Mike Gallagher, Business Manager

Moving forward with optimism

I would like to thank the membership of Local 793 for re-electing me as business manager and for once again choosing such a strong and dedicated team to lead our union. Together, the executive and I will make sure that this local remains healthy and on stable financial footing.
I’d also like to congratulate all those who were elected, re-elected or acclaimed to positions, in particular Alex Law who was elected vice-president and Bill Thompson who was elected to the executive board. I’d also like to extend my congratulations to William Boyle who was acclaimed as an auditor and Wendy Catherwood who was elected as an executive board member and trustee.
The members have given us another strong mandate. While we have accomplished much in the last 12 years, we intend to continue working on issues that are important to our local, namely organizing, health and safety, apprenticeship training and negotiating good settlements.
We are also in the process of revising our strategic plan to make sure that everyone in the organization is rowing in the same direction and we intend to work towards implementing a number of recommendations that came out of a very successful meeting we held earlier this year in Niagara Falls.
Local 793 members can rest assured that the union remains in good hands and we have a solid and capable leadership team in place, one that is looking forward to the future with optimism.

CRANE COMMITTEE
I was very pleased that provincial Labour Minister Brad Duguid acted on our request for a special committee to review the regulatory requirements applicable to tower cranes in Ontario. I made the request in March in response to multiple problems that were found earlier when the labour ministry inspected tower cranes in Toronto and Ottawa.
The committee held its first meeting Aug. 6 and elected Don Dickie, former vice-president and general manager of the Construction Safety Association of Ontario, to be chair of the working group. Local 793 is also represented on the committee by training co-ordinator Joe Dowdall. Other committee members are: Michael Chappell, provincial co-ordinator, occupational health and safety branch, Ministry of Labour; Italo Cirone of Italform Ltd. (Ontario Formwork Association); Mike DeMelo of EllisDon; Dennis Domenichini of Domson Engineering and Inspection Ltd.; Sante Gabrielli of Gabrielli Crane Erectors; Francis Hardy, senior safety specialist, regulatory affairs, Electrical Safety Authority; Larry Howard, estimator/project planner at DCM Erectors; Ricky Redigonda of Toronto Crane Service; Paul Sandberg of Morrow Equipment Co.; John Vander Doelen, occupational health and safety branch, Ministry of Labour; and Danny Verrili of Verdi Inc. (Ontario Formwork Association).
At the initial meeting, I asked that the committee put politics aside and concentrate on reviewing the regulations with an eye to preventing accidents. The labour, industry and ministry representatives on the committee are all experts in their fields and all primarily interested in health and safety. I am confident that they’ll do a good job. Tower crane safety is obviously a very important issue to our union and the public, one that’s receiving even more attention recently in light of tragic accidents in the United States. It is my hope that the committee will make recommendations to the labour minister within six months.

POLITICS
PC MPP Bob Runciman took a run at our union in the summer, suggesting the OETIO received provincial funds under the Ministry of Training’s Skills Training Infrastructure Program because Local 793 supported the Working Families Coalition. Tory MPP Jim Wilson repeated the rant in a column he wrote for a number of newspapers in Simcoe County.
The allegations, of course, are untrue and unsubstantiated.
The OETIO received the funds as a result of an open and transparent process. It is ludicrous to suggest it was for political reasons.
I responded to the verbal attack by Runciman with an article that appeared in Daily Commercial News under the headline: Local 793 strikes back at Runciman. I also wrote responses to Wilson’s column that appeared in all the newspapers that ran his original column.
The remarks by both politicians were nothing but cheap political shots. Provincial governments of all stripes, including the Conservatives themselves, have supported our training facilities in the past. Runciman himself presented the OETIO with a cheque for $2.3 million in 2001 when the PC Party was in government!
Local 793 members contribute approximately $4 million a year to operate the facilities and support training programs. In addition, the union has invested close to $40 million over the years in the facilities and equipment at no cost to the public. With the demand for skilled equipment operators rising, training programs operated by the OETIO are more important now than ever. It was important that I set the record straight on this matter. I can not allow the Tories to tarnish the good reputation of the OETIO and undermine the hard work of staff at the facilities.

LABOUR RELATIONS
I recently sent a letter to Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger, objecting to a collective agreement that appears to give contractors signatory to the Carpenters’ union a monopoly on city construction projects in the heavy civil sector. Joseph Mancinelli, LIUNA International vice-president and Central and Eastern Canada regional manager, had also sent a letter to the mayor and I was supporting the Labourers’
cause.
The work has traditionally been done by contractors bound to agreements with Local 793 and LIUNA, but the new agreement creates a situation where we could be excluded from such projects. It is completely unfair for the city to prevent our contractors from bidding on work that we have performed for many years. Many of our members and LIUNA workers have worked alongside each other for more than 50 years, building the city’s infrastructure and faithfully paying their taxes and contributing to the local economy. We have developed the expertise and safe work habits to do the jobs properly.
This decision is certainly not in the best interests of the city or taxpayers and I have requested a meeting with Mayor Eisenberger to discuss solutions to the problem.

HEALTH & SAFETY
This fall, many Local 793 members will receive a questionnaire from researchers who are doing a study to determine if there is a link between diesel fume exposure and diabetes and heart disease among heavy equipment operators.
The study is being funded by a $217,200 grant from the research advisory council of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and is being conducted by Dr. Murray Finkelstein, an associate professor at McMaster University in Hamilton and medical consultant with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, and Dr. Dave Verma, an occupational hygienist and professor at McMaster.
The questionnaire is being sent to approximately 6,500 union members aged 45 and older. Previous studies have shown that heavy equipment operators in Ontario had ischemic heart disease mortality rates that were 32 per cent higher than other types of construction workers, and that heavy equipment operators were significantly more likely to die from diabetes than other construction workers.
If you get one of these questionnaires in the mail, I’d encourage you to fill it out. Local 793 is supporting this study because diesel fume exposure has been a concern for some time and the results will help determine if exposure to the exhaust is the reason for the problems.
We believe there could be a connection between diabetes and heart disease and exposure to diesel fumes and if this proves to be true, we can then inform regulators and manufacturers as to what needs to be done.

TRAINING
We continue to update our training aids and facilities. Our newest addition is a conventional crane simulator modeled after a Manitowoc 8500 now on site at the OETIO campus in Oakville. The simulator enables our apprentices to learn in a controlled environment. It is also capable of operating in the clamshell, dragline or pile driving modes.
The OETIO now has a total of five simulators. In addition to the conventional crane simulator, we now have a mobile hydraulic crane simulator, a tower crane simulator, a fixed concrete pump and a mobile concrete pump simulator.
The OETIO is also in the process of updating its heavy equipment operator course at Morrisburg. In October, the OETIO intends to begin a review of the crane curriculum with the Oakville team.

MEMBER BENEFITS
Our broker, CMD Insurance Services, has joined forces with the CG&B Group, a market leader in providing group home and auto insurance programs to unions. This will give our members greater access to more competitive products under Local 793’s group home and auto insurance program.
CG&B will also assign a dedicated account manager to each individual member who takes out insurance through CMD, therefore providing more personal service to Local 793 members.
Meanwhile, free legal coverage for pensioners participating in the Retiree Benefit plan has been extended to June 30, 2009.
Pensioners in the plan will continue to be reimbursed for legal fees on claims incurred on or after July 1, 2007, through to June 30, 2009. If you’d like more information, contact the union’s benefit department or The Defenders Group at 416-635-6000.

NEW STAFF
I’d like to welcome new staff to Local 793. Robert Taddei and Steve Booze have been hired as organizers and Avery Moodie and Jim Priel have been hired as instructors at our Oakville campus.
Meanwhile, Corrie Stewart-Boyd, administrative assistant in our Sudbury office, has moved on to another job. I’d like to extend my best wishes to her.

REMINDER
Please remember to attend the general membership meeting scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 28, in the banquet hall at head office in Oakville. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. I look forward to seeing you there.