It took half a year but the Building Union of Canada (BUC) has finally been certified by the Ontario Labour Relations Board as the bargaining representative of tile and terrazzo workers employed at four contractors in the north Toronto region.
The workers were formerly represented by Brick and Allied Craft Union of Canada (BACU) Local 31. BUC vice-president and secretary treasurer Stephen Bromell said his union received notice from the OLRB on Jan. 24 that the tile and terrazzo workers of the four companies had voted overwhelmingly to join BUC, with 87.8 per cent support.
“This is a big accomplishment for sure,” said Bromell. “As much as it’s a victory for BUC, I strongly believe it is a victory for the workers as well.”
By legislation, raids in Ontario’s unionized ICI sector are only permitted during an “open season” which ran last year from March 1 — when three-year collective agreements between the province’s 25 ICI trades and their unionized employers expired — to April 30.
Votes at the four workplaces — The Belluz Group Ltd., York Marble Tile & Terrazzo Inc., Centa Construction Ltd. and Castlewall Marble & Tile — remained sealed since last spring when the OLRB told BUC and BACU organizers to work with an independent arbitrator to resolve a peripheral issue, to determine whether the BUC had signed a binding no-raid pact.
After a handful of meetings throughout the fall, Bromell said, “The arbitrator saw it our way, we won the case and the board ordered the opening of the ballots, that is why it took so long.”
Neither Bromell nor Tony DiMaria, BACU president, could say with certainly how many workers will be affected. Bromell thought the number might be 120 hourly workers, plus many more piece workers.
DiMaria said he had no hard feelings towards the raiding union, that BACU still has members with dozens of contractors in the region and that his members still have lots of work.
“They got it. We tried hard to keep it, and that’s that,” he said.
“We did our best, what can I tell you? Who knows what happens next year?”
DiMaria has only been in his present position for two years, he said, coming from a Hamilton local, and he felt the loss of members would probably prompt reflection about local BACU practices.
“We have all these members and you can’t please them all, and it depends what someone else promises them,” he said.
“Maybe we have to look at our side and do something different.
“We will do what we need to do.”
Bromell estimated that BUC, founded eight years ago by former president of the Toronto Police Association Craig Bromell, his brother, now has about 1,000 members.
Bromell said the next step is to negotiate a contract for the new members. That process was expected to begin the week of Feb. 3.
BUC is a “wall to wall” union that represents construction workers across trades in specific workplaces. Bromell said with the addition of the tile and terrazzo workers from the north Toronto region, BUC now has almost all ICI construction trades represented.
BUC represents ICI labourers working for The Daniels Group Inc. and in the past two years it has added trades workers in Structurecrete Corporation and Morriston Mechanical Consultants & Technicians Inc. BUC represents varied trades workers at Morriston including electricians, plumbers, gasfitters, sheet metal workers, welders and refrigeration mechanics.
Bromell said its steady growth is due in part to the lower costs of membership — lower dues — which, with the good contracts it is able to negotiate, puts about three extra dollars per hour in the pockets of its members. As well, he said, the BUC provides good service to its members with frequent workplace visits.
“That is the magic word these days, complacency,” said Bromell.
“I have been at this 20 years and the biggest concern is the workers don’t see the reps much. We take an awful lot of pride in that and I think it is the single biggest reason we never get raided.”
Follow the author on Twitter @DonWall_DCN.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed