Op-Eds
Executive Director’s Message – BC Building Trades Unions Win Historic Commitment for Flush Toilets in Construction
January 23, 2024 TRADETALK READERS are very familiar with porta-potties. They’re rarely cleaned and often filthy. They’re dark and they’re wet. They are too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Most of all, they are unsanitary and unhygienic. For many years,...
President’s Message – Apprenticeship shapes our industry
January 16, 2024 FALL IS TRADITIONALLY when we recognize our apprentices and their importance to our industry. It is our apprentices who will play a crucial role in shaping our province and the future of our trades. As the former executive director of the UA Piping...
Opinion: Behind BC’s historic mandate requiring flushing toilets at construction sites
November 3, 2023 Porta-potties have long been a source of frustration and anger for construction workers. They’re rarely cleaned and often filthy. They’re dark and they’re wet. They are too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Most of all, they are unsanitary...
Workers Advocate’s Message – Business community resistant to pro-worker WCB changes
May 25, 2023 CHRIS GARDNER, president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association (ICBA), wrote an op-ed in the Journal of Commerce on Dec. 21, 2022, taking the B.C. government to task for trying to fix the workers’ compensation system. Gardner also...
Executive Director’s Message – Where will the trades take you?
April 12, 2023 THIS ISSUE of Tradetalk explores the journeys we take as tradespeople. From the early days in the trades to reflections after a lifetime, we’re delving into some of the places you can go. We start this issue by celebrating the opening of the Heat and...
President’s Message – The Value of Union Labour
April 4, 2023 BC BUILDING TRADES (BCBT) unions have spent much of our time in the past several months bargaining the terms of the Standard Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) collective agreement which is set to expire on April 30, 2023. Under the strong...
President’s Message – Mentoring apprentices key to organizing
January 18, 2023 IN EARLY OCTOBER, affiliates of the BC Building Trades and their delegates met at our 50th Annual Constitutional Convention and annual general meeting in Victoria, B.C. The event was well attended, and we had several guest speakers who addressed the...
Executive Director’s Message – Give this magazine to someone who belongs in the trades
December 13, 2022 FOR TOO MANY YOUNG people, the option of pursuing a career in the skilled trades is never offered. They simply don’t know about the opportunities that exist. We’re on a mission to change that by reaching out to as many prospective apprentices as we...
Workers Advocate’s Message – Your Personal Medical Evidence – What is the Employer Entitled to?
November 25, 2022 IN CANADA, THE law is clear: employers may request medical information from their employees in certain situations. However, when an employer can make requests and what they can request continues to be a thorny matter of conflict. Often, even when the...
Executive Director’s Message – People Are Our Greatest Strength
October 25, 2022 THE PROJECTS WE BUILD are so impressive that we can often lose sight of the people behind them. Our members’ touch so much of the provincial landscape. It’s hard not to fill the pages of TradeTalk with pictures of our members erecting skyscrapers or...
