British Columbia Regional Council of Carpenters

Local 1370 members Garth Kennedy and Steven Fraser completing the Peri scaffold system build as part of the four-week Journeyperson Upgrade Course being held at our Northern Training Center in Prince George from January 4 to 29. This is the first time the BCRCC has been able to offer Peri scaffold training at the Northern Training Center, as the Peri gear just arrived in December.

Local 1370 members working for Skyhigh Canada on the scaffold dismantle at Pembina’s LPG export terminal on Watson Island in Prince Rupert on Friday. BCRCC scaffolders have been working on the project since April 2019, with as many as 18 members on site at the project’s peak. BCRCC contractors continue to expand throughout the province, particularly in the northwest. And Skyhigh Canada’s participation at the Pembina facility has provided local and non-local members with thousands of hours of employment. With members working to safely dismantle the scaffold surrounding the tanks, this project will come to an end for Skyhigh in early February. High winds have posed a particular challenge for Skyhigh, as part of the scope of work involves hoarding, and Watson island is known for its severe gusts of winds.

BCRCC representative Kristine Byers was out representing Local 1907 at Sunday’s rally in Mission to support the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. The rally, called the Pink Parade, condemned violence, hatred, and intolerance following an attack last week on a transgender teen.

We are excited to announce the new date for the BC Centre for Women in the Trades Women Build BC 2021 conference opening! This virtual event on International Wo...men's Day (March 8th) will feature engaging speakers discussing issues and opportunities for advancing women and other under-represented group in the skilled trades. Registration details to follow. See more

Member Spotlight TCF’s Ali Amos: My journey to becoming a successful union carpenter, working in a trade I've fallen in love with, and working for a company I am proud to represent has been a long and interesting road. I was a sponsored skateboarder and snowboarder for most of my 20s and early 30s. I grew up on the west coast of Vancouver Island, lived in Whistler, including as far as the Cayman Islands while I subsidized my lifestyle and passion for sport with bar and rest...aurant work. At 36 I decided I wanted more from life and needed to be passionate about my work and felt the need to begin a career I could be proud of. I grew up commercial fishing on a salmon troller and a halibut longlining boat and have never shied away from hard work and working outside in the elements. I realized then I wanted to be a carpenter and emailed Camosun College. I received a reply saying there was a spot in their Indigenous People in Trades Training carpentry foundation program that was set to begin two weeks later. It was much sooner than I had expected, but I jumped on the opportunity and have never regretted it. I have worked for a few companies over my apprenticeship, from small to large. Campbell Construction was instrumental in my advancement as a carpenter, and I was fortunate enough to have been given opportunities to learn so many aspects of building from them. My favourite part of being a carpenter is being able to use my natural skills: problem solving, athletic ability, and personality, combined with knowledge and skills from on the job and the experience to build not only buildings but friendships and family. I am now working for TCF Contracting and have never been happier: not only do I work for people I respect and who respect me, but I am fortunate to work on a project currently that I'm personally proud of, the Lau'welnew Tribal School in Brentwood Bay. I look forward to many more years of building and constantly learning with the great crew I'm fortunate to be a part of.

Local 1598 members Avery Sabbas and Tyler Sexton, who work at Farmer Construction’s University of Victoria Student Housing Project, graduated from Farmer’s new worker program today. The two employees were stripped of their green Local 1598 hard hats and presented with white Farmer Construction hard hats. Congratulations!

Local 1598 members working for TCF Contracting at the Lau'welnew Tribal School in Brentwood Bay on Thursday.

General President McCarron shares what it means to have a career as a proud union carpenter.

Advance Voting Now Underway Advance polls opened on October 15 across the province. Polls are open from 8:00 a.m.8:00 p.m. every day until and including Wednesday, October 21. If you received a mail-in ballot, mail it as soon as possible, as it must be received by Elections BC before 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 24.... You can also return it in person to a district electoral office or place of voting. Find a link to a list of district electoral offices on this page: https://elections.bc.ca/voting/deo-office-locations/ See a map of voting places here: https://wheretovote.elections.bc.ca/ We encourage you to support candidates who care about issues that affect our members, their families, and our communities. This is an important election. Make sure you get out and vote.

LNG Canada Project Two Years In It has been two years since LNG Canada announced its positive final investment decision. Touted as the single largest private sector investment in Canadian history, the LNG export facility in Kitimat is well underway with BCRCC members hard at work on several major scopes of the project. In 2019, members began work with Bird Construction on the Cedar Valley Lodge that will eventually house up to 4500 people. The lodge opened last summer and w...ill be accommodating approximately 1500 workers by the end of 2020. In July 2019, Bird was also successful in winning the nineteen non process buildings and has recently started on a large civil concrete package that will have our members forming and placing 82,000 cubic meters over the next two years. Another BCRCC signatory contractor, BFI, has been very successful in securing major concrete formwork scopes on the site. BFI is employing BCRCC carpenters on three segments of the project: the LNG storage tank foundation, the river water intake, and a large concrete foundation package. Lorneville Mechanical has BCRCC scaffolders working on the massive LNG storage tank, currently in its early stages. More BCRCC members are employed with Fluor Constructors Canada and Brock Industrial, supplying miscellaneous scaffold support. In April, the project scaled back the onsite workforce due to worries about the COVID-19 pandemic. Hiring resumed later in the spring, taking advantage of the summer construction season. By August, the project reported having roughly 3000 workers, 800 of whom were locals. Over 300 BCRCC members are now employed on the site, working for five BCRCC signatory contractors, and performing major scopes of the overall project. Additional workers will continue to be added, with peak construction expected in the third quarter of 2021, creating an estimated 4500 jobs and employing 7000 to 7500 workers, varying with the shift-work nature of employment. Photo 1: LNG Storage Tank Foundation at LNG Canada Project. (Photo from https://www.linkedin.com/company/grahambuilds/) Photo 2: River Water Intake Pumphouse Project at the LNG Canada Project. (Photo from https://www.facebook.com/JFJVKitimat/) See more

Transgender Day of Remembrance occurs every year on Nov. 20. It's a time to honour the memories of transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-tran...sgender violence, and to recommit ourselves to both hearing and amplifying the voices of transgender people, and supporting transgender people in our families, our social and professional networks, our communities and greater society. Build TogetHER BC and two transgender members of the BC Regional Council or Carpenters partnered to produce this video. We thank all the Sisters in the Brotherhood of BCRCC who gave their voices for this project. See more

Local 1598 members working for TCF Contracting at the Malahat Skywalk welcome center on Tuesday.

Next Friday, Oct. 16 from 7:30-9:00 pm ET, in conjunction with NABTU’S Tradeswomen Build Nations, we’re hosting a virtual caucus! The event will feature guest s...peakers, including General Secretary-Treasurer Thomas Flynn, and the opportunity to connect with other Sisters in the Brotherhood. Register here: http://action.carpenters.org/sisters-caucus See more

We are now hiring Apprentice and Journey-person Scaffolders in the Vancouver Area. ISSL offers great career advancements, benefits, full-time work and overtime ...to the right candidates. Come join our growing team at ISSL. . . . #scaffolding #construction #scaffold #leadership #scaffoldinglife #scaffolder #formwork #scaffoldbuilder #safetyfirst #architecture #scaffolders #development #concrete #business #building #engineering #working #project #scaffoldings #steel #scaffoldworker #ISSLP #communityoutreach #nanaimo #britishcolumbia #vancouverisland #vancouver #nowhiringvancouver See more

Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson has announced Community Benefits Agreements would be cancelled under a Liberal government. It's mind-boggling any government wou...ld want to cancel such a forward-thinking construction framework that: 1. Invests in training and opportunities for BC workers 2. Prioritizes jobs to Indigenous workers, local residents, tradeswomen and apprentices 3. Ensures investment remains in local communities 4. Ensures transparent labour costs 5. Is open to any and all bidding contractors, regardless of union affiliation 6. Keeps bids competitive 7. Has been upheld by the courts repeatedly 8. Is supported by a majority of British Columbians of all political persuasions 9. Provides a safeguard against the Liberal-favoured "low bid" formula that has cost BC taxpayers billions of dollars in these non-CBA projects that have gone woefully over-budget: A. The B.C. portion of the Evergreen line was budgeted at $410 million; final cost was $586 million, representing a 43 per cent increase. B. The South Fraser Perimeter Road was budgeted at $635 million; final cost to us was $899 million, representing a 42 per cent increase. C. The Vancouver Convention Centre was budgeted at $495 million; final cost to us was $841 million, representing a whopping 70 per cent increase. D. And the Port Mann Bridge was budgeted at $2.3398 billion; final cost to us was $3.3 billion, representing a 41 per cent increase. E. Site C - final cost TBD but already massively over budget.

Orange Shirt Day 2020 Hundreds of thousands of Canadians wore orange shirts yesterday in recognition of the harm the residential school system did to aboriginal children and as an affirmation of one’s commitment to ensure that every child matters. Phyllis Webstad was forced to attend the mission school in Williams Lake when she had just turned six years old. Phyllis’ grandmother had taken her shopping, where she picked out a shiny orange shirt. When Phyllis got to the mission..., they stripped her and took away her clothes, including the orange shirt. The colour orange reminds Phyllis of her first day of school how her feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared, and how she felt as though she was worthless. All of the little children were crying, and no one cared, Phyllis recalls. Yesterday, September 30, the BCRCC had representatives in Prince Rupert participating in Orange Shirt Day with our friends from the Gitxaala Nation, Bird Construction, and the Industry Training Authority. See more

Scaffolders Wanted! Scaffolders of all levels including entry level are wanted for various commercial and industrial projects around the Lower Mainland starting immediately. Please visit our website to apply: http://bcrcc.ca/join-us/apply-now/

Powerful lobbyists want to kill local BC jobs and drive down wages. Community Benefits Agreements keep jobs local. Click here to support local workers.

Video from the building trades heavy-equipment vehicle parade in the Lower Mainland on Labour Day. https://vimeo.com/456755676

Local 1598 members working for Campbell Construction at the Capital Park project in Victoria on August 6.

The Canadian District of the UBC has a new publication called ‘UBC Canada: Building Strong, Coast to Coast to Coast’ a five-year report about news and initiatives across the country in the UBC. Included in this edition: Jason Rowe, vice president, Canadian District UBC, discusses the position and trajectory of the Canadian District as being one of strength (p. 3). B.C. piledrivers Local 2404 is this edition’s featured local (pp. 810). Read about the gift tha...t Whitehorse Local 2499 president Tytus Hardy gave to save the life of his brother and Local 2499 member Lymond Hardy (p. 19). https://issuu.com//do/ubc_canadian_district_-_august_2020 See more

Local 1907 members working for AC Civil Contracting at the Miramar site in White Rock on Friday.

BCRCC president Mark Derton and representatives Mike Andrews and Jason Sarac joined more than two dozen building trades construction and heavy-equipment vehicles as they paraded through various Lower Mainland cities and municipalities today. Although Covid-19 prevented the BCRCC from participating in traditional Labour Day picnics and traditional events around the province, it’s still important to celebrate labour achievements on this day. Our members are being asked more than ever to contribute and make sacrifices to help keep the economy moving. We honoured that contribution today with this tribute. BCRCC President Mark Derton