CCWU granted union status

July 27, 2009

Canadian Construction Workers Union granted union status

From: Daily Construciton News and Construction Record

http://dcnonl.com/article/id34686

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

The Canadian Construction Workers’ Union (CCWU) has official construction union status and this recognition provides a new alternative on the construction labour landscape, says the man who spearheaded its creation.

“It is a dream come true for us — we finally have a Canadian construction union that is definitely an alternative for a lot of people,” says Tony Dionisio, president of CCWU.

“We are offering Canadians working in construction another option. Our pension benefits are fully funded and we do not have to send dues down to the United States. People will be able to pay less in union dues and have a higher wage.”

The Ontario Labour Relations Board recently found that CCWU meets the definition of a construction industry trade union. In coming to its decision the board looked at a variety of factors ranging from its constitution and organizational base to its collective bargaining practices. The board said the CCWU “satisfied a clear majority” of the criteria.

“Most importantly, the CCWU represent employees in at least three construction bargaining units,” the OLRB found. “It not only aspires to represent construction industry employees, it also has put in place the structure of a typical construction trade union and it is actively representing at least three groups of construction employees in collective bargaining relationships.”

Dionisio says CCWU currently has about a 1,000 members through its industrial and construction collective agreements.

In 2007, the board found the CCWU was a trade union but Labourers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 183 did not have intervener status at that time. In a 2008 decision, the board found that the CCWU “was unable to demonstrate that it was a trade union.” This month’s board decision finally sets the stage for CCWU to move forward, Dionisio says.

“This is positive,” he says. “Now we can go out there fully organized and not be told ‘well, you guys are not a union as of yet’,” he says.

“For a time there we did not even attempt to organize because the board was not dealing with applications in the same expedited manner as if we were a recognized union.”

LIUNA Local 183 says it figured it was a matter of time before CCWU finally received its trade union status. Also, Local 183 did not have intervener status this time.

The board’s decision does not change anything for Local 183, says its secretary-treasurer Daniel Avero.

“We are not worried about open (raiding) season anymore than when we were before,” Avero says.

“We do not see them as a threat. All we want is to make sure our members are protected and get the best we can get for our members.”

The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union made a $5 million loan over four years to the CCWU in summer of 2007.

This was in addition to a $1 million loan the CAW made to the CCWU in February, 2007, to help it get off the ground during the 90-day open season. CAW reportedly is sympathetic to the CCWU’s cause because it broke away from a U.S.-based union, just as CAW separated from the United Auto Workers.

Dionisio says he has received no indication that CAW’s commitment could be withdrawn given its current financial hardships.

“If they do, we are pretty well at the level where we are almost self-sufficient and if that fails, we will have other alternatives,” explains Dionisio.

“We are a union that is here to stay. Maybe we are not at the pace we would like but we will move forward, not rushing into anything.”