Boilermakers Local 146 issued a strongly worded plea to members of Teamsters Local 362, urging them to refuse work moving a large pressure vessel
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Union boilermakers locked out of their jobs at an Edmonton fabrication facility temporarily removed their picket line Friday evening to avoid confrontation with another union hired for a heavy-duty moving job.
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On Friday, Boilermakers Local 146 issued a strongly worded plea to members of Teamsters Local 362, urging them to refuse work moving a large pressure vessel from CESSCO Fabrication and Engineering to an Inter Pipeline petrochemical facility in Fort Saskatchewan.
“It is abhorrent that anyone would cross a picket line, thereby enabling an employer to continue mistreating workers,” Local 146 spokesman Hugh MacDonald said in a news release. “That fellow union brothers would do so is shocking, shameful and disgusting.”
On Saturday morning, however, a representative with Boilermakers International said the union opted to remove its picket line and allowed the job to go ahead.
Rick Vanderveen said several picketers were nearly injured by a vehicle during early preparations for the move, and that the risk of maintaining a picket line in close proximity to a heavy duty move was too great.
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“In the interest of safety we decided let’s just let this thing get out of there,” he said. “We weren’t getting a whole lot of support from the Teamsters, unfortunately.”
The incident is the latest in a bitter dispute between Local 146’s 30 members and CESSCO which stretches back to 2020.
CESSCO was founded in 1948 and describes itself as Western Canada’s leading heavy steel fabricator, with clients in the oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation and mining industries.
Transporting CESSCO’s hulking products to customers typically involves extra-long trucks and some of the heaviest highway loads in Alberta history. Friday night’s move was completed by Teamsters members employed by Mammoet, a heavy lift and transport company, the boilermakers said.
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Local 146 were locked out in June 2020 after more than two years of bargaining with CESSCO. In its news release, the union said it had not seen an increase in wages or benefits for more than five years, and that the company’s final offer “would have reduced wages and pension contributions and gutted critical seniority language.”
The boilermakers have maintained a daily picket line at CESSCO’s 7310 99 St. facility since.
Vanderveen said the boilermakers are disappointed the Teamsters chose not to “honour” their picket, claiming language in the Teamsters’ contract prevents their employer from firing or disciplining them for choosing not to cross a picket line.
“At the end of the day, we agreed that the real fight here is with the Hawkins family of Canerector, parent company of CESSCO Fabrication and Engineering,” he said in an email.
Neither Teamsters Local 362 nor CESSCO responded to requests for comment Saturday morning.
The boilermakers and other union groups criticized CESSCO last year for accepting COVID-19 relief funding during the lockout.