PRESS RELEASE: Frontline LNG Janitors Reach Historic Union Contract

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 17, 2021

3-year deal includes health and safety protections, and First Nations hiring commitments secured

Kitimat, BC — Industrial janitors at the LNG Canada Kitimat site, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40,  have ratified a standard-setting union contract with Gitxaala Horizon North Services LP. The agreement includes a commitment to hire from First Nations and local communities, dramatically improved health care benefits, health and safety protections, along with significant wage increases.

The agreement with Gitxaala Horizon North Services LP covers industrial janitors who sanitize and clean buildings on the $40 billion LNG Canada pipeline project. The union bargaining committee achieved their first 3-year collective agreement after workers formed a union last summer and engaged in months of tough bargaining during the pandemic. As COVID-19 cases have risen in northern BC and the provincial government has limited worksite and camp staffing levels, this new contract provides job security and improved working conditions for camp workers in Kitimat.  

Indigenous workers led their co-workers to form the union and win their first contract. Now, the company has agreed to commit to hiring First Nations people as 30 percent of its workforce.

“Thanks to Gitxaala Horizon North Services LP for bargaining with us through COVID-19. I’m proud that we were able to win this contract and I can better support my family’s needs as the living costs in Prince Rupert have just skyrocketed. The extra dollars will make a huge difference. We reached our goal that we set out to achieve and in the end we won better wages and a fairer workplace for everybody,” said Jaime Moraes, janitor and member of the Tsimshian Nation. 

The contract sets a groundbreaking standard in wages and travel for LNG camp workers. UNITE HERE Local 40 is the fastest growing camp workers’ union in northern BC and now represents over 350 camp workers in Kitimat.

Media Contact: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356, [email protected]

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UNITE HERE Local 40 is the hospitality and camp workers’ union and represents members in construction camps and the hotel, food service, and airport industries throughout British Columbia. Learn more at UniteHereLocal40.org.