New legislation to ensure that workers in Nova Scotia’s construction industry get paid for their work will go into effect January 1, 2005. The Minister of Justice introduced legislation on April 21 that will protect trades people and suppliers once their job is completed. The new legislation will give builders and suppliers extra time to register a lien - 60 days as opposed to 45. It will create a legal trust so that funds are set aside by the property owners to pay all expenses for services and goods. Similar protections exist in most other provinces in Canada.

There is good news for Local 1852, Sydney, Nova Scotia. Sod turning for the construction of a new $600 million Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) plant at Bear Head, just outside of Port Hawkesbury, took place on October 28, 2004. Anadarko Canada Corporation will build the new plant.

A CD of selected PowerPoint Presentations from the Membership Development Conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 27-29, 2004 is available. If any Local wishes a copy, please contact the First District Office.

Local 586 Ottawa has recently been successful with two organizing drives. A representation vote was held October 18, 2004 for ATS, with employees opting to be represented by the IBEW.

The second vote held the next day in what must have been a very busy week was on CA Electric. This vote was not as clean and resulted in a number of challenged ballots and the filing of an unfair labour practice. Discussions were then held between Business Manager Barry and the owner of CA in an attempt to settle the outstanding complaints and avoid lengthy and costly delays through the Board process. During these discussions Business Manager Barry suggested that the owner contact other recently organized contractors to verify the Local’s commitment to working with him and making him a successful partner.

Following these discussions the owner of CA has again contacted the Local and agreed to settle all disputes and sign a voluntary recognition agreement. This is a perfect example of why it is not enough to simply organize these contractors who more often than not, simply go out of business. We must also be fully committed to working with them and helping them succeed.

Local 105 Hamilton’s organizing team was also busy that week with two drives culminating in representation votes. The first vote was held October 20, 2004 for the employees of P & S Electric Company Ltd. P & S are currently doing a large retirement home in Hamilton. The second vote was held October 22, 2004 for the employees of Industrial Light and Electric, a company with 12 employees. Local 105 currently employs three full time organizers and are targeting other sectors. These targeted sectors are residential, light commercial and institutional. Keep up the good work guys.

Atlantic Utility Council Organizer Gord Keeling recently filed an application for certification to represent 50 Planners employed by Nova Scotia Power. The Atlantic Utility Council organizing program has been very successful in the past four years and has as a result increased their membership. This success can, for the most part, be credited to the hard work and determination of Organizer Keeling and the committed leadership of the AUC.

The AUC program allows smaller Local Unions, by pooling resources, the opportunity to have full time organizers in the field.

News Flash – Amendments to the Ontario Labour Relations Act

The Ontario government has announced proposed changes to the Ontario Labour Relations Act, which according to the news release “will restore fairness and balance to labour relations”.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, CLC

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