A strike by crane and heavy equipment operators has shutdown construction on Ottawa's new $334 million central library at LeBreton Flats, and could potentially impact work on Stage 2 of the Light Rail Transit project.
Crane and heavy equipment operators with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793 began strike action last Monday after rejecting a contract offer. The proposal included a salary increase of $8 per hour over three years, averaging four per cent a year, according to the International Union of Operating Engineers.
A crane operator earns $65 an hour in Ottawa.
The city of Ottawa says the week old job action has already forced work on the new Ottawa Public Library-Library and Archives Canada project at LeBreton Flats, called Ādisōke, to stop.
“Due to the current International Union of Operating Engineers, Institutional, Commercial, Industrial (ICI) sector strike, work has temporarily paused at the Ādisōke project site. The Ādisōke project site is safe and secure," Carina Duclos, Director of Infrastructure Services, told CTV News Ottawa in a statement.
"The City and the Ādisōke Project Team are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to provide regular updates."
The price tag for the new library at LeBreton Flats increased $131 million last fall due to escalating construction costs.
The new library is scheduled to open in mid-2026, according to a report tabled in October. The initial plan was for the new library to open in 2025.
Meantime, there are concerns the strike could halt construction on Stage 2 of Ottawa's LRT project, which will extend the Confederation Line to Tenth Line Road and Moodie Drive, and run the Trillium Line from Bayview Station to Riverside South.
“The City has been advised by both contractors on the Stage 2 LRT project that the strike by the International Union of Operating Engineers could potentially impact the LRT project," Richard Holder, Manager of Rail Infrastructure, said Friday.
"Currently, work is continuing across the east, west and south extensions. The City and its contractors are closely monitoring the situation.”
The city says it will continue to assess and evaluate the situation to determine if the strike will further impact city projects.
All construction projects face delays, association warns
The Ottawa Construction Association warns job action by crane and heavy equipment operators and carpenters will cause lengthy delays for all projects in Ottawa, from the LRT to the Centre Block rehabilitation project and condominium buildings.
With crane and heavy equipment operators already on strike, carpenters are set to begin job action on Monday.
Members of the Carpenters' District Council of Ontario have voted 75 per cent to reject a contract proposal, setting the stage for a strike at Industrial, Commercial and Institutional construction sites.
"Nobody wants to go on strike and our union hasn't been on strike in the ICI sector for 34 years," Mike Yorke, Carpenters District Council of Ontario President, said in a statement on the union's website. "But our members, from one side of the province to the other, have now voted overwhelmingly to tell their employers that we want a fair deal."
The strike by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 793 has shutdown cranes, shovels and bulldozers on construction sites.
Construction association president John DeVries says the job actions will cause delays at all construction sites.
"The operating engineers; just the tower crane alone, they're so essential to moving materials around the site," DeVries said. "Doing a concrete pour for example, those cranes bring the concrete up to the multiple floors. So without that crane operator, there's only so much you can do on a site. Other trades can work around it for a few days, but usually that means the site is grind down to a halt pretty quickly."
DeVries says the rising cost of fuel and other products was a concern for members in rejecting the deal.
"It's unprecedented. I haven't seen this in 30 years of negotiation. Usually we come to an agreement and they get ratified," DeVries said. "Nobody has seen inflation like this in 30 years."
The Construction Labour Relations of Ontario says talks continue with the union representing crane and heavy equipment operators.
DeVries says the strike by crane operators and heavy equipment operators is having a domino effect on contract talks with other unions in the construction sector.
Labourers and plumbers have been holding ratification votes this week.
With files from CTV Northern Ontario's Lyndsay Aelick
The contract proposal for the International Union of Operating Engineers was $8 per hour over three years, not an 8 per cent increase as previously reported.
Two of Canada's men's world junior hockey teams are being investigated by police following alleged group sexual assaults in 2003 and 2018.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he's concerned sports organizations are not fulfilling their responsibility to keep athletes safe, and groups like Hockey Canada and Gymnastics Canada have work to do to restore trust and assure parents their children are taken care of.
Testimony has ended in the trial of a former Vancouver Canucks forward charged with sexual assault.
A Conservative committee reviewing Patrick Brown's disqualification from the leadership race has concluded the party had the evidence it needed to recommend he be removed from contention.
Frustrations are mounting as reports of lost and delayed baggage at Canada's airports pile up. On CTVNews.ca, passengers share their stories of spending weeks, even months, waiting to be reunited with their checked baggage.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says it identified a technical glitch with the ArriveCAN entry app that erroneously notified some people to quarantine.
Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former U.S. president Donald Trump was convicted Friday of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The Canadian government will increase old age security starting next week, a move the feds say will be the first permanent raise to the pension in nearly 50 years.
A dispute over legal protections for American customs officers has kept Nexus enrolment centres closed in Canada more than three months after they reopened south of the border -- due in part to a clash over U.S. agents' right to carry guns on Canadian soil.
The MV Holiday Island ferry was evacuated Friday afternoon after a fire broke out in the engine room earlier in the day.
The senior RCMP officer in the district where the Nova Scotia mass shooting occurred says he stayed home during the rampage because having a "white shirt" present at the command post would have caused confusion.
The number of people with COVID-19 in Maritime hospitals this summer continues to climb, with more week-to-week increases in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
A man is in hospital with serious injuries after he was struck by a streetcar on St. Clair Avenue West in Toronto on Friday night.
Experts say there may be a chance to catch the northern lights in some parts of Ontario tonight, but there’s still some uncertainty.
Kiki Jones has spent the past few days taking cold showers, avoiding physical activity, keeping the blinds shut and blasting electric fans in their non-air-conditioned apartment in Toronto.
A 14-year-old girl drowned Friday at the Super Aqua Club in Pointe-Calumet, Que., in the Laurentians.
An explosion at a polymer research centre in Greater Montreal left one dead and three injured Friday morning.
Montreal's transit agency announced Friday that its new CEO is Marie-Claude Leonard, a 30-year veteran employee who started working there as an STM cashier when she was a student.
As of July 28, children aged five and under are eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Instead of its usual Italian Festival, the Marconi Cultural Event Centre is expanding the event to encompass other cultures.
Canada’s longest-running match play golf tournament is back. The 74th annual Idylwylde Invitational features some of the top golfers in the province.
The London Police Service is investigating after a serious vehicle collision claimed the life of a pedestrian late Friday afternoon in the south end of the city.
London police say a body has been found in an open field.
An overnight road closure on Highway 401 is now clear after police say a transport truck collided with a maintenance truck being used to protect crews painting lines on the road.
It's usually a popular place to cool down on a hot summer day at a North Kildonan apartment complex but no one was in the water Friday after an emergency Thursday afternoon at its outdoor swimming pool.
The Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak along with Mathias Colomb Cree Nation said they are looking for a woman who they believe was abducted in Winnipeg.
Lac du Bonnet RCMP are investigating a potential drowning in the Winnipeg River.
New data shows even though the average home price is coming down, higher stress tests driven by increasing mortgage rates mean the annual income you need to buy a home is actually going up in Kitchener and many Canadian cities.
The Waterloo Region District Public School Board has offered few public details about what it’s calling the “cyber incidents” that impacted its IT system, but one cyber security expert says the breach is concerning.
Bulldog Hanover, a horse from Puslinch, Ont., recently broke the world record for the fastest mile at a racetrack in New Jersey.
Matthew Tkachuk was traded by the Calgary Flames to the Florida Panthers Friday in a deal that brought back a package including Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and a conditional 2025 first-round draft pick, the Flames announced Friday evening.
Strathmore RCMP are on the scene of a fatal collision that took place Friday night on Highway 22X at Range Road 280.
Tempers are flaring as another health care facility in Alberta starts two months of temporary closures.
The city is left footing the bill after a Saskatoon bridge was damaged in a hit-and-run earlier this year.
With less than six months of experience, a Prince Albert Paramedic has delivered two babies already, and he has a special connection with the most recent baby he helped deliver.
As gas prices rise in Alberta, the premier says he's going to ask Canada's competition bureau to investigate potential price fixing in the province.
Residential school survivors from the Samson Cree Nation held a press conference on Thursday ahead of Pope Francis' visit to Alberta next week.
Dalton Schoen’s 81-yard touchdown catch proved to be the difference as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers remained perfect on the season, defeating the Edmonton Elks 24-10 on Friday.
Mounties are looking for a man accused of murder who they say is unlawfully at large after he left the North Fraser Pre-Trial Centre in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
A long-range plan meant to help shape Vancouver's future, which includes controversial renter protections, has been approved by city council.
Testimony has ended in the trial of a former Vancouver Canucks forward charged with sexual assault.
The Pope may not be visiting Saskatchewan on his national apology tour, but that doesn’t mean some of the provinces’ residential school survivors won’t be seeing him.
Community fridges are struggling to keep their shelves stocked as food insecurity continues to be a prevalent issue in Regina.
Southey RCMP have released a sketch of the suspect in an alleged sexual assault of a preteen child in Govan, Sask.
© 2022 All rights reserved. Use of this Website assumes acceptance of Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy