steelworkers fight for jobs
canada goose deals canada goose sale uk Bill Edwards has been through much of this before. canada goose deals
As he approaches 35 years of continuous service at the steel mill on Regina northern edge, canada goose outlet store uk he seen just about every up and every down that comes around in the steel and oil industries.
buy canada goose jacket He not entirely worried about his job canada goose outlet houston at this point (if the very worst were to happen he knows he be one of the last out the door based on his seniority), but he is concerned about the things he sees going on outside Saskatchewan borders and fears what could happen to the jobs of younger employees. buy canada goose jacket
canada goose new territory for a lot of (the young guys) because the rhetoric has got revved up, says Edwards. canada goose premium outlet canada goose
canada goose clearance is a new game being played today. days, employees canada goose outlet black friday at the Evraz steel mill can look in nearly any direction and see some backlash to what they do. Recently it was controversy over the eventually defeated Energy East pipeline. Then it canada goose outlet boston was to the south when debate flared up on the Keystone XL pipeline (for which Evraz had already supplied much of the steel). government is pushing back against Kinder Morgan already approved Trans Mountain pipeline expansion through that province. Evraz was contracted to build 800 kilometres of pipe for that project (75 per cent of the total needed). The company has already said there will canada goose outlet toronto be layoffs if the project is somehow shelved. canada goose clearance
As that battle rages, employees can also look back to the south, where President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on non U. S. steel.
canada goose coats on sale And as all the back and forth between politicians provincially and federally takes place, the ones who canada goose outlet store montreal will be truly canada goose jacket outlet uk affected in the end will be people like Edwards. canada goose coats on sale
canadian goose jacket Bill Edwards, right, former United Steelworkers Local 5890 president and 35 year steelworker, sits and chats with Mike Day, current president, at the union’s office on Park Street. canadian goose jacket
canada goose coats the mouse; the American industry is the elephant, he says. the elephant rolls over, who gets squished? And I canada goose outlet england seen the effects of the elephant rolling over. workers at Evraz (formerly Ipsco) want to make sure that mouse or at least its voice grows. canada goose outlet eu No longer willing to be pipeline pawns in the political games being played, they have stepped up efforts to make their voices heard. canada goose coats
canada goose black friday sale canada goose parka outlet uk When Mike Day and Courtland Klein joined the executive canada goose shop uk of the United Steelworkers Local 5890 in 2012, neither was well versed in politics. They could have told you the name of their local MPs and MLAs, but that was about it. Six years later, they can talk all day about tariffs and countervailing duties and Day, the local president, even spent canada goose coats uk time in December appearing before a canada goose outlet new york Canadian International Trade Tribunal hearing on steel dumping. canada goose black friday sale
Early in their tenure as union executives, they realized they could do more to promote the steel industry and pipelines, rather than let Evraz and other companies do the lobbying. Doing that, they understood, was just as important to protecting jobs as was getting the right language in collective agreements.
A man uses a grinder on a section of pipe at the Evraz steel plant in Regina.
They point to the estimated $600 million that Evraz annually adds to the local economy, the 1,000 plus workers employed at the mill and the $112 million in annual take home pay for those employees that finds its way back into the community.
Canada Goose Jackets in a political pinball machine right now and it too bad, says Klein, the local recording secretary. at the end of it, it our livelihood. It our kids ballet lessons; it our kids hockey practice. know the fear is out there right now, particularly around the future of the canada goose outlet seattle Kinder Morgan line. and the federal government continually promises the line will go through, it Day and Klein who get the worried calls from members who hear rumours of layoffs. Canada Goose Jackets
Day tries to reassure workers and is counting on canada goose outlet toronto factory the federal government to keep its word because, don want people going to work worrying if they have a job tomorrow. You want them to get the job done and go home safe.
cheap Canada Goose Still, that fear exists and the union feels it too. Klein points out canada goose outlet online store review that work has started https://www.canadagoose-jackets-online.com and stopped on some of the canada goose outlet product for Trans Mountain, leading to worries about what might or might not come next. cheap Canada Goose
could be in a real ugly trough over the next two, three years, he says. Enbridge (Line 3) pipe wasn overnight. They talked about that two or three years before we made it. What big pipeline is the National Energy Board talking about right now? There is none. Northern Gateway, they kiboshed. Energy East, they kiboshed. What do we make next? is concerns like that which have actually led to the union and the company working together more closely than ever on lobbying efforts. Brian Kristofic, director of trade and government affairs for Evraz North America, points to USW wide national and international presence which can help benefit everyone involved at Regina plant and elsewhere.
Canada Goose online Day throws credit right back, noting how Evraz actually invested in its Regina plant during the economic downturn. Canada Goose online
buy canada goose jacket cheap Kristofic, who has been with the company since 2012, knows it has been a particularly busy time in dealing with political movement. tariffs. buy canada goose jacket cheap
confident Kinder Morgan will go through, Kristofic says. until there pipe in the ground there is some uncertainty. he adds. main thing to focus on is working safely and making the highest quality product possible.
Canada Goose sale For Rod Williams, that is something he has always been proud to do in nearly 30 years at the plant. But these days, he getting tired of what he calls shamers, those who bash new pipelines and oil production at every turn. Canada Goose sale
Canada Goose Parka He argues, as many have through pipeline debates, that pipelines are the safer, more environmentally friendly option. And, he says, he all for conservation and people being less dependent on oil, but right now there a demand for it and it should be delivered canada goose outlet website legit in the safest way possible. Canada Goose Parka
Canada Goose Outlet Rod Williams, a crane and beveller operator for Evraz, stands in front of the Evraz steel plant on Armour Road. Canada Goose Outlet
canada goose store He went through three layoffs back in the 1990s of only a few months each, but he worried today especially if Trans Mountain fails for some reason to go through that others could be looking at the same in short order. canada goose store
this canada goose jacket outlet sale city, should that not be a go, it going to affect some people at the lower end of the seniority list, Williams says. could be job loss in Regina. We make the steel for it, so the steel plant is affected. The pipe, if that order should be held up it could cost some of the newer employees several months. there are political divisions that might hold up these projects, within the plant the worry can erase at least some of those between employees. Take, for instance, Williams, who recently lost a nomination to run federally for the Conservatives, and Edwards, a member of the federal NDP. Talk to either of them about pipeline issues and you hear a lot of the same arguments about what needs to be done canada goose victoria parka outlet in the industry and the same worry over what politicians will do to protect their jobs.
canada goose clearance sale But as steelworkers make all the arguments they can to those politicians, they all know their jobs, to some extent, are in those politicians hands. They keep faith that things will work out in the end and try to convince as many people as possible that pipelines are important canada goose clearance sale.