Yesterday, the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2009 received noticed that the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC) has applied to the Labour Board to raid nearly 70 USW members at Bouygues Building Canada–Green Timbers Accommodation Partners (GTAP) in Surrey.
“It is extremely distressing that PPWC, an independent union, is raiding our members at GTAP,” said Al Bieksa, President USW Local 2009. “I am very concerned that our members have been lied to and manipulated for the personal gain of a few members. You can be assured that legal action will be taken against those responsible. But, what worries me the most is the loss of rights that our members may be forfeiting through this raid that they’re not even aware of.”
The raid being conducted by the PPWC may be legal under the B.C. Labour Code, but it is forbidden under Article 4 of the Constitution of the Canadian Labour Congress that most unions abide by. The PPWC is not part of the Canadian Labour Congress, the BC Federation of Labour or any local labour councils and it has no respect or support from ‘real’ unions, Bieksa said.
“I encourage our members to get the all the facts from both sides before voting and not just the deceptive information being spewed from a ‘rat’ union trying to increase their membership in a cowardly fashion,” added Bieksa. “Raids just cause division and divert attention from the important work that we need to do for our members. There are plenty of non-unionized workers in the province that would benefit from being part of a union. Apparently, that takes too much work for PPWC.”
The USW is the largest private-sector union in North America with more than 225,000 members in Canada and more than 850,000 members continent-wide. The USW is Canada’s most diverse union, representing people working in every sector of the economy.
Al Bieksa, President, USW Local 2009, 604-842-2900, abieksa@usw2009.ca
Mike Duhra, Treasurer, USW Local 2009, 604-315-2280, mduhra@usw2009.ca
Sean Ball, USW Staff Representative, 250-845-4453, sball@usw.ca
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