Sixty LandSea hospitality employees working aboard the MV Isabelle X, docked at the Woodfibre LNG site, have voted to join UNITE HERE Local 40.
The local represents 1,400 camp hospitality workers in B.C.
The MV Isabelle X is a converted cruise ship housing about 600 workers who are building the Woodfibre LNG export facility on the shores of Howe Sound, approximately seven kilometres west-southwest of downtown Squamish.
Employed by Aramark, which in 2023, these now unionized workers perform hospitality, housekeeping, and maintenance duties aboard the vessel.
Mike Biskar, camp workers’ representative for the union, told The 麻豆社国产 that the employees perform cleaning and catering services on the ship.
They are primarily women who work four weeks on the ship and then get two weeks off.
About 40% of the workers are part of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program.
"We are proud to welcome the LandSea workers aboard the Isabelle X to Local 40,” said Zailda Chan, president of UNITE HERE Local 40, . “Their courage and unity are helping to raise standards for camp workers across British Columbia. This is another powerful step forward for workers who deserve a better working condition."
First contract to be negotiated
Contract negotiations will soon be underway for these members’ first contract.
A spokesperson for the employer said it is looking forward to achieving a win-win for both sides.
“We accept the union’s certification and look forward to bargaining in good faith for a collective agreement that makes sense for both parties," said Chris Collom, Aramark vice-president, corporate communications, in an emailed statement.
The workers are seeking to achieve standards that other unionized Local 40 camp hospitality members have secured, according to the union's news release.
Recently, workers at three Horizon North camps at Fort St John ratified their first collective agreement with Local 40, achieving significant increases, according to the union.
Biskar said the workers on the floatel are paid $18 or $19 for housekeeper or janitorial roles, for example, while in the union camps, workers doing the same roles make $24 to $28, depending on the camp.
"We want to bring this camp up to the standard established at other unionized Local 40 camps in B.C., which would be big wage increases, improved travel pay, improved workload protection, improved benefits, retirement, all that kind of stuff," Biskar said.
"And then, a unique thing to this camp is likely going to be, how do we establish in the contract, protections for temporary foreign workers? Because that's such a large segment of the workforce, too.”
‘Demand more of these kinds of projects’
While the employer is Aramark, Biskar said that doesn't let Woodfibre LNG off the hook.
“It's important when [these big companies] are lobbying for these projects to local municipalities or the province, they ought to have to put in writing that they're going to have a certain quality of jobs," he said.
"It's not enough to just come and say, ‘Well, here's all these great jobs.’ In some cases in our industry, they're not great jobs, you know, for the catering and housekeeping staff. But I also think ... they're making so much money on these projects, they can afford to provide additional benefits to the community, so the community feels like it's a worthwhile trade-off," he added.
"I think they ought to demand more of these kinds of projects. But from our perspective in the union, I would suggest one of the things that should be demanded is that people make a living wage who work here; they can't just hire housekeepers and janitors for $18 an hour."
For its part, Woodfibre LNG spokesperson Sean Beardow told The 麻豆社国产 that “it would not be appropriate for Woodfibre LNG to comment on the labour negotiations of a contractor.”
Woodfibre LNG recently announced it aims to comission a second floatel for the site, which, if approved by regulators, would house a construction crew of up to 900.
