Finning and CLAC open the door to abuse!

Edmonton, AB – One hundred sixty workers, members of IAMAW Local Lodge 99 lost their jobs at the Finning rebuild plant this year. They lost their jobs because their employer transferred their work to a new facility operated by O.E.M. Reman. Not only did Finning transfer the work, it financed the acquisitions that gave O.E.M. Reman its existing work, completely financed the costs of building the facility while remaining the 100 per cent beneficial owner of O.E.M. Reman. The IAMAW members were not given the opportunity to transfer with their work to the new plant they were simply laid off.

To avoid bargaining with the IAMAW, O.E.M. Reman recognized the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) as the union in the new plant. The workers there never had a voice or a vote on which their union would be. The Machinists went to the Alberta Labour Relations Board over denial of successor rights. In April the board ruled that because Finning provided all of the money to establish, operate and control O.E.M. Remand, it was a Finning operation and thus a ‘common employer’. That decision gave the Machinists the right to organize the new plant because IAMAW LL 99 has a certification for all Finning operations in Alberta.

That ruling was seen as a major victory given the provincial government’s attitude toward unions. However the victory was short-lived because an appeal by Finning, O.E.M. and CLAC caused the Board to reverse its original decision and ruled that Finning and O.E.M. were not common employers. This decision came despite the fact Finning admitted to the board the whole idea was to avoid bargaining with the IAMAW.

“With this reversal, the province has opened the door for other major employers to do the same thing,” said Bob MacKinnon, IAMAW Directing Business Representative. “It means if a major employer has enough money, they can simply bankroll a local front man, build a new facility and sidestep any legal obligations to its own unionized workers.”

The Labour Code is supposed to prohibit this kind of employer shell game to get rid of unionized workers and union obligations and Finning’s methods are an abuse of the intent of the Code.   

IAMAW Local Lodge 1722 members Albert Fitz (L) and Lee Hannam hold an IAMAW banner during a recent rally outside the newly constructed OEM facility in Edmonton. The protest was over the loss of 160 Machinist’s jobs, when Finning International, which owns OEM, transferred work from its Rebuild Centre to OEM. The Alberta Labour Relations Board overturned an earlier decision ruling that Finning and OEM was a common employer, thus denying the IAMAW of successor rights at the new facility. The rally was organized by the Alberta Federation of Labour.

IAMAW Local Lodge 99 organizer Jason Rockwell denounces the Alberta Labour Relations Board ruling outside the Finning International facility in Edmonton.