Teamsters on a unionization spree in Alberta

The Alberta Labour Relations Board released their new applications report earlier this week, and the newest applications for union certification were submitted by just one union.

Local 362 of the General Teamsters filed 3 applications last Thursday and Friday.

The first application they filed was on behalf of 87 workers at Diversified Transportation Ltd., which specializes in worker transportation to and from worksites in Northern Alberta. Its parent company is the Calgary-based Pacific Western Group of Companies.

The application is supposed to apply to all Wood Buffalo workers, except office, clerical, dispatchers, sales personnel, and drivers.

This is the second application that the Local 362 has filed on behalf of Diversified workers. Earlier this month, the union filed an application for 60 mechanics at the company.

The ALRB has scheduled a hearing for this application to occur on 1 September 2022. The hearing for the earlier application is scheduled for this Friday.

The second application Local 362 filed was for 8 workers at Varsteel in Calgary. The ALRB hearing for this application is set for 2 September 20222.

The third application was filed on behalf of 12 workers employed with Garda Canada Security Corporation. These workers are responsible for security at the Suncor refinery in Sherwood Park.

Their ALRB hearing is also set for the 2nd of September.

As I’ve already indicated, these aren’t the only application Local 362 has filed this month.

In addition to the Diversified mechanics they’re trying to unionize, they applied for unionization on behalf of Amazon drivers in the Edmonton area earlier this month. And that’s on top of the applications they filed in the spring to try to unionize Amazon warehouse workers in the same area.

Since the ALRB doesn’t archive their new application reports on their website, here’s a copy of the most recent one.