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After six years, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213 has received a positive ruling against Ledcor Technical Services (LTS) for the implementation of a collective agreement.

The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) of IBEW’S version of a collective bargaining agreement between the union and LTS Solutions Ltd., accepting all of the union’s proposals except the duration of the agreement.

“This decision by the CIRB to finalize the collective agreement is further vindication of our position from day one more than five years ago when we started bargaining with Ledcor,” said Robin Nedila, assistant business manager with IBEW.

The collective agreement will be in place for two years. The union originally asked for the agreement to be in place for four years and LTS asked for three.

“This means we will be back at the bargaining table sooner than either party would like,” writes IBEW 213 in a news release.

IBEW lead organizer for Western Canada, Dustin Brecht, called the union’s success a “story about perseverance.” In the six years of bargaining, the 238 workers originally involved in the bargaining unit reduced to 65.

“This decision is monumental for the labour movement,” said Brecht. “The fact that it took nearly six years to reach this conclusion shows how much more work we have to accomplish.”

Ledcor declined to comment on the ruling when contacted by the Journal of Commerce.

The CIRB agreed with IBEW’s proposals on issues of union security, wages, health and welfare, pension and retirement benefits and exclusive jurisdiction.

Regarding union security, the IBEW argued all employees of LTS should be members in good standing of the union with no exceptions.

LTS sought several exemptions such as for any worker who chose to cross the picket line to work during the length of the strike. According to the board, LTS said, “employees who crossed the picket line should not be required to join a union that has mistreated them.”

Ultimately, the board went with the union’s proposal on this issue and implemented a closed-shop deal as part of the agreement. According to the CIRB, at least 50 per cent of collective agreements in telecommunications across Canada have such a clause.

Regarding wage increases, the board noted Ledcor hurt its own argument by failing to provide comprehensive and transparent data about LTS’s financial situation, writing “the employer has never provided the union with financial information or the contract between it and TELUS, despite repeated requests.”

The CIRB noted this was very much a choice of LTS. In a submission, LTS wrote the five per cent first year wage increase requested by the union would render the company “uncompetitive for work from its primary client, TELUS, and hence doom its business in the province.”

“The board concludes that LTS has chosen not to provide it with the relevant data” and that the fight around wage increases constituted a “willingness to pay issue as opposed to an ability to pay issue.”

Because of the failure to provide relevant data to support its argument, the CIRB ruled against LTS on this issue. The new wage rate will consist of a five per cent wage increase in the first year for employees followed by a three per cent increase in 2024 and 2025, when after that the agreement will need to be renegotiated.

Regarding health and benefits, CIRB stated the IBEW’s proposed plan was superior to the one maintained by LTS and more in-line with similar employers in B.C. LTS will need to pay roughly $86 more per employee per month for the new benefit plan.

Another area of contention was retirement savings plans. The board writes LTS’s proposal would see it paying considerably less into retirement savings than similar employers in the province do. LTS proposed paying two per cent of an employee’s wages excluding overtime, whereas TELUS pays 10 per cent of an employee’s gross earnings and Shaw tends to contribute between 9.75 per cent to 7.51 per cent annual earnings.

The IBEW proposal, which CIRB granted, would see LTS contributing five per cent of an employee’s earnings to the Local 213 Workers Pension Plan.

The final issue revolved around union exclusivity to other telecommunications work LTS could take on, if it started working for Shaw Communications, for example. The board ruled in favour of the union, which it saw as essential in ensuring equality between LTS and IBEW 213.

“As a matter of basic fairness and labour relations, stability in the telecommunications industry in B.C., it makes sense to impose the union’s version.”

Though this settles a long-running issue for now, IBEW officials expressed unhappiness with how the process unfolded.

“We are pleased with the result but frustrated with the length of time to get here,” Nedila said.