Telecommunications Workers on
Strike at Ledcor Technical Services in BC
Standing Up for Rights Against Precarious Work
- Brian Sproule -
On December 10, 2019 representatives of the
Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L) joined the regular
picket line along with a number of retired
electrical workers.
Telecommunications workers, members of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
(IBEW) Local 213, have been on strike against
Ledcor Technical Services (LTS) in Port
Coquitlam, BC since September 30. The workers
are seeking a first contract. Their main
concerns are to put an end to their precarious
job status and improve working conditions,
including an end to piece work and recognition
of seniority. The company's practice of paying
piece rates instead of hourly wages puts
pressure on the workers to speed up, thus
increasing the danger of accidents and injuries
to workers and the public. The piece rates often
result in pay that is barely above minimum wage.
LTS is part of the giant multinational Ledcor
Group, which calls itself a "diversified
construction company working to design, build,
transport and maintain projects" all over North
America. Ledcor employs some 7,000 people in
several divisions including navigation and
aviation. The company claims to treat its
workers like "family" but the experience of the
technicians in Port Coquitlam tells a completely
different story.
In 2017, these workers at LTS joined the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
(IBEW). At the time of certification of their
certification as IBEW Local 213, there were 238
members. By the time a dispute with the company
over the makeup of the bargaining unit was
resolved, with the Labour Board ruling in the
union's favour in January 2019, the company had
reduced the workforce to 161. Over the course of
17 days of bargaining, nothing significant
regarding the main demands of the workers for an
end to piece work rates, precarious employment
and dangerous working conditions was achieved.
At a union meeting on the evening of August 21,
following a rally earlier in the day outside the
Ledcor offices in Vancouver to demand that LTS
bargain seriously with the union, workers voted
in favour of strike action. Instead of
bargaining seriously with the union, the company
carried out a mass layoff of 31 workers on
September 25. The union responded with 72-hour
strike notice, and on September 30, LTS workers
walked off the job and began picketing the LTS
office in Port Coquitlam.
The main work of the IBEW Local 213 members is
the installation of fibre-optic cable. LTS
contracts with various companies, one of the
major ones being Telus, to do this work. Telus
also has its own employees, members of USW Local
1944, who work on its fibre-optic network. The
technicians employed by LTS are paid less and
endure working conditions that are significantly
inferior to those of the USW Local 1944 members
when they perform contract work on the Telus
network. In an October 18 statement of support
for the striking LTS workers, USW Local 1944
Secretary-Treasurer Michael Phillips said, "When
Telus and its contractors are permitted to play
'race-to-the-bottom' with technicians' wages and
working conditions, all members lose whether
they are USW 1944 or IBEW 213. [...] The less
Telus' contractors are paid, the greater the
threat that more of our work will be contracted
out for cost savings, it's that simple. The
better a deal these strikers get, the better a
deal we can fight for in our own bargaining with
Telus in two years' time." He called on members
of his local to assist the striking IBEW Local
213 workers by responding to the request of IBEW
Assistant Business Manager Robin Nedila to
report any work being done by scabs working for
LTS by text to 604-786-0304. Other unions and
the Vancouver and District Labour Council have
asked members to do the same.
Arrangements like Telus' contract with LTS is a
means of undermining the collective of workers,
their wages and working conditions. Telus
contracts out the work to put pressure on its
employees to moderate their demands for wages
and working conditions that are acceptable to
them. LTS and other contractors pay substandard
wages and try to claim that their workers are
"independent contractors" and not employees to
avoid basic labour and safety standards and
impose a regime of precarious work. This modus
operandi of the monopolies is becoming all
too common and requires that workers step up
their organizing, their resistance, and their
solidarity. Workers' Forum stands with
the LTS workers who, in defending their rights,
are defending the rights of all.
This article was published in
Number 31 - December 19, 2019
Article Link:
Telecommunications Workers on
Strike at Ledcor Technical Services in BC: Standing Up for Rights Against Precarious Work - Brian Sproule
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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