LABOUR

TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN

Members of various Building Trades unions demonstrated outside the office of the Industrial Realtions Council in

Vancouver Sept. 13, the opening day of hearings called by the IRC to inquire into “‘interpretation’’ of Sections 37 and 53 of
the Industrial Relations Act. The two sections are central to the de-unionization of the construction industry, allowing
union companies to set up non-union arms and virtually eliminating union sucessor rights. Unionists charge that the
hearings were called in an attempt to have unions break the B.C. Fed boycott and appear before the commission. In an echo
of the government's attempts to get the labour movement to discuss cosmetic amendments to Bill 19, IRC commissioner
Ed Peck had suggested that the IRC might use its discretion in interpreting the two sections if unions made submissions to

the hearings.

Probe Kerkhoff contract: union

The B.C. Provincial Council of Carpen-
ters this week called on B.C. Transport and
Highways Minister Cliff Michael to investi-
gate discrepancies between the wage costs
claimed by a sub-contractor working for
J.C. Kerkhoff and Sons on the Coquihalla
Highway project and the wages actually
paid to the employees.

In a letter to Michael Sept. 14, council
secretary Colin Snell also called on the min-
ister to probe the

affairs of the two
companies to deter-
mine if the provi-
sions of standard
ministry of highways
contract and the
Public Construction
Act had been comp-
lied with.

With the letter

went copies of four

affidavits sworn by SNELL
former employees of the Kerkhoff subcon-
tractor, ALC Construction, testifying that
they had been paid rates ranging from $8 to
$10 an hour — substantially less than the
wage rates spelled out by ALC in docu-
ments submitted to the highways ministry
for payment.

In an appearance Sept. 1 before the
commission of inquiry probing the huge
cost overruns on the Coquihalla Highway,
Snell read from a labour purchase order
from ALC to Kerkhoff, which quoted wage
rates ranging from $19.82 an hour, includ-
ing travel allowances, for labourers to
$31.15 an hour for*foremen. The purchase
order was apparently the basis on which
Kerkhoff submitted bills to the highways
ministry.

But according to affidavits sworn by
former employees, ALC paid only $10 an
hour for labourers and included no provi-
sion for travel allowance.

Snell said that the affidavits were sent in
response to a comment made by Michael in
the legislature July 15. Responding to ques-

tions from the New Democrats, Michael
challenged those making charges of wage
discrepancies to provide “ta signed docu-
ment, an affidavit” to substantiate the
claim.

“He’s asked for this material and we’re
providing it,” Snell said. “We want him to
investigate it further.”

Snell said that in addition to the four
affidavits submitted to the minister Mon-
day, three more were on their way to the
union’s offices from Merritt and a further
three were expected to be prepared over the
next several days.

In each case, the documents reveal that
the actual wages paid were substantially less
than the rates outlined in the documents
presented to the inquiry, he said.

Significantly, the Great Bear Snow Shed
project on which Kerkhoff was the general
contractor, and ALC a sub-contractor, was
a prime example of the huge cost overruns
on the highway project. Bid at $5.5 million,
the actual cost of the project had risen to
$10.1 million before the highways ministry
instructed Kerkhoff to stop sending bills.

Most of those swearing affidavits had
worked on the snow shed project although
other projects in which ALC Construction
had provided labour for the Kerkhoff
Group of companies were also named.

In three of the four affidavits, former
ALC employees also noted that they had
either been hired by, or had worked under

the direct supervision of Ken Yaretz, Kerk- '

hoffs superintendent on the Great Bear
snow shed project.

That same close relationship between
Kerkhoff and ALC also appeared two years
ago on a Defence Ministry construction
project in Chilliwack where the Carpenters
were successful in winning back wages for
ALC employees who had been denied the
federal fair wage standard then stipulated
for federal projects. Employees working for
Kerkhoff on the project had been paid by
ALC Construction.

But whatever the relationship between

12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 16, 1987

ALC and Kerkhoff, the highways ministry
should determine whether Kerkhoff comp-
lied with the provisions of its contract with
the highways ministry, Snell said. Those
provisions include the stipulation that all
sub-contractors be approved by the high-
ways ministry, and that the wages paid “be
not less than the wages current in the district
in which the work is being carried out.”

In his letter Snell called on Michael to
investigate:

@ “Why these workers were paid only $8
to $10 per hour (with no payment in lieu of
travel) when the contractors were paid con-
siderably more by the Ministry of High-
ways.

@ “Tf the provisions of clauses 20, 22, 28,
49, 52.1 and 53 of the standard Ministry of
Highways contract were complied with on
the projects where these workers were
employed.

Snell also asked the minister: “If these
workers were not paid in compliance with
the wage as provided for in clause 53, would
you as Minister of Transport and Highways
be prepared to have the Ministry of Labour
audit ALC Construction or the Kerkhoff
Group and have the appropriate adjust-
ments made to the workers’ wages and
benefits?”

SEE eS

~The B.C. Federation of Labour will
mount a major long-term organizing drive
to bring new members into the trade union
movement, B.C. Fed president Ken Geor
getti said Sept. 10.

The announcement came as the fedefa
tion’s executive council met last week
adjust the labour movement’s boycott tactié
to allow certification applications initiat
before the boycott of the Industrial Rel@
tions Council to proceed and to allo¥
unions to place new applications for certiff
cation before the IRC.

Federation communications directo
Tom Fawkes said Tuesday that the organiZ
ing campaign represents a new determina
tion by unionists to move over to the offen
sive.

““We’ve been circling the wagons for too
long,” he said. “Over the last four or fivé
years there’s been a certain siege mentality
and it hasn’t been healthy for the labou!
movement.

“The labour movement needs to get ou!
and organize.”

Fawkes said that opinion polls take®
over the past six months have provided
encouraging signs for the success of thé
organizing drive. “We've also had a lot of
calls from people phoning the federatiof
and wanting to know how they can join 4
union,” he said.

“Public opinion polls done over the pas!
several months indicate that the time is right
for an organizing drive of this magnitude,”
Georgetti said in a statement last week:
“Non-union workers are more interested in
joining unions than they have been for sev-
eral years. I think they now realize that the
‘boom days’ are gone forever and they need
some protection to keep their jobs.”

He said that the campaign would be
broadly based throughout the trade union
movement but would also target certaif
industries and areas for concerted organiz-
ing.

Fawkes said the federation would bé
establishing an organizing fund and would
be working with affiliates to co-ordinate
organizational staff and other resources.

Early next week, on Sunday, the B.C.
Fed is scheduled to open its three-day con-
ference on the Bill 19 boycott. Several key-
note speakers are scheduled to address the
three-day meeting and delegates are slated
to discuss the organizing campaign, work-
ing with community organizations and
boycott strategies in workshops and plenary
sessions. :

The conference includes a public forum
on “The Community and Bill 19” on Mon-
day, Sept. 21, 7:30 p.m. in the Robson
Square Media Centre.

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