Richmond Review, August 02, 2013

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Friday, August 2, 2013

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richmondreview.com Friday, august 2, 2013

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Pipeline plans on track despite spill Comparing Lemon Creek and Fraser River is “apples and oranges,” says project director by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter

Matthew Hoekstra photo Michelle Countz, a 15-year IKEA employee, and Rodger Hill, a 31-year worker, on the picket line with co-workers at the Richmond furniture store.

Mediation fails to find resolution in IKEA dispute Pickets remain at Richmond furniture store as bitter labour battle continues by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter An attempt to find a resolution through mediation to a long labour dispute at IKEA’s Richmond store has failed. The company issued a statement Wednesday morning saying two weeks of mediation—which began July 13—has left the company and Teamsters Local 213 at an “impasse.” “The proposal positioned the IKEA Richmond store for future success and sustainability. Despite our efforts to address the two tier system, the union rejected IKEA’s offer,” said IKEA's Madeleine Löwenborg-Frick. Teamsters Local 213 represents approximately 325 workers, who have been out of work since May 13 when pickets went

up. They remained up this week, and no further talks are scheduled, said Löwenborg-Frick. According to Löwenborg-Frick, IKEA presented a new proposal at the start of mediation that eliminated the proposed two-tier wage system, which the union has repeatedly rejected. The new proposal included automatic wage increases and increases tied to the store’s performance. “The proposal allowed IKEA to address the union’s expressed leading concern, while also addressing the store’s poor performance. The IKEA Richmond store has consistently been the lowest performing store in Canada for sales and productivity, while having the highest staff costs.” IKEA replaced its aging Richmond store with a new Jacombs road location in April 2012. The new store is 66 per cent larger than the previous location. It continues to operate with reduced hours during the dispute. A spokesperson for the union wasn’t immediately available for comment.

A spill that filled a Slocan Valley creek with 33,000 litres of jet fuel one week ago won’t alter a proposal to build a new fuel delivery system for Vancouver International Airport. “The incident in Lemon Creek doesn’t change the way we perceive our project,” said Adrian Pollard, project director for the Vancouver Airport Fuel Facilities Corporation. “We’re following it closely because what will be of interest to us is the fate of the spill, how quickly it’s cleaned up and evaporates.” The corporation, a consortium of airlines, is proposing to deliver jet fuel to YVR by barging it up the Fraser River to Riverport and transfer it to an underground pipeline. Last Friday a tanker truck delivering fuel for helicopters fighting forest fires spilled its load into Lemon Creek, near Nelson, B.C., causing toxic fumes and contaminating a local water supply. But the spill—and the potential for one under the local proposal—is comparing “apples and oranges,” noted Pollard. Under the airlines’ proposal, 1,000 tanker trucks from the U.S. that currently boost the airport’s fuel supply would be taken off the road. “Tanker trucks are a necessary evil of firefighting, but it’s something we can get rid of as part of our project. It’s certainly high on the list of benefits, we think,” said Pollard. In a YouTube video, Slocan Valley resident Sarosha Stockton provided a riverside account of the spill’s effect a day after the incident. “Fish are dying and there’s the proof right there—right in that milky contaminated water beside what used to be a fantastic fishing pool,” he said, pointing to dead fish washing up near the shore. “Now I fear that all the fish could end up like this.” See Page 4

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