As of 4:30 today all the ballots that will be counted have been returned, date stamped received, and placed in the ballot box.

The members responsible for the count started shortly there after and the results will be announced at the Local 110 General Membership Meeting tomorrow afternoon and posted on the BM update.

Good Day Sisters and Brothers

The Canadian Building Trades have now formally re-launched their Women in the Trades Program and the Building Trades of Alberta is ready to start a provincial chapter to work on the same platform, only at a Local level.

The Alberta Building Trades have asked each Local at the discretion of the Business Manager, to designate one female representative to participate in this provincial initiative. This is not to be confused with the National representatives that work with Lindsay. This provincial initiative is completely separate.

Local 110 is opening up the opportunity to be our representative to all Female journeyman members. If you are interested in becoming involved with the Women in the Trades Program please contact Shannon T by Email at shannont@insulators110.com or by phone at 780-426-2874 before May 8, 2015 4:30pm. A draw will take place at the May 9, 2015 General Membership Meeting and at that time the representative for Local 110 will be named.

Good luck to all

Good day Brothers and Sisters

From Monday May 4, 2015 till Thursday May 7, 2015 Northern Business Agent Doug Casemore and I will be attending the annual Canadian Building Trades Canadian Legislative Conference in Ottawa Ontario. Edmonton Business Agent Doug Johnson will be in the Edmonton office and Southern Business Agent Pat Tilley will be in the Calgary office.

If you have a pressing matter that requires Doug Casmore or my attention please contact Shannon Tilley at the Edmonton Union office at 780 426 2874 and Doug or I will return your call as soon as possible.

Name	Status	Tentative	Final
Matthew Duhan-Simmonds	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Paul Duff	1st year	Rejected	Rejected
Adam Vaillancourt	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Shanyn Real Contantin	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Ingo Schmidt	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Daniel Schlosser	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Andre Addison	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Ahmed Osman Abdi	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Matthew Pedersen	JM “C”	Accepted	Accepted
Jonathan Pohl	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Jose Magfredo Portillo	Industrial Helper	Accepted	Accepted
Mohamed Hire Mohamed	1st year	Accepted	Accepted
Elesa Rouel	Production Worker	Accepted	Accepted
Mark Thompson	Production Worker	Accepted	Accepted
Nick Gammon	Production Worker	Accepted	Accepted

As of this week, there are settlements pending ratification for 4 of the 24 trade jurisdictions in the general sector, and 16 of the 24 have ratified collective agreements.

Last week the Boilermakers and the Bricklayers Refractory completed the voting process. The Bricklayers Refractory ratified their collective agreement and the Boilermakers voted to reject the memorandum of agreement, they are the first union to do so.

The Alberta Building Trades have sent out the following information regarding the Alberta Provincial Election.

 

 In the days leading up to elections, questions often arise about the rights of employees to have time free from work to cast their votes. This bulletin summarizes employee rights and employer obligations with respect to voting time during provincial and territorial elections.

 Eligibility

To be an eligible voter, an employee must be a Canadian citizen who is 18 years of age on the day of the vote. In addition, the employee must have been a resident of the province or territory for a minimum period of time prior to the day of the election. The residency period requirements are as follows:

6 months: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan

 Consecutive Hours Off for Voting

Employees are entitled to a certain number of consecutive hours off work during voting hours to cast their ballots. The following chart summarizes the consecutive hours to which an employee is entitled as well as the hours during which polls are open:

Alberta

3 consecutive hours

9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

 

An employer does not have an obligation to provide time off of work where the required number of consecutive hours falls outside an employee's hours of work and within the voting hours, being the time the polls are open.

However, where the hours of work do not allow for the required consecutive voting hours, an employer must grant additional time off for voting sufficient to provide the required consecutive voting hours to any employee who requests it. This additional time may be granted at any time that is convenient for the employer.

Consider the Following Examples:

Employee 1 lives in Edmonton, and works from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The employer would have no obligation to provide paid time off of work, even if requested, as Employee 1 has a consecutive three-hour period from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. during which he/she can vote.

Employee 2 lives in Calgary, and works from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. If requested by the employee, the employer must provide enough time off of work to allow a three-hour consecutive voting period. The employer could allow Employee 2 to start at 12 p.m., as this would provide a three-hour window between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. during which to vote. The employer could also allow Employee 2 to leave at 5 p.m., providing Employee 2 with a three-hour voting period between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

 

Additional information such as dates for advanced polls, where to vote and eligibility to vote can be found at www.electionsalberta.ab.ca

The last few days I have had a number of questions regarding our bargaining process, the separation of the trades, and the impact of trade ratification on other trades.

In 2011 the Building Trades of Alberta came together and changed the way that bargaining would work for all trades in Alberta. Before this time all the trades were placed in one of four bargaining groups to bargain group issues; in most cases there were few links between the trades in each bargaining group. So for the 2011 round of collective bargaining the Building Trades merged all the groups into one, now referred to as Framework Bargaining. The reason for this was so that the issues that impacted all trades could be addressed with all the trades standing together and getting the same deal for everyone. After all the common issues are dealt with, the trades break off into individual trade tables to address issues that are trade specific, bargaining with their individual trade divisions.

For this round of bargaining the date of completion of bargaining was set as March 2, 2015. Any trade division that was not completed by that date had to move to mediation. As per the Alberta Labour Code once we have 75% of trades ratified the remaining trades will move from mediation to binding arbitration. At this time 15 of the 24 trades have ratified the 2015 Provincial Collective Agreement they have to have 17 of the 24 trades ratified to move the remaining trades to binding arbitration. If the required 17 trades do not ratify the collective agreement and mediation breaks down the remaining trades without a collective agreement could be in a position to pursue legal strike action.

So in summery the bargaining process is a two-step process with Framework Bargaining followed by Small Table Bargaining. In the process there is no separation of trades during Framework Bargaining we sit at the same table as the Pipefitters, Boilermakers, etc. At Small Table Bargaining it is just our Bargaining Committee with the Insulator Trade Division Bargaining Committee. If 17 of the 24 trades ratify their agreements it will force the rest of the trades not yet ratified into binding arbitration, but up to that point other trades ratification has little to no impact on the trades not yet ratified.

There is an Information Meeting for this Collective Agreement at the St Albert Inn and Suits April 25, 2015 starting at 9:00 am.

If you have any question please contact myself, Doug Johnson or Doug Casemore at the Edmonton union hall or Pat Tilley at the Calgary office.

Thank you

Good Day Sisters and Brothers

As of April 17, 2015 the Alberta Building Trades have 15 of 24 Trades that have ratified their 2015 Provincial Collective Agreement:

• Pipefitters                                                                           Ratified
• Sprinkler Fitters                                                                Ratified
• Ironworkers Rebar                                                           Ratified
• Ironworkers Structural                                                    Ratified
• Tilesetters                                                                           Ratified
• Refrigeration Mechanics                                                 Ratified
• Cement Masons                                                                Ratified
• Labourers                                                                           Ratified
• Operating Engineers                                                        Ratified
• Sheeters, Deckers and Cladders                                    Ratified
• Teamsters                                                                          Ratified
• Plasterers                                                                           Ratified
• Bricklayers General                                                         Ratified
• Sheet Metal Workers                                                       Ratified
• Millwrights                                                                        Ratified

Trades settled pending ratification:

• Boilermakers                                                      Vote complete results to be posted later this week
• Bricklayer Refractory                                       Vote complete results to be posted later this week
• Painters                                                               Waiting on results
• Roofers                                                                Waiting on results
• Carpenters                                                          Waiting on results
• Insulators                                                           Waiting on results

Trades without a memorandum of agreement

• Electricians
• Elevator Constructors
• Glassworkers

Some background information regarding the RRSP payments and the PITT Fund.  Some of you know but for those that don’t, the PITT Fund makes an RRSP deposit for individuals working under Commercial contracts and/or Enabled Industrial jobs.  Federal legislation prohibits the Pension Plan from accepting contributions into the Pension Fund from PITT as they are not the employer.  Because of this Federal legislation, the PITT Fund makes a deposit to the individual’s RRSP in the amount which would have been payable to the Pension Plan, if not for the legislation, based on the hours worked and  the applicable pension contribution rate.

Reports are provided monthly by Commercial Contractors and the hours are tracked through Excel spreadsheets.  Each year, individuals that fall under the RRSP deposit must provide the PITT Fund with a copy of their Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Notice of Assessment, which indicates the amount of RRSP room they have for the year as well as, sign a document that states they will not self-contribute to their RRSP such that they would go over their CRA limit for the year when combined with the PITT Fund deposit.

The PITT Fund issues deposits twice a year, July and December.  If an individual does not submit their documents within the specified time frame to meet the deadline for the deposit (July or December) then the deposit is not made at that time and is held until the next deposit due date.  If an individual does not provide the required documents in that year or if they don’t have RRSP room, then his/her amount is carried forward into the next year when the documentation process starts over.

Last year all spreadsheets were reviewed to ensure that all hours for each individual were being tracked correctly.  While there were some errors where the hours in the spreadsheet did not match the hours on the report, these were corrected and the RRSP amount was re-calculated and where applicable deposited to the individual’s RRSP.  These types of errors are the result of a Contractor submitting the report late or because the Contractor did adjustments to hours that were previously reported in a subsequent month and as with any job there is possible human error.  

In a few cases individuals received the full amount of the required contributions deposited into their RRSP which exceeded their CRA RRSP limit for the year. The result is the member must deal with the over contribution to the RRSP as per the rules set out by the Government of Canada or they will be issued a fine for the over contribution. All members that have been affected by this situation have been contacted and are taking appropriate steps as they see fit.

There was no misappropriation of funds, nor were there any overpayments such that an individual received more than what the pension amount would have been.  Individuals that have not received a deposit simply have not provided the required documentation or they don’t have the RRSP room for a deposit to be made.

Local 110 in conjunction with the PITT Fund Trustees have implemented on-going reviews of the spreadsheets and limited the number of staff that can access the spreadsheet files. If an error is discovered, it will be corrected and recalculations performed with all necessary steps taken before the next RRSP deposit.

Lastly, I would like to thank the members for their concern on the implementation of this program. However, the mistakes that happened over the last few years were corrected before the PITT Fund T4s were sent out in February 2015.

Thank you all and please keep in mind that your Business Agents and Manager’s office doors are always open.