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Hydro denies Quebec bias

Northerners claim they're out of work

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 12/19/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Quebecers are taking jobs away from northerners at the Wuskwatim dam construction site, contrary to a hiring protocol that favours aboriginals and Manitobans in general, union and First Nations leaders say.

And with a Christmas work slowdown taking effect, Manitobans are being sent home first while workers from Quebec remain on the job, union leaders added.

Manitoba Hydro and the consortium building the dam deny both allegations, saying qualified Manitobans in certain specialized skilled positions can't be found. Most of the people laid off so far for the holiday period have been from Quebec, they said.

The unions estimate that at peak employment a month ago, 44 per cent of the carpenters and 60 to 65 per cent of the labourers at the site were from Quebec. Two of the three companies that make up the consortium awarded the general civil construction contract are based in Quebec.

The unions say that Manitoba Hydro and the provincial government should do more to maximize the number of Manitobans who benefit from the $1.6-billion megaproject.

Ron Evans, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said he's frustrated that trained aboriginal workers are not being hired as apprentices.

"The belief by the workers, by the people who have been laid off or didn't get a job, is that the contractor from Quebec is bringing in people from Quebec, using Wuskwatim as a training (ground) for them because they are going to be building two hydro dams in Quebec," Evans said.

He said job postings from contractor O'Connell-Neilson-EBC (ONE) contain "weasel clauses" calling for specific work experience that prevents aboriginals and other Manitobans from being hired. A ONE official didn't return phone requests for an interview.

Victor DaSilva, of the Construction & Specialized Workers, said the contractor requested labourers in mid-November. Although the union referred several qualified union members, he said, the positions went to out-of-province workers, mainly from Quebec. A week and a half later, DaSilva said, the contractor laid off five Manitobans, one of whom was an aboriginal who had been employed at the site for eight months. According to Hydro's recruitment protocol, northern First Nations people are to be given top priority, followed by other Manitobans.

"The contractor continues to lay off Manitoba residents daily," DaSilva said in a letter e-mailed Dec. 3 to Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk, who is also the minister in charge of Hydro.

Glenn Schneider, a spokesman for Manitoba Hydro, said much of the dam construction work is highly specialized, and it's not uncommon in such projects to bring in experienced workers. He also said that since November 2006, 108 of the 168 apprentices hired at Wuskwatim have been from Manitoba.

Schneider said officials have told Hydro they could use another 50 carpentry apprentices, but can't find them in Manitoba. But that's news to the carpenters union, which said it would have no problem supplying that number.

Wayne McLennan of the International Brotherhood of Carpenters, Joiners, Millwrights and Allied Trades, said when requests for workers are made they often come with conditions that are difficult for the local trades to meet. "I've had Manitoba red seal carpenters, certified carpenters, turned down because they don't have five years of dam experience," McLennan said. "But there hasn't been a dam built here since Limestone," which began operation in 1990, he said.

Schneider said between Nov. 1 and Dec. 11, 193 of the 250 workers laid off at Wuskwatim were from out of province.

As of Sept. 30, 533 of the 1,073 dam workers were from outside the province, according to data obtained by a Freedom of Information request.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 19, 2009 A4

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