The doors are closing on efforts to prevent a shutdown of elevator servicing across B.C.
The National Elevator and Escalator Association, which represents the country’s top four elevator companies – Otis, Schindler, KONE and TK Elevator – served a lockout notice to the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 82 this weekend following the breakdown of talks on October 12.
According to the notice, 900 unionized workers could be locked out Oct. 17, potentially impacting tens of thousands of buildings and construction sites.
The move came as the union served employers with a 72-hour strike notice for maintenance and service mechanics. The union said the handful of its members in construction would not be affected.
The union’s collective agreement expired on Oct. 1. Typically negotiated every five years, this year marks the first time in decades that issues have taken the sector to the brink of a labour disruption.
The last major strike affecting elevator workers took place in 1986, when they joined plumbers and boilermakers on the picket lines following concern over how a joint union bargaining council represented their interests. The unions representing the three trades asked for the right to negotiate their own contracts.
This year, the sticking point was wages. During negotiations mediated by the BC Labour Relations Board, employers tabled a wage offer significantly less than what the union had obtained for members in other Canadian jurisdictions.
“Our union is facing concession demands from four giant multinational elevator corporations who have made $7.7 billion in profits in 2021 and our hard-working members are not going to accept anything less than a fair and reasonable contract,” union business manager Mike Funk said in a statement. “The workers who have helped them be so successful deserve a share of the results, not concessions.”
Funk said the union would ensure elevators in hospitals and long-term care homes would be serviced despite any job action that occurs.
“We do not want to see a lockout or a strike – we want to get back to bargaining – but if a lockout or job action occurs, our union will make sure any elevator repairs needed in hospitals or long-term care homes take place as quickly as possible,” Funk says.
Prior to any lockout taking place, the BC Labour Relations Board has to review essential service levels, which the union and employers will discuss with the board Oct. 16.
If essential services levels are set, employers could lock out workers across B.C. on Oct. 17.
The job action looming in the elevator business is the latest to hit the construction sector. A labour dispute hit the cement sector a year ago, and the port dispute earlier this year disrupted the flow of supplies into the market.
