Bouwa Whee Catering gets Gahcho Kue contract
Teamsters local says mine refusing to take on unionized employees
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Friday, November 11, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
De Beers Canada Inc., announced on Tuesday that Bouwa Whee Catering will take over the contract to provide catering and other site services at Gahcho Kue mine as of Dec. 9.
The catering contract for Gahcho Kue mine has been up for grabs since former contractor ESS Compass Group announced it was exiting its contract in September. Earlier that month, employees had threatened a strike over a $10 drop in pay. - NNSL file photo |
But not everyone is happy about it.
Bouwa Whee Catering is part of the Det'on Cho Corporation and completely owned by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.
"We decided to refocus here in Canada," said Tom Ormsby, head of external and corporate affairs for De Beers.
The contract is a first of what Ormsby describes as "evergreen contracts," which will remain in place for the life of the operation, as long as services are delivered as required in the contract. He says the focus will be on businesses that are local and preferably aboriginal owned.
But Marcel Dionne, project co-ordinator for Teamsters Local 213, is concerned that focus may be masking anti-union sentiments. Local 213 represents workers under current contractor ESS Compass Group, which announced in September it was giving up its contract after employees threatened to strike over a $10 drop in wages.
"It was a matter of taking on an organization that we believe is anti-union," said Dionne, referring to Bouwa Whee. "And this is why they don't intend to hire any unionized employees, whether they're First Nations or not."
He said the 50 ESS Compass employees currently at Gahcho Kue will be out of work as soon as they've trained their replacements.
"It's kind of putting salt in the wound for these people," he said.
"Believe me they are all qualified because they've been there for three years. And none of them so far got an interview."
He estimates about 60 per cent of those employees are aboriginal. ESS Compass Group provides cooks, sous chefs, janitors and camp attendants at the diamond mine. In September, a straw poll of employees found they were almost unanimously in favour of a strike after negotiations over a $10 drop in wages broke down between the company and the union.
Bouwa Whee wouldn't confirm what their employees will earn doing that work.
"Where they're trying to focus on Northern owned businesses, we're a good fit for them," said Brad Morrissey, director of camp services with Bouwa Whee Catering.
Morrissey said they've been in business with De Beers since 2010 at Snap Lake, which closed down in December.
He said ESS Compass employees already at Gahcho Kue are welcome to apply, however, Bouwa Whee may not require much in terms of staffing.
"We keep a very, very deep casual pool for our other projects ... So we're taking those casuals and making them permanent full time," said Morrissey, adding that Bouwa Whee is looking to bring back as many employees affected by Snap Lake's closure as it can.
Yellowknifer tried get a followup response from Bouwa Whee on the union's accusation that the company is anti-union but did not receive an answer by press time.
Ormsby said how Bouwa Whee Catering staffs the contract - whether it hires unionized or non-unionized workers - is not a priority for De Beers.
"We're looking for the right contract partner, whatever their structure happens to be," said Ormsby, adding De Beers makes "no distinction" between union and non-union workplaces.
"They staff their teams accordingly. When we're awarding the contracts under this new way we're trying to do it, our priority is they are hopefully 100 per cent locally owned, aboriginal owned if possible, and are they being managed locally? Our priority is about, 'Can we make a local investment that's going to be long term and helpful to the community at large.'"
But Dionne thinks those priorities are out of whack.
"We're highly disappointed with De Beers. Obviously De Beers, that's the one that's driving this thing. We understand that the new company that's coming in, they've been given a lengthy contract," he said. "At the end of the day I guess the workers that work for this new organization will have to decide for themselves if they need representation."
