February 4, 2008

Union Negotiations

Highway contractor ratifies deal with 135 employees

Richard Gilbert

staff writer

The BC Government and Service Employees’ Union ratified a new contract with highways contractor Emil Anderson Maintenance (EAM) in the Fraser Valley service region last month.

A strong majority of BCGEU members voted 96 per cent in favour of the new contract at ratification meetings held last Jan 10 and 11.

The tentative settlement includes salary increases of at least 3 per cent in each year of a five year contract as well as improvements to sick benefits, training, auxiliary recall provisions and auxiliary wages.

“We have negotiated and ratified a fair collective agreement through some hard bargaining and the assistance of mediator Vince Ready,” said George Heyman, BCGEU president.

“The new contract offers a range of improvements for all of our members working at Emil Anderson.”

Last November, members of the BCGEU employed by Emil Anderson Maintenance Company voted 95 per cent in favour of strike action.

Emil Anderson was looking for concessions and is unwilling to increase salaries for the auxiliary workers on whom it increasingly relies.

The 135 workers employed by Emil Anderson maintain more than 2,400 kilometres of roads and highways in the eastern Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon including Mission, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Manning Park, Hope and Boston Bar.

They also maintain the southern portion of the Coquihalla Highway.

Emil Anderson Maintenance (EAM) obtained a five-year contract to maintain the highways and bridges in the Fraser Valley Highways District in 1996.

The original contract was extended for three years.

The company then secured a 10-year contract to provide highway maintenance services for the area which covers the Trans Canada Highway from 264 Street to Jackass Mountain, Highway 7 from Mission to Hope, Highway 3 to Sunday Summit, and Highway 5 to Portia in 2004.

The provincial government privatized highway contracts back in 1988.

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