January 6, 2025
WHEN A CRANE WAS DANGEROUSLY showing signs of instability at a Vancouver worksite in October, Sydney Stratton said it was the ironworkers and operating engineers on site who took decisive action to contain the situation.
It was the second crane incident at the Oakridge construction site of a mass timber tower. The first being a tragic incident in February when a crane dropped its load, resulting in the death of a worker below.
Stratton credits Ironworkers 97 and International Union of Operating Engineers 115 members with preventing the more recent incident from turning tragic, by jumping into action and putting together a plan to transfer the crane’s load.
“I learned about doing rescue load transfers in school,” she said, adding that the workers on site who didn’t have accreditation didn’t have that training.
“I felt very confident in not only myself, but my crew as well, that we could carry on calm, cool and collected. We knew what to do.”
It’s a prime example, Stratton said, of why returning to compulsory trades in British Columbia is so important.
Ironworkers, along with tower crane operators and mobile crane operators, insulators, plumbers and sprinklerfitters are likely to be included in the second round of re-instituted compulsory trades announced by SkilledTradesBC. They follow the first group of seven trades that were brought back in December 2023, which included electricians, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics, steamfitter/pipefitters, gasfitters and sheet metal workers.
With compulsory trades (called Skilled Trades Certification by SkilledTradesBC), employers need to ensure that for every journeyperson on a worksite in a compulsory trade, there can be a maximum of just two apprentices in that trade.
It’s a return to the standards abandoned by the province nearly a quarter century ago when the BC Liberals swept to power.
In an omnibus bill, the government and then-minister of state for deregulation Kevin Falcon, effectively dismantled the compulsory trades by bringing in piecemeal training that was not required and much more expensive to enrol in.
Since then, unions and their training schools have been independently keeping high-level Red Seal training alive in B.C. and fighting for a return to compulsory trades.
But much of the anti-labour legislation brought in by the right wing coalition BC Liberals has since been reversed by the BC NDP, including card check certification and, as of December last year, compulsory trades.
Derek Dinzey, community liaison with Ironworkers 97, said ironworkers made several arguments for the trade to be included in the reinstitution of compulsory trades. And one of the most important arguments was safety.
In particular, he said, ironworkers play a vital role in the structural soundness of key infrastructure, from the buildings we live and work in to the bridges we use to cross rivers and highways.
“The argument by people against compulsory trades is, ‘Well, buildings aren’t falling, so what’s the issue?’ And my argument back is that that’s not the standard that we’re building to, buildings just not falling down. We’re building to a seismic standard,” he said, referring to the large earthquake expected to hit B.C. in the next century.
“When the earthquake happens, is that the time that we want to find out that tradespeople not being certified made a big difference?”
But he also said it’s a question of quality for the end product — the owner of a condo, the renter in an apartment, or the owner of an industrial plant wants to know the building they live or work in is going to be of the highest quality.
He pointed specifically to the construction of projects like LNG Canada’s facilities in Kitimat and the Site C dam.
“They explicitly asked for certified ironworkers from the get-go. That’s what they wanted. They’re paying a high dollar for it. They wanted certified tradespeople because these are large pieces of infrastructure,” Dinzey said.
And if industry is asking for certified tradespeople, the government should also expect that quality of work in schools, high-rises and elsewhere, he added.
Rob Sheck, business manager with BC Insulators Union Local 118, said he and his union are “extremely thrilled” about being in the latest round of skilled trades certification, calling the last 20-odd years “a slow roll down the highway.”
Sheck said insulators’ work is becoming more important with climate change already causing extreme weather. Buildings being able to more easily regulate temperature is a key climate policy.
A building that is better equipped for extreme weather could help reduce the impact of extreme cold and extreme heat, the latter of which claimed hundreds of lives in B.C. in the heat dome of summer 2021.
But Sheck pointed not only to the reduction in carbon footprint resulting from better insulation, requiring less heating and cooling to regulate temperatures in buildings, but also to keeping hot water hot as it reaches the tap.
“So the tap’s not running as long, the AC units aren’t running as long — there’s a whole compounding effect of having an efficient, green energy building and insulation is a crucial part of that,” he said.
Sheck noted the leaky condos crisis of the 1990s, in which a report found a lack of training, including lacking enforcement of compulsory trades, to be a contributing factor.
He said he’s been aware of insulation failures from contractors who use non-certified workers that have led to leaks in piping that have required remediation by certified workers.
That costs the owner of the condo or building not just in replacement parts, but in remediation for mould and damaged drywall, he said.
“I feel for somebody if they spend $500,000 on a condo and two years later they’re having to spend sometimes tens of thousands of dollars to bring it back up so it’s a safe home for them to live in,” Sheck said.
Sheck said a big part of compulsory trades is that warm feeling of expertise and of accomplishment.
For Sydney Stratton with Ironworkers 97, however, it strikes another emotion: pride.
“It’s such a gratifying feeling being able to look back on a finished project like that and say, ‘Oh my gosh. I was a part of that. I built that. I was there,’” she said.
“My heart rate kind of picks up. I just feel that excitement once again of being out on the steel and the feeling of building something that is important to the community.”
As for the implementation of the latest round of compulsory trades, SkilledTradesBC said next steps include further evaluation and scoping of impacts on the industry along with costs and timelines.
No matter the cost or the timeline, when those chosen trades return to compulsory status, it will mean the B.C. construction industry, and all of the infrastructure being built here, is that much safer.
By Dustin Godfrey