The Dominion - Edmonton

What to do if you have a Windows meltdown

dawn — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:39:29 +0000

Dru, The Dominion's tech mastermind, finally meets a beast he can't tame.

'Spirit Train' protests continue towards the East

dawn — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:37:41 +0000

Activists in Edmonton interrupted the 2010 Olympics Spirit Train stop-off there on September 29th.

Their actions came on the heels of a protest in Vancouver that marked the launch of the train. Vancouver's Olympics Resistance Network has called for mobilization as the train travels east.

A smaller demonstration against the Spirit Train took place in Calgary.

In Sudbury, the local Coalition Against War and Occupation (SAWO) is planning to protest the train as it rolls through on October 11th. The train's last stop will be in Montréal on October 18th.

Letting the Wildcat Out of the Bag

dru — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 03:05:31 +0000

Alberta's Averted Energy Tradesworker General Strike and the Fall Wildcat Walk-Outs

There can be little doubt that this summer and fall yielded a significant page in Albertan Labour history. For the first time in 30 years, a collection of unions representing construction workers came to the brink of a general strike. No such strike vote has been carried out among Albertan tradeworker unions since the inception of Alberta's 1979 Labour Code. The Labour Code makes a strike prohibitively difficult in Alberta due to the requirement that 60 per cent of unions with unsettled contracts agree to a strike vote in order for any union to be able to stage any work action. This means that no union can legally hold a strike vote on its own. As noted by Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan last July, the vote "speaks to how strongly rank and file construction workers feel, that they haven't been treated fairly.”

Although a sector-wide construction strike did not actually happen, there are a few significant developments from the strike vote. The first is that, in an attempt to buy off union support, industry gave the concession of agreeing to recompense employees for the unpredictable impacts of inflation upon the wages of workers under contract. Inflation in Alberta is rapidly offsetting the high salaries being earned by workers in all sectors. The fact that industry would agree to offset these wildly unpredictable rates is an indication of the alarm caused by rumours of the impending work disruptions within tar sands sites.

In addition, the fall-out from the strike vote was a series of wildcat strike actions, for the most part carried out illegally by hundreds of rank-and-file carpenters in open challenge of the Alberta government's hostile labour laws. Although this wave of worker direct action lasted little more than a week, they have prompted organized labour in Alberta to mount a Supreme Court challenge of the Alberta Labour Code, a process which has the possibility of removing one of the biggest stumbling blocks for organized labour in Alberta.

In case you missed all of this over the summer, the timeline below runs through the basic points of interest of the averted “summer of strikes,” culminating in September's economic disruption of the energy sector.

July 4 – A strike vote is held by five unions representing 25,000 trade workers at energy industry worksites across Alberta. The representative unions of boilermakers, plumbers and pipefitters, electrical workers, millwrights and refrigerator mechanics hold simultaneous ballots in Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray. Points of contention are largely “quality of life issues,” including conditions at work camps and the demand that employers provide flights for workers from their homes in Calgary to Fort McMurray rather than transporting them by bus. In addition, a predominant issue is the length of the contract offered by industry to these tradesworker unions; industry has offered a contract for four years, while the traditional standard, owing to uncertainty of inflation, has been for two years. Although the contract would offer wage increases alternating between 6.5 per cent and five per cent annually over four years, the unions argue that these increases would be eroded by skyrocketting inflation--inflation has increased by five per cent over the first six months of 2007 alone.

The unions had been without a contract since the expiry of the previous agreement in May. At stake is $100 billion worth of construction projects at oil sands sites in northeastern Alberta. The ballots are sealed until after an ironworkers union can hold its vote on July 13.

July 21 – Emergency Health workers in Calgary vote by a margin of 99 per cent for a strike, citing wage rates lower than other municipal workers. This vote, coupled with the looming strike vote of tradesworkers, prompts the Globe and Mail to warn of a “summer of strikes” throughout the West after rotating wildcat strikes also begin among 6,000 civic workers in Vancouver.

July 23 – Results of the trades strike vote are presented to the Alberta Labour Relations Board. Electrical workers vote 94 per cent in favour, while the boilermakers and plumbers vote 99 per cent and 97 per cent in favour respectively. Millwrights vote 90 per cent in favour and refrigeration mechanics vote 85 per cent in favour. However, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers(IBEW) spokesman Barry Salmon downplays the idea of a general construction workers strike, suggesting that what may happen would be rotating walk-outs.

"It just shows the level of frustration among trades," says Salmon, “This is all about getting back to the table.”

August 10 – The unions representing plumbers and pipefitters, millwrights and refrigeration mechanics agree on settlement terms with the Construction Labour Relations Association, which represents construction contractors and industry. The plumbers and pipefitters, and millrights accept the four-year wage increase offer (alternating between 6.5 per cent and five per cent for the following four years), although manage to gain adjustment to inflation for these wage increases. The unions representing refrigeration mechanics enter into a memorandum of settlement.

August 14 – The unions representing electricians formalize a memorandum in respect to the settlement framework, largely accepting the same conditions as the plumbers and pipefitters, and millwrights.

August 23 – Following the settlements on August 14, and August 10, hundreds of electrical workers and pipefitters rally in Fort McMurray in protest of their union leadership's resolution with contractors. “My thoughts on a four-year contract is it’s too long,” says worker Shane Brooks, referring to the skyrocketting housing costs in Alberta, as well as the potential erosion of their wage increases due to run-away inflation. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in four years from now.”

August 30 - A settlement is reached with the Labourers' Union, based upon the plumbers and pipefitters’ settlement of August 10. This brings the number of represented tradesworker group settlements to 17 out of 25, although the carpenters and roofers have yet to vote on the offer. Under Alberta's labour laws, if 19 trades groups reach agreement, the rest are stripped of their right to strike. But union leaders who have accepted the settlement claim that the concession by contractors to guarantee indexing of wage increases to inflation is a significant victory. “There wasn't much more to get,” says IBEW local spokesman Barry Salmon.

Results of ratification votes from the electricians, plumbers and pipefitters, and labourers are expected by September 10.

September 2 – The Alberta Federation of Labour threatens to take the Alberta government to court over the the 1979 Labour Relations Code, the Alberta law that, according to AFL President Gil McGowan, "was designed to make it almost impossible for [construction] workers to go on strike." Under the labour law, no strikes can be allowed for tradespeople if agreements are reached with 75 per cent of the bargaining units in the construction industry. McGowan's warning comes after a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in favour of B.C. healthcare workers in June. The Supreme Court ruled that the right to join a union and the right to collective bargaining were protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

September 5 – Two months after the strike vote by the five tradesworker unions, 4,000 carpenters and 100 roofers who had not been among the five trade groups to make a strike vote on July 4 vote to strike by a margin of 97 per cent. A strike notice is served to the Alberta Labour Relations Board, with job actions scheduled to take place on September 8.

September 7 – The Alberta Labour Relations Board rules that the strike vote by carpenters is illegal, claiming that another union representing labourers had not served a strike notice at the same time as the carpenters. The Alberta Regional Council of Carpenters and Allied Workers vows to carry out work stoppages in spite of the ruling.

September 10 – Wildcat strikes, focused moreso on the Labour Relations Board (LRB) than energy corporations, begin at energy industry worksites throughout Alberta. Two hundred and fifty workers walk off the job at a Petro Canada refinery project east of Edmonton and others stage a walk-out at the Long Lake project southeast of Fort McMurray. Other walk-outs occur in Calgary. The industry-backed Construction and Labour Relations Association (CLRA) responds by obtaining cease and desist orders from the LRB. Workers continue picketing outside of the LRB offices.

Electrical workers vote 50.8 per cent in favour of the CLRA settlement, although several workers claim that they never received ballots for the mail-in ballot process. Regardless, this ratification ultimately signals that, under Alberta's Labour code, no other tradesworker unions, including the carpenters who rejected the settlement, have the right to strike until the end of the contract in 2011. Meanwhile, plumbers and pipefitters vote against ratification of the CLRA settlement.

September 11 – After hundreds of tradespeople walk off job sites for the second day in a row, hundreds converge upon the Alberta legislature to demand the right to strike under Alberta Labour legislation. Alberta Regional Council of Carpenters and Allied Workers President Martyn Piper distances himself from the wildcat strikes, claiming that he has ordered workers to return to work. Piper's back to work order comes in response to Alberta Employment Minister Iris Evans' government order prohibiting pickets “at any general construction site or maintenance site in Alberta.”

The Petro-Canada upgrader project in Edmonton remains closed after other unionized tradespeople refuse to cross the carpenters' picket-line.

September 12 and 13 – In spite of the government's 'cease and desist' order, as well as a back-to-work order from the Carpenters' Union, walk-outs and protests continue throughout the week. Outside of a Petro-Canada refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, workers stage what they call a “social gathering.” Workers wave plackards bearing the slogans “don't ever give up," “united we stand, divided we beg," and “liberate Alberta, not Afghanistan” at passing traffic. Hundreds of other union workers protest in front of Edmonton's courthouse.

Frustration with union leadership seems evident at these walk-outs. "All the workers are here by their own choice, not by the union's choice," says a scaffold worker taking part in a rally at the Edmonton courthouse. "My union told me to go back to work and let them deal with it." A speaker at the demonstration who urges workers to return to work is booed off the stage.

CBC News reports that 200 unionized employees working at a steam injection site near Long Lake have been fired after clocking off work to take a first-aid course. The workers were apparently given two hours to remove their belongings from the work camp.

September 14 – Although information pickets and protests continue in Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan and elsewhere, including a march by 300-400 workers on the Alberta legislature, the actions are much smaller than earlier in the week. Workers have begun to return to work. Union leaders and industry negotiators both welcome the end of work stoppages.

Members of the union representating Labourers (Local 92 of the Labourers International Union of North America) vote against a strike by a margin of 66 per cent, thereby ratifying the four-year contract offer by the energy industry. This brings the total number of tradeworker unions voting in favour of the contract to 20 out of 25, well over the 75 per cent required to render a strike action by any union illegal under Alberta law.

September 22 – In a weekend demonstration, hundreds of workers stage a mock funeral of the Alberta Labour Relations Code. Says Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan: “Alberta's labour laws don't facilitate collective bargaining, they discourage it...It's not only wrong; It's now illegal.”

October 1 – Four Construction unions mount a constitutional challenge to Alberta's Labour Relations laws on the basis that it violates workers' rights to freedom of assembly.

Although most tradesworker unions, including most of the unions which had initially voted for strike preparation in July, have ratified settlements with the energy industry, carpenters, roofers, and plumbers and pipefitters remain holdouts against this contract.

Strike Vote

Passing Out in Upgrader Alley

dru — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:31:27 +0000

In Alberta's "Industrial Heartland," massive developments rival those of the Athabasca tar sands region

When the sirens go off at Shell's upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, nearby resident Kathy Radke knows there has been another accident. As plumes of toxic vapour are picked up and scattered by the wind, she is expected to call an emergency hotline set up for the handful of families living in the immediate vicinity. The hotline is meant to tell residents the severity of the accident, and whether to "shelter in place" or to evacuate the area.

"Half the time, the info hasn't even been updated when we call," says Radke. She wonders why Shell doesn't supply the nearby residents with air packs that they can put on as soon as the alarms go off.

Welcome to Alberta's Industrial Heartland, a 78,550-acre area about a half-hour's drive northeast of Edmonton. This industrial sacrifice zone, home to dozens of refineries, petrochemical plants and other industrial facilities, is where much of the bitumen pulled from Alberta's tar sands operations will be upgraded. Some is already pumped here, through a 493-km pipeline, to the Shell upgrader. With two more upgraders under construction, and another 10 in various stages of proposal or development, the area is popularly known as "Upgrader Alley."

A few decades ago, it was mostly farmland. Several families still live scattered on patches of land between the massive industrial facilities. The Radkes live and farm on land that was bought from Kathy's in-laws in the 1980s by Atco Gas, which stores natural gas underneath the property in salt mines. When Kathy and her husband moved in, leasing their home from Atco, they were told they would be able to live and farm there safely for decades. With the rapid growth of industry in the area, the Radkes were soon surrounded by the clanking of machinery, heavy truck traffic and air pollution. Their house is two kilometres east-—and downwind—-of Shell's massive Scotford operation, which boasts the existing upgrader, a second under construction and a refinery. To the north, BA Energy is also building a new upgrader.

Since Shell built its first upgrader in 2003, accidents have occurred at the rate of about four or five a year, says Kathy. Last September, there were two gas leaks in the space of one week. Nearby residents were instructed to stay in their homes for several hours. Some later reported sore throats and headaches that lasted for days.

Shell's neighbours are exposed to routine emissions of sulphur dioxide and other toxic gases, which temporarily spike above regulated maximum levels on a regular basis. Over the past two years, Kathy's family has lost 45 dairy cows out of a herd of 140 and she suspects that the air pollution has something to do with it.

The region's flurry of upgrader construction is linked to the fact that what comes out of the tar sands is not in fact oil or tar, but bitumen, a low-grade, heavy fossil fuel. Upgrading is the process by which the thick, tarry muck is turned into a synthetic crude oil that can be sent to refineries. This extra step is part of what makes the production of oil from tar sands so energy-intensive, with greenhouse gas emissions three times higher than those associated with conventional oil production. More natural gas is eaten up by bitumen upgrading than by the mining process itself.

Some of the upgrading happens in Alberta's north, where the bitumen is extracted. But with its lower costs and easier access to workers, the industrial region northeast of Edmonton has become the place of choice for upgraders in the province.

The bulk of Alberta's bitumen, however, is still upgraded in the United States—-where the vast majority is also refined, sold, and consumed. Alberta politicians have been calling for a dramatic ramping-up of the province's upgrading capacities. "If we insist on just sending raw product out of this province and adding value to that product in another jurisdiction, the taxes on the value-added product will be paid in that jurisdiction, not in the province of Alberta," Premier Stalmach told reporters last December. Energy minister Mel Knight has been quick to reassure the public that Alberta should have enough capacity to upgrade about 80 per cent of its bitumen within a decade or so.

Albertans face a paradox. With the havoc created by the mining and in-situ extraction of bitumen from the tar sands, they already shoulder the brunt of the pollution created by the wrestling of oil from tar sands, while capturing only a small fraction of the profits. Greater involvement in the value-added process of upgrading would increase the public's economic return, but it would also concentrate even more of the pollution in Alberta.

There is also the possibility that the upgrader boom could overwhelm Fort Saskatchewan and other towns in the area, in much the same way that Fort McMurray--epicentre of the tar sands extraction operations--is already overwhelmed by economic growth that most locals say is too big, too fast. The growing pains experienced by Fort McMurray include rocketing housing costs, a homelessness crisis and a severe shortage of health care and other services. "Our water treatment plant will be at capacity next year. Our recreational facilities are overtaxed. Our landfill site is full," the city's mayor recently told a parliamentary committee. Is this what Fort Saskatchewan has to look forward to?

"What we're facing is a huge expansion to roads, infrastructure, sewer systems, water systems, bridges. How is that going to be paid?" asked Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel in 2006. He estimated that the money invested in the last five years in Fort McMurray pales in comparison to what is proposed for the "Industrial Heartland."

For now, the protests of Kathy Radke and the handful of other residents directly affected by the upgraders are largely overshadowed by the spectre of jobs and money rushing into the region. But if things go the way of Fort McMurray, it won't be long until all of the area's residents experience the ugly side of Alberta's bitumen boom.

Shell Upgrader, Fort Saskatchewan