Earlier this week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their latest new applications report. In it was a new application for union certification.
Local 955 of the International Union of Operating Engineers filed the application on 4 November 2024 on behalf of workers employed by Lafarge Canada Inc.
Lafarge is a French-based company specializing in cement, concrete, and construction aggregate products. The Canadian division of Lafarge has head offices in Mississauga and Calgary.
In this case, Local 488 was applying for all employees except ready-mix driver, clerical workers, and management employed at the company’s plant in Fort Saskatchewan, where the workers produce ready-mix, precast, and concrete products.
Local 955 already represents Lafarge workers in Calgary and Edmonton.
The ALRB has scheduled a hearing for next Friday (22 November) regarding this application. During this hearing, representatives from Lafarge will have a chance to argue why the workers shouldn’t be able to unionize with Local 955.
Should the ALRB approve the application, they will conduct a certification vote, which will give the nearly a dozen workers the opportunity to democratically choose whether to join IUOE.
Assuming a majority of the workers vote in favour of unionizing, their next step after the certification vote will be to organize a bargaining committee to begin negotiating their first collective agreement with Lafarge.
Local 955 won new contracts for over 250 other Lafarge workers earlier this year.
Because the ALRB doesn’t archive their new application reports, I’ve included this week’s report below for your convenience.
One reply on “Lafarge workers in Fort Sask file for unionization”
[…] isn’t the only certification application Local 955 has filed this month. They also filed one on behalf of Lafarge workers in Fort Saskatchewan on the […]