It is falsely assumed that big projects equal lots of jobs and, by extension, labour peace if not outright satisfaction. The size and scope of the tarsands means for incredibly dangerous work conditions-- some fatalities at the plants have already occurred. The products seldom get their "value added" in union-run locations, instead the heavy bitumen can be shipped to many different locations across North America for refining, denying benefits to the union. However, the Union does not represent the "guest worker", now being imported in increasing numbers as legislation is changed to make access easier, the term of exploitation last longer, without any new efforts or pathways to deciding to stay after helping tear up the earth.
Alberta carpenters serve strike notice
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070906.RTICKERMAIN06/...
DAVID EBNER
September 6, 2007
Carpenters in Alberta may briefly go on strike this weekend, a strange twist in prolonged and complicated contract talks between builders in the province and construction workers.
Oil patch feeding frenzy predicted
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070907.RRUBIN07/TPSto...
DAVID PARKINSON
September 7, 2007
The Canadian oil patch could be hit by a major round of takeovers by multinational giants in the next year, Jeff Rubin of CIBC World Markets predicts, as the global energy industry looks increasingly to Alberta's rich oil sands as one of the few major world oil reserves unfettered by political meddling.
Oil Pipeline Gets Preliminary Nod
By JAMES MacPHERSON 09.05.07, 5:40 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/09/05/ap4086122.html
BISMARCK, N.D. -
The U.S. State Department has given a preliminary nod to a $2 billion pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canada through seven states.
The Keystone pipeline, a project of TransCanada Corp. (nyse: TRP - news - people ) of Calgary, Alberta, is planned to stretch more than 1,800 miles from Hardisty, in east-central Alberta, to refineries in Illinois, with a spur to Oklahoma.
Mexican rights violated in free trade’s name
Published September 3rd, 2007 in Opinion
http://www.cordweekly.com/archives/2168
ALEX HUNDERT
JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
In mid-August, I spent several days in a small vacation town called Montebello, located between Ottawa and Montreal. In this town on the historic Ottawa River is a resort complex owned by a prominent hotel chain.
The heads of state from Canada, the United States and Mexico were there meeting on August 21 and 22 with an array of the most powerful businessmen and industrialists from North America.
Blaming labor for peak oil problems
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2007/08/15/oil_sands_labor/index.html
A labor shortage is "wracking" the province of Alberta, Macleans tell us, brought on by the mad rush to exploit the vast reserves of petroleum locked in the fabled oil sands of Canada's Wild West. The jobless rate in Alberta is a "historically low" 3.4 percent even with net inward migration in 2006 hitting 62,000.
The Boom, Union Busting, and Temporary Foreign Workers
Plans to Import Workers a "Lose-Lose Proposition"
Alberta is in the middle of a boom. There is no question about that. Due to the pace of economic activity, the labour market is tight. Employers are having to work harder to find workers for their projects.
Most employers are taking necessary steps to recruit and retain desired workers - improving working conditions, increasing wages and offering good benefits. Some employers, however, are taking more drastic steps.
Oilsands workers rally in Fort McMurray
Protesting ongoing labour dispute
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2007/08/23/4441128.html
By CP
FORT MCMURRAY — Hundreds of workers fed up with an ongoing labour dispute in the oilsands rallied in Fort McMurray on Wednesday night.
The workers, many of them from the pipefitters and electrical workers unions, are not happy with a four-year contract offer, and say they’re disappointed in how their union leaders have negotiated.
Cocaine easier to buy than pizza
Drugs, alcohol plague transient workers living on fringes of oilpatch boom towns
Amanda Ferguson, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 2:05 am
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=cd92c68f-21d9-4...
Even when living in the remote work camps of northern Alberta, Ken was never far from his next fix.
If cocaine wasn't being used inside his camp of 3,000 oil workers in the outskirts of Fort McMurray, it lingered just outside in the pockets of the drug dealers who prowled outside the gates like predators.
Mining black gold, and profits, from northern sands
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/11600/1/387
Imagine for a moment that you’re an American oil executive. You’re pondering the prospects for the next big oil strike overseas — and dreaming of a place where the government is stable and compliant, the royalties are low and the environmental standards minimal.
Oilpatch fox to watch tar sands henhouse
Oil executives shouldn't run a key government agency, even temporarily.
Dateline: Monday, August 20, 2007
http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature7.cfm?REF=427
by Sheila Pratt for The Edmonton Journal
Ed Stelmach took some good advice last winter and set up an oilsands secretariat to help manage the serious growth problems in Fort McMurray caused by the rapid expansion of the oilsands. Good idea, long overdue.
