It is falsely assumed that big projects equal lots of jobs and, by extension, labour peace if not outright satisfaction. The size and scope of the tarsands means for incredibly dangerous work conditions-- some fatalities at the plants have already occurred. The products seldom get their "value added" in union-run locations, instead the heavy bitumen can be shipped to many different locations across North America for refining, denying benefits to the union. However, the Union does not represent the "guest worker", now being imported in increasing numbers as legislation is changed to make access easier, the term of exploitation last longer, without any new efforts or pathways to deciding to stay after helping tear up the earth.
We have to wait and see what the CEP and the AFL do to tackle this horrible (yet predictable) news... their campaigns against the pipeline has been in the forefront, and had it prevented the pipeline was also preventing the delivery of up to another half million barrels a day-- approximately the production of either the Suncor or Syncrude plants. Fight on all fronts!
--M
Keystone Pipeline gets Canadian approval
Sep 24, 2007 - 11:24:21 CDT
By the Associated Press
Closing Edmonton's Tent City
EDMONTON — It’s a difficult feat to be homeless but still have a space that feels like a home, but that’s exactly what life in Edmonton’s tent city has felt like for Claude Parisee over the past month.
Surrounded by the books he reads to pass the time, and secure in the knowledge that guards watched his belongings and kept unwanted troublemakers from causing a stir, the former resident of Hull, Que., said life has largely been good in the makeshift community, which was set up in May and at times swelled to 80 tents and up to 200 people.
Booming Alberta crippled by wildcat strikes by frustrated tradesmen
September 16, 2007
EDMONTON (CP) — Alberta's booming construction landscape is being disrupted with pickets and protests as a complicated labour law that hobbles building trade unions from striking is being attacked by hundreds of workers.
The giant Petro-Canada upgrader project in Edmonton was crippled for several days last week after unionized workers refused to cross picket lines set up by carpenters and other tradesman seeking higher wages but unable to stage a legal strike.
Pickets vow they will ignore order to stop
Jamie Hall, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, September 14
EDMONTON - Undaunted by the prospect of arrest and fines, scores of protesters vowed Thursday to continue a crusade that has disrupted work at more than a dozen construction sites and cost oilsands contractors millions of dollars.
Union members who again formed "information lines" early Thursday were served with copies of a cease-and-desist order issued on Wednesday night, which bars picketing at any construction or maintenance site.
Newfoundlanders claim company has left them stranded in Alberta
JAMIE BAKER
The Telegram
What was supposed to be a tasty piece of the Alberta employment pie quickly turned into a sour serving of severance for a small group of Newfoundland workers who found themselves on their own in the oil-rich western province with no job and no way home.
The group had been working on a 20 days on, eight days off schedule for one of the many contractors at the huge Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) Horizon oil sands project near Fort McMurray.
Shifting oil sands
Telegraph UK Magazine
15/09/2007
In the hunt for new fuel sources, a vast swath of western Canada is being mined for its precious 'oil sands'. Jack Fairweather visits the centre of the new gold rush. Photographs by Jonas Bendiksen
Donnie Leblanc is surprisingly nonchalant for a man who has just blown $20,000 on a two-day trip to Las Vegas. But then, since he came to northern Canada, he hasn't had to worry too much about money - and there is plenty more where that came from. In a few months' time he will have saved enough to hit the casinos again.
When I see an article like this, I am reminded of a quote from Utah Philips: "The earth is not dying, she is being killed... and the people killing her have names and addresses!"
--M
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Bitumen Who’s Who
Six influential individuals who's opinions count regarding oilsands development
From Western Gold: Heavy Oil and Oilsands in Canada
There are a lot of things about Alberta’s oilsands that are nice to know:
Angry Union Workers Continue Loud Demonstrations Against Labour Laws
Sep, 13 2007 - 2:40 PM
CALGARY/AM770CHQR - A court ruling early Thursday morning has put the kibosh on information pickets being staged at various locations throughout the province, particularly in the Edmonton area and Fort McMurray.
Outside the Petro-Canada refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, the cease and desist order didn't have much of an impact, as many more workers gathered, including Roger Jordan.
Street drugs, gangs on rise in the West
'Street-level' social problems worst in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver: study
Larissa Liepins, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, September 12
Western Canadian cities are fighting a rising tide of street drugs and gang activity, says a report released Tuesday by the Canada West Foundation.
In researching Hard Times: A Portrait of Street Level Social Problems in Western Canada, the foundation consulted 311 frontline workers, experts and community leaders.
Pipeline builder can waive U.S. rule
Canadian company to use thinner steel
By Terry Woster
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070908/NEWS/7090...
Published: September 8, 2007
PIERRE - A federal agency will allow TransCanada Keystone to design parts of its proposed crude oil pipeline for a stress level higher than current U.S. standards.
