Friday May 23rd 2014
Western International Vice President Vince Engel and I spent Tuesday, May 20th meeting with individuals in Calgary to see if we could convince them to let us do an Energy audit on an existing high-rise, this would entail our expert going in and detailing all the missing insulation, breached firestopping and insulation that was no longer efficient. We would then present them with a detailed report on the cost to replace the insulation as well as how much energy in gigajoules was being wasted and the amount of Co2 gases in tons that are being released into the atmosphere as well as the actual savings they would have, as well the time frame for them to recoup their original investment. Overall, the meetings went very well with good opportunities to promote mechanical insulation and build relationships with government and industry leaders. The meeting Craig Watt, Executive Director, Premier’s Southern Alberta Office was very positive, and we were impressed with Mr. Watt’s knowledge about energy, and he had good questions after the power point/deck presentation. Watt will facilitate additional meetings with the Alberta Energy and Infrastructure ministers, and the current manpower shortages in Alberta provided a good opportunity for us to describe the importance of apprenticeship training to provide the necessary experience for apprentices to become journeymen. Watt also suggested that we consider having a full-time marketing/development professional expand our communications efforts.The meeting with Param Sekhon, Director, South Region Infrastructure, and Infrastructure Alberta was also positive, as Mr. Sekhon is responsible for the new builds in Alberta. He was also impressed with our presentation and was also encouraging the use of energy audits to promote our energy efficiency work. The meeting with Lloyd Suchet, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs, BOMA (Building Owners Managers Association of Calgary) went well, as we was very well prepared for the meeting, and while he did not have any specific recommendations, he did state that he would share our interest in performing energy audits with his BOMA committee members. The last meeting with Tom Dixon, Business and Trade Development Sector, Calgary Economic Development was not positive as Mr. Dixon was distracted and not focused on our presentation.
Yesterday May 22nd the Business Managers for the various 22 unions met for our monthly Building Trades of Alberta Executive Board Meeting in Red Deer alot of members are frustrated by some of the schedules and agreements that the Building Trades approves, I will let you know that a motion to approve a schedule or agreement is needed and then a seconder followed by discussion on the pros and cons of approving such a schedule or agreement, after everyone has had their say it goes to a vote and the majority rules whether to approve or deny. In todays enviroment with us competing for work against CLAC, Merit and the open shops the Building Trades agrees in is better to get us onto sites previously closed to the unions and increase our market share and then show them the advantages of using our skilled workers. We met for the entire day and discussed numerous issues including RSAP and hopefully I will have some good news to report in the near future.
Monday May 12th, 2014
Here are the results of the applications for union membership!
Glenn Harder – 1st year permit, 384 hours, still employed, Accepted
Rodney K. Lewis – JM permit, previous member, 10,312 hours, Still employed, Accepted
Michel Viau – Transfer, JM Local 58, 290 hours, still employed, Accepted
Dennis S. Robert – 1st year permit, 1875 hours, previously accepted, Accepted
Sean Keable – Transfer, JM Local 95, 7150 hours, still employed, Rejected
Donald J. Epp – Transfer, JM Local 95, 2110 hours, no missed time, Accepted
James McFadyen – Transfer, JM Local 95, 1969 hours, still employed, Rejected
David Rondeau – Transfer, JM Local 95, 6978 hours, still employed, Accepted
Lawrence Wehyee – 3rd year permit, 5838 hours, still employed, Accepted
Kyla Hawco – 1st year permit, 349 hours, no missed time, Accepted
Jessica Kacklin – 1st year permit, 681 hours, still employed, Accepted
Pierre Maguet – 2nd year permit, 2,167 hours,, Accepted
Dylan Worsell – 1st year permit, 517 hours, still employed, Accepted
Kofi Boakye- Yiadom – 1st year permit, 618 hours, still employed, Accepted
Denis Robichaud – Transfer, JM Local 58, 5,852 hours, still employed, Accepted
Timothy Bailey – Journeyman C, 620 hours, Held over until June meeting
Grizzie Arku – 1st year permit, Held over till June meeting
Gordon Wolfe – 3rd year permit, 1,326 hours,still employed, tentatively accepted
Vicent Wishmwn – Journeyman, 2435 hours,still employed, tentatively accepted
Darrel Stock – Journeyman, previous member, 20,989 hours, previous member, tentatively accepted
Bradley Lewis – Transfer Local 95, 577 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Congratulations to all our new members, please contact the Union hall ASAP to make final arrangements.
Friday May 9th, 2014
Information update on my meetings in Quebec for the Canadian Building Trades Union held Monday May 5th to Wednesday May 8th, on the Monday General President Jim Grogan called and chaired our annual Health and Safety meeting with information on their work investigating Pyrogel and the agencies that are investigating the substances and will keep our local unions updated as they receive information. We also discussed the benefits of low dose CT scans for early detection of Mesotheliomia and lung cancers,all the unions are involved with the ongoing fight for answers and hopefully cures in the not to distant future. We also discussed the tissue bank updates with Dr. Andy Todd. Following this meeting we had our annual LMCT meeting to discuss what the lobbyist group that the International is funding (SUMMA) has planned to help us change provincial and Federal codes with our Mechanical insulation program through thicker insulation and better maintenance to help reduce the carbon footprint and reduce green house gases in Canada. They have already arranged meetings in Edmonton with Provincial energy corporations which Vince Engel and I attended and have set up more meetings in Calgary for the month of May that Vince and I will also be attending as well as various other strategies for the other provinces depending on what would best suit them.
The Canadian Building Trades Union conference followed the next couple of days with information on what the unions are battling with open shops and government legislation and what we are doing to combat this situation as well we listened to numerous speakers through out the day on politics and work and contractor updates a very informative three days.
Saturday, May 3rd, 2014
Here are the applicants for union membership at this Saturdays May 10th meeting they are tentative until voted on by the membership.
Glenn Harder – 1st year permit, 384 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Rodney K. Lewis – JM permit, previous member, 10,312 hours, Still employed, tentatively accepted
Michel Viau – Transfer, JM Local 58, 290 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Dennis S. Robert – 1st year permit, 1875 hours, previously accepted, tentatively accepted
Sean Keable – Transfer, JM Local 95, 7150 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Donald J. Epp – Transfer, JM Local 95, 2110 hours, no missed time, tentatively accepted
James McFadyen – Transfer, JM Local 95, 1969 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
David Rondeau – Transfer, JM Local 95, 6978 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Lawrence Wehyee – 3rd year permit, 5838 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Kyla Hawco – 1st year permit, 349 hours, no missed time, tentatively accepted
Jessica Kacklin – 1st year permit, 681 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Pierre Maguet – 2nd year permit, 2,167 hours, previously voted in missed deadline, tentatively accepted
Dylan Worsell – 1st year permit, 517 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Kofi Boakye- Yiadom – 1st year permit, 618 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Denis Robichaud – Transfer, JM Local 58, 5,852 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
Timothy Bailey – Journeyman C, 620 hours, tentatively rejected
Grizzie Arku – 1st year permit, Held over till June meeting no hours posted yet
Gordon Wolfe – 3rd year permit, 1,326 hours,still employed, tentatively accepted
Vicent Wishmwn – Journeyman, 2435 hours,still employed, tentatively accepted
Darrel Stock – Journeyman, previous member, 20,989 hours, previous member, tentatively accepted
Bradley Lewis – Transfer Local 95, 577 hours, still employed, tentatively accepted
* condition to meet
Monday, April 14,1014
Results of April 12th membership vote.
William Felix, 1st Year Permit, 399 hours no missed time, Accepted
Jerry Simon, JM Permit, 6306 hours no missed time, Accepted
Jeff Hass, 1st Year Permit, 1998 hours no missed time, Accepted
Colton Kalynchuk, 2nd Year Permit, currently working, Accepted
Abdurazak Faza, 1st Year Permit, 740 hours no missed time, Accepted
Dave J Edwards, JM Transfer, Local 95, 2993 hours, Accepted
Guy Leveille, JM Transfer, Local 58, 3643 hours no missed time, Accepted
Kyle Grandbois, 1st Year Permit, 1322 hours no missed time, Accepted
Matthew Morris, 1st Year Permit, 6022 hours no missed time, Accepted
Robert De Angelis, 1st Year Permit, 804 hours no missed time, Accepted
Robert Savoie, JM Transfer, Local 131, 8945 hours no missed time, Accepted
Tammy Busby, 1st Year Permit, 787 hours no missed time, Accepted
Blanca Lopez, Industrial Helper (previous member), 25,712 hours, Accepted
Olga Villagran, Industrial Helper, 19660 hours, Accepted
Ruihua Wang, 1st Year Permit, 806 hours no missed time, Accepted
Thomas Cote, JM (previous member), 7429 hours, Accepted
Dylan Percher, 1st Year Permit, 278 hours no missed time, Accepted
Glenn Turner, 1st Year Permit, 288 hours no missed time, Accepted
Thomas Arnold, 1st Year Permit, 454 hours no missed time, Accepted
Kyle Spender, 1st Year Permit, 454 hours, no missed time, Accepted
Fenot Tikue, 1st Year Permit (previous member), 3750 hours, Accepted
William Clough Jr., 1st year Permit, 2281 hours, Accepted
Jesse Detta, JM C, Accepted
Steven John Smith, JM, Accepted
Eugenio Castro De Almedia, 1st Year Permit,3695 Hrs.Organized, Accepted
Taylor Fink, 3rd Year Permit, Rejected
Thursday, April 3rd, 2014
A couple of weeks ago I attended an Occupational Disease Symposium put on by OH&S to hear Dr. Melenka from our Wellness of Workers Center (WOW) present his finding in regards to the first two years in the study of insulators that signed up to be monitored, It is attached to the WOW link and is a very interesting read so I would recommend that you click on the link and read for yourself. While I was at the Symposium listening to the other speakers a Professor from the University of Alberta, Bernadette Quemerais was presenting a trades study on Nanotechnology and the fact she was having a hard time finding carbon nanotubes,Knowing Pryrogel was comprised of these particles I approached her at lunch to ask if we could be of assistance in her research and gave her my card a week later she called me to say she would be interested, so I set up a meeting with Bernadette and a contractor working with Pyrogel to discuss what sort of monitoring and research she would be doing, Both the contractor and I came away with the impression it was a perfect fit. The contractor went about trying to get the site and clients permission for Bernadette to come on site with the workers and start her study. I very glad to say that the site and the client both gave their permission and I have contacted Bernadette to let her know, she emailed me back that she will contact the contractor and start next week. When I get the results of that study I will share it with you and based on scientific evidence we will know if the P.P.E. is sufficient for the task or if we need to be more diligent either way the more information we can shed on this product for our members the better.
Monday, March 31, 2014
This morning the Business Managers and I met a client at the Building Trades building to discuss them doing all of their upcoming work, maintenance and construction through the Building Trades. I know a lot of members do not like the schedules the Building trades have approved for maintenance with the 7 on and 7 off and the 14 on and 14 off but it is done to get our foot in the door of a lot of sites that would not allow Building trades personal. This has allowed the Building Trades to expand its market share and show clients that we are prepared to work with them and address any concerns they may have. This in turn has opened the door to construction work being directed towards the Building Trades. So the question would be is it better to take the firm stance and oppose the Building Trades and be content with 50% of our members working or to stand together with the Building Trades and have a few less desirable shifts and have 100% of our members working and the doors to new sites being opened for maintenance and construction work. I know we are on the right path and will start to see the market share that slipped away start to come back to the Building Trades and all the sites and contractors will see the Building Trades advantage of having Skilled, Qualified and Safety trained members building and maintaining their sites.
Friday, March 28th, 2014
Here are the applicants for Union membership for the April 12th meeting they are tentative until voted on by the membership in attendance at the April 12th meeting, hope to see you there.
William Felix, 1st Year Permit, 399 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Jerry Simon, JM Permit, 6306 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Jeff Hass, 1st Year Permit, 1998 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Colton Kalynchuk, 2nd Year Permit, currently working, Tentatively Accepted
Abdurazak Faza, 1st Year Permit, 740 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Dave J Edwards, JM Transfer, Local 95, 2993 hours, Tentatively Accepted
Guy Leveille, JM Transfer, Local 58, 3643 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Kyle Grandbois, 1st Year Permit, 1322 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Matthew Morris, 1st Year Permit, 6022 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Robert De Angelis, 1st Year Permit, 804 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Robert Savoie, JM Transfer, Local 131, 8945 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Tammy Busby, 1st Year Permit, 787 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Blanca Lopez, Industrial Helper (previous member), 25,712 hours, Tentatively Accepted
Olga Villagran, Industrial Helper, 19660 hours, Tentatively Accepted
Ruihua Wang, 1st Year Permit, 806 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Thomas Cote, JM (previous member), 7429 hours, Tentatively Accepted
Dylan Percher, 1st Year Permit, 278 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Glenn Turner, 1st Year Permit, 288 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Thomas Arnold, 1st Year Permit, 454 hours no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Kyle Spender, 1st Year Permit, 454 hours, no missed time, Tentatively Accepted
Fenot Tikue, 1st Year Permit (previous member), 3750 hours, Tentatively Accepted
William Clough Jr., 1st year Permit, 2281 hours, Tentatively Accepted
Jesse Detta, JM C, Tentatively Accepted
Steven John Smith, JM, Tentatively Accepted
Eugenio Castro De Almedia, 1st Year Permit,3695 Hrs.Organized, Accepted
Taylor Fink, 3rd Year Permit, Tentatively Rejected
As usual the final vote is up to the members in attendance at the meeting, please contact the union if you have concerns over any of the listed and if you would like to review the applications please contact the hall to make an appointment with me. Thank you.