(The
following article is from
the December 1-31,
2007
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
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Vancouver Bureau
Latin-American construction workers
were intimidated by companies building the Canada Line, according to a
Nov. 9 ruling by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
The ruling
covers thirty workers
from Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador, brought by the companies to
Vancouver to operate the tunnel-boring machine being used to construct
the Canada Line linking Vancouver with the city's international airport.
The tribunal
found the workers
had been pressured into signing a petition drafted by management,
repudiating the Construction and Specialized Workers' Union Local 1611.
Two workers testified they were called to a manager's office and asked
to sign the petition stating they did not want the union to represent
them as part of a human rights complaint against SELI Canada Inc.,
SNCP-SELI Joint Venture and SNC Laval in Constructors (Pacific) Inc.
The tribunal
ruled that the
action was "an attempt to intimidate and coerce individual members of
the complainant group to withdraw their support for the union to
represent them in this complaint. Second, it was an attempt on the
employer's part to create evidence to be used to attack the union's
representative status."
The tribunal
found that the
tunnel boring employees perform specialized work, making them dependent
on the companies for food, housing and future work when the Canada Line
construction is completed. The employers were ordered to cease these
anti-union actions and pay half the union's costs of launching the
complaint. Further, the phony petition cannot be considered as part of
the main human rights complaint by the union, which deals with the
issue of equal pay for equal work.
It was
revealed in 2006 that the
companies were paying the Latin American workers ten to fifteen dollars
less per hour than the rates of $20-$25 for the same tasks paid to
domestic workers. Until that complaint is heard, the tribunal has
ordered the companies to avoid further contact with the workers except
in the course of day-to-day work.
The main
complaint to the B.C.
Human Rights Tribunal has yet to be heard. Earlier this year, the B.C.
Labour Relations Board ruled that including room and board paid by
employers, the foreign workers were making an equivalent wage to
domestic workers.
But the
history of this case
shows that it was only when the workers sought support from the labour
movement that their pay and conditions began to improve. It was only
during the organizing drive last year that wages were increased to
$10.43/hour. Essentially, the employers' two-fold strategy has been to
agree to some pay increases, while fighting tooth and nail to decertify
the union and drag out the process of negotiations and hearings until
construction is finished in late 2009.
Found at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint08/09__LATIN-AMERICAN_WORKERS_WIN_B_C_.html