Plumbers, pipefitters vote to strike

Construction on Winnipeg’s long-awaited new airport is going to be delayed.

Starting Monday morning, 322 plumbers, pipe-fitters and welders will hit the picket lines after voting to strike Sunday. The workers are in a labour dispute with construction companies.

The issue is over wages. Plumbers and pipefitters say they’re not getting a competitive wage and are not happy with the 3 per cent hike offered by contractors.

Sunday, members voted to reject the offer by a vote of 224 to 98.

The United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Union says the fight is about remaining competitive with other provinces.

Currently, hundreds of plumbers and pipefitters live in Manitoba but work in Saskatchewan because wages are better. The union expects the strike to be a lengthy one and says current projects will be delayed, but overall the impact won’t be significant.

"There’s a lot of projects that haven’t started or are just finishing, so it’s not going to affect the industry a lot," said Heiko Wiechurn of the United Association of Plumbers Local 254.

"Like the museum, we haven’t really started there. The airport we’re down to 8 men, we had around 60 at our peak."

Starting at 5:30 a.m. Monday, plumbers, pipefitters and welders will walk the picket line at various locations including the Human Rights Museum, the airport and Headingley Jail.

Now that these unionized workers are on strike, it’s believed electricians and iron-workers could be right behind them in the coming weeks.