News Releases
Building it Green With Canada’s Building Trades Unions
May 22, 2024 IN 2023, WE SAW FIRSTHAND THE catastrophic effects of climate change, from wildfires to floods across Canada. As we enter 2024, it’s an important time to renew our commitment to fight climate change and reduce its impacts on our communities. Canada’s...
HEAT PUMP REVOLUTION – BUILDING TRADES MEMBERS UP TO THE TASK
April 24, 2024 JASON AMESBURY IS QUICK TO ADMIT he’s short on labour. He says the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) work available in coming months is “astronomical.” Even on a rainy Tuesday in January there are between 50 and 60 open calls. “That’s...
Remembering Gary Kroeker
April 8, 2024 GARY KROEKER, RESIDENT OF PORT COQUITLAM, B.C., long-time business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115 (IUOE 115) and former president of the BC Building Trades passed away on Nov. 30, 2023, at the age of 75. Kroeker was...
Underground economy hurts workers, costs taxpayers hundreds of millions
March 13, 2024 AFTER SEVEN YEARS, Kyle Shapitka finally realized what he’d been missing. From when he started his first job as a glazier around 2014 to leaving that job for a union gig in 2021, Shapitka had been misclassified as a “subcontractor.” He was never paid...
What will it take to get women PPE that actually fits?
March 4, 2024 IMAGINE WALKING ONTO A JOB site and all the tools you need are there. There’s a nice selection of personal protective equipment (PPE) that fits you. You put on the PPE, grab your tools and get to work knowing you’ll be safe on the job. That scenario...
First all-Indigenous cohort graduates EJTC
February 29, 2024 SOME OF WAKENNIOSTA COOPER’S earliest memories are hiding behind her grandma’s living room couch doing puzzles. “I’ve been doing puzzles since I was a kid ... it was one of my favourite things to do,” Cooper said. “I’ve always liked problem solving...
IBEW 993 Lights Up Women’s Shelter
February 21, 2024 THE LIGHTS IN A WOMEN’S SHELTER in Kitimat, B.C. are shining brighter this winter thanks to Alyssa Rogers and a sisterhood of electricians from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 993 (IBEW 993). Rogers is a second-year...
Touting the Trades – BCBT launches Trades Ambassador Program to connect with high school students
January 9, 2024 THE COLLEGE OF THE BC BUILDING TRADES has launched its Trade Ambassador program with the aim of attracting more young people to the sector. The program is made up of young members of the building trades — like Kirsty Lawton — who volunteer to go into...
B.C. LNG: From pipe dream to reality
November 24, 2023 IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE that liquefied natural gas (LNG) was once nothing more than a pipe dream in B.C. Back in the early 2000s, LNG development was limited to exploration, with questions surrounding its viability. Now, more than 10 years since BC...
Premier Eby announces legal requirement for flush toilets on construction sites
October 31, 2023 Premier Eby announces legal requirement for flush toilets on construction sites BC construction unions welcome the announcement Premier David Eby has announced the B.C. government will legally require flush toilets on construction sites of 25 workers...
