC)
900 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2S9

June 16, 2017

Re:  BCUC Review of the Site C Hydro Electric Dam Project

Dear Mr. Morton:

We write on behalf of the more than 2,000 member companies and clients of ICBA in the construction and responsible resource development industries, including the thousands of men and women who woke up today and went to work to build the Site C Dam.

In the June 16, 2017, edition of The Globe and Mail, you stated that the BCUC is “ready and able” to review the Site C Dam project if such a request were to be made by a new NDP-Green provincial government.

We strongly object to such a review given that construction work is approximately twenty percent complete, that the Site C project was reviewed and approved by the provincial government, reviewed and approved by the federal government, and that the review process has been sustained in nine decisions by the BC Supreme Court, the BC Court of Appeal and the Federal Court of Canada.

Moreover, the review’s terms of reference, laid out in the NDP-Green coalition agreement, states that Site C will be referred to the BCUC “on the question of economic viability and consequences to British Columbians in the context of the current [emphasis added] supply and demand conditions prevailing in the BC market.” As you are well aware, the decision to invest $9 billion to build Site C was based on the future energy needs and climate change goals of our province.

In addition, the short timeline – six weeks – is another sign of how politicians are attempting to unduly influence this process to deliver the outcome they desire, the cancellation of Site C. Such a rushed timeframe will likely render an incomplete report that will be in stark contrast to the usually comprehensive work of the BCUC. ICBA is concerned that the BCUC risks being placed at the centre of a political debate that is best left to elected officials and the public at large.

However, given the likelihood of this review proceeding, the ICBA requests standing to present to the Commission on behalf of the more than 2,200 men and women working on Site C and British Columbians who strongly support this long-term investment in our clean energy future.

Construction makes up 9 per cent of the provincial economy and employs more than 200,000 British Columbians – their voice deserves to be heard on this important construction and economic issue. We look forward to your response.

Chris Gardner
President
Independent Contractors and Businesses Association

BURNABY, B.C. – The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) applauded Green Party leader Andrew Weaver following his announcement today that he would not support the NDP’s plan to take the secret ballot away from union certification votes.

For 16 years, the NDP and its union donors have been trying to strip workers of the democratic right to cast a secret ballot, instead pushing for a system where employees have to publicly sign a card approving a union.

“Stripping workers of the secret ballot would weaken the rights of workers to the benefit of big unions – we’ve enjoyed relative labour peace in BC in recent years, so it’s puzzling that the NDP want to turn back the clock on labour relations in this province,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA President. “The current system, using a secret ballot, ensures that neither employers nor unions are able to coerce or intimidate workers. Certification votes are fair and they are supervised by a neutral party, the Labour Relations Board.”

In an interview with The Vancouver Sun, Weaver explained that his preference for a secret ballot was born out of his experience with the University of Victoria faculty association. His comment that, “in any certification drive there are those people who feel pressured to sign a certification drive but they want the opportunity to have a secret ballot,” lines up with the experiences of workers across B.C.

“There is nothing more fundamental to our democracy than the secret ballot. Whether it’s when we elect governments or members to local community associations, we rely on the secret ballot to provide assurance that the process is free from manipulation,” said Gardner. “Working men and women deserve no less when they are deciding whether or not to join a union.”

By Chris Gardner, President, Independent Contractors and Businesses Association

Andrew Weaver’s story is similar to a lot of workers in B.C.

“I know from first-hand experience that in any union certification drive there are those people who feel pressured to sign [a union card],” the B.C. Green Party leader told The Vancouver Sun this week, “but they want the opportunity to have a secret ballot.”

Of course they do. After all, there is nothing more fundamental to our democracy than the secret ballot.

Whether it’s when we elect governments or strata councils or association boards, we rely on the secret ballot to provide assurance that the voting process is free from manipulation by one side or the other. Working men and women deserve no less when they are deciding whether or not to join a union.

Yet the soon-to-come NDP government is committed to stripping workers of that democratic right.

In recent weeks, John Horgan has been doing a victory lap of sorts, meeting with the big unions who funded his campaign and outlining his plans for a frightening new era in labour relations after he takes power.

While the news may be good for the NDP and its union donors, it’s bad for everyone working in small businesses across our province. All British Columbians should be concerned about the impending attack on the democratic rights of workers and fairness in the workplace. It is an issue that will impact small businesses in every sector of our economy – construction, hotels, restaurants, and other retail operations.

The first salvo is Horgan’s commitment to remove the right of workers to use a secret ballot when deciding to join, switch or leave a union. This has been the law in B.C. since 2001 – it ensures that neither employers nor unions are able to coerce or intimidate workers. Certification votes are fair and supervised by a neutral party, the Labour Relations Board.

Horgan’s preferred alternative is to have union organizers walking around workplaces, showing up on doorsteps, or following workers to their kid’s events, or to the store, or wherever else they can corner them – whatever it takes to get them to sign a union card. This process is rife with abuse and more than a few arms are twisted. It’s backroom politics at its worst and it goes against every principle of openness and transparency that should define workplaces across the province.

The decision to support a unionization drive is a deeply personal one and not one the vast majority of workers want to make while a union organizer is standing over his or her desk, when surrounded by colleagues watching to see if they sign a union card, or when a union card is put in front of you when you are at home.

It was encouraging to see Weaver break ranks from his NDP partners to state unequivocally that he would “never support legislation that will eliminate the secret ballot.” But it’s early days, and Weaver has changed his mind on issues important to B.C. workers before – Site C comes to mind.

However, we are encouraged by Weaver’s principled stand on the secret ballot and hope he will stick to his principles on this one. In an era where the demand for skilled labour is at an all-time high, there is no discernable difference between the wages and benefits paid by union and non-union employers in the construction sector for example. When it comes to safety in the workplace, the same is true.

It is difficult to see Horgan’s view as anything other than payback to big unions for their support of the NDP during the most recent provincial election.

Stripping workers of the secret ballot will only serve to weaken the rights of workers at the expense of big unions and harkens back to an era of smoke-filled back rooms where union bosses dictated the fate of workers trying to do nothing more than make an honest living and support their families.

We have enjoyed relative labour peace in the construction sector in B.C. and it’s disturbing to see the NDP so committed to turning back the clock on labour relations in our province.