It’s been 10 weeks since the unionized employees of Heidelberg Materials Concrete hit the picket lines in cities across the Southern Interior and they’re still there.
“We have a provincial mediator involved, and we're just waiting on a response from the employer,” Rob Cook, Teamsters Canada Local 213 spokesperson, said.
“We're trying to find resolve in this and get these guys back to work as soon as we can.”
Cook said there are about 47 workers from the Kamloops, Penticton and Kelowna job sites that are on strike but morale is still high.
“They've weathered the cold out here and they're still very strong and united and holding out for a fair collective agreement,” he said.
Cook said he didn’t want to speak publicly on the details of what’s an active negotiation but that the issues are largely around wages and benefits. The contract expired at the end of the year and talks hit an impasse about a month later.
Heidelberg has been the employer at these locations for the last five years and prior to that the operations were owned by Okanagan Builders and Okanagan Ready Mix. Cook said Heidelberg is based out of Germany and has a much larger operation in Vancouver.
This is the first time in recent memory that the unionized workers at the Southern Interior locations have gone on strike.
While it’s not ideal, he said the warmth and kindness of local business owners at each strike site has been been a silver lining.
On the coldest days, for example, the Kelowna Curling Club opened their doors to workers, and let them use it as a warming station or to use the washroom.
“That has been huge,” Cook said. “The neighbours at all three locations have just been accommodating.”
A request for comment from the company has been made.
