Staff at lodge for LNG workers vote to strike, potentially disrupting Kitimat project

Employees at a lodge housing workers for LNG Canada's under-construction facility in Kitimat, B.C., have authorized strike action, potentially disrupting the massive project.

The unions representing workers at the Cedar Valley Lodge say members voted 97 per cent in favour of strike actionon July 7.

One of the unions, Unite Here Local 40, says Cedar Valley accommodates up to 5,000 camp workers for LNG Canada and is "the only accommodation facility in Kitimat large enough" to house so many people.

The 450 lodge workers who voted for strike action are employed by Sodexo, which offers hospitality, food and maintenance services at the lodge.

Unite Here says mediation with the employer began Monday at the B.C. Labour Board.

The union says lodge employees are "the lowest compensated workers at the LNG Canada construction site" and did not receive a 12.5 per cent wage increase that some others working on the project received in 2022.

"Cedar Valley Lodge workers are being treated unfairly. We deserve fair pay for the work we do not to be the lowest paid people at the LNG Canada camp," said Mike Lightheart, a cook who has worked at the lodge for three years, in the statement.

The release says a strike, if it were to happen, would "cause significant disruption" to work on the facility, which is part of a $40-billion liquefied natural gas export project.

LNG Canada says in a statement it's not part of the negotiations between the unions and Sodexo, but it is "hopeful" the two sides will reach a "mutually satisfactory solution."