N.B. worker protest has Stelmach calling for calm

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach called for cooler heads to prevail Friday following protests by trade workers in New Brunswick against Albertans working on a natural gas construction project.

The protesters have been ordered to stay away from the out-of-province workers, mostly Albertans, who have been brought to Saint John, N.B.,to work on the Canaport liquefied natural gas project.

A judge on Thursday ordered protesters to stay away from a local hotel, where as many as 350 people had been demonstrating since Monday. The demonstrators are claiming the Canaportjobs should be filled by Maritimers and that importing out-of-province workers is an attempt to circumvent the local union.

Earlier in the week, tradespeople yelled "Our city, our jobs" at the estimated 100 Albertans who are in New Brunswick to do three months of work at the natural gas operation.

Stelmach said he hopes the visiting workers aren't being singled out just because they are from Alberta.

"Alberta, as you know, has been home to many Maritime workers who managed to provide for their families when there were a number of jobs available in Alberta, in the oilsands, especially," said Stelmach. "I know there are still many Maritime workers working in Alberta, and I think that ... cooler heads have to prevail."

'An open province'

Stelmach said the protests in New Brunswick are unfortunate but he's not holding any grudges.

"We're an open province, we're certainly not going to close our borders to other Canadians. That you won't see happen in Alberta."

The workers were contracted to do the work by SNC-Lavalin, which is the general contractorfor the LNG terminal a joint project of Irving Oil Ltd. and Repsol YPF.

The company says it is disappointed with the protests but thatit's committed to completing the work.

The protesters included both union and non-union tradespeople: electricians, pipefitters, insulators, carpenters, boilermakers, labourers and millwrights.

One protester told CBC News on Friday that locals aren't upset the workers are from Alberta but that they're angry the company has brought non-unionized workers to do the job.

Workers moved

There were reports that some of the Alberta workers had left New Brunswick as a result of the tension,but those reports have not been confirmed. SNC-Lavalin said Friday the workers have simply been moved to other nearby locations for their own safety.

According to one report, the Alberta-based workers were hired by a sub-contractor near Calgary, andsome of them are with the Christian Labour Association of Canada, which has had a reputation of undercutting unionized workers' wages and benefits.

Peter Dejong of the Christian Labour Association of Canada said the reaction in New Brunswick is regrettable.

Away from home

"The nature of construction work is sometimes you work close to home and sometimes you work away from home," he said. "And I believe in this case we have a group of workers who are potentially working away from home, I don't know that all of them are, and they're being subjected to some pretty unfortunate behaviour by these protesters."

The New Brunswick Building and Construction Trades Council said it is trying to negotiate a solution to diffuse the problem.

New Brunswick MLA Abel LeBlanc said it's not illegal to bring in workers from outside the province but it is morally wrong to do so when there are plenty of experienced, but unemployed, tradespeople nearby.

"There's nothing wrong with people coming in," said LeBlanc. "Usually when contractors bid a bid, they bring their key people into Saint John. Not the tradespeople but the key people."

Four of the protesters went knocking on neighbourhood doors in the vicinity of the hotel Friday night, apologizing to area residents for the disturbance they caused earlier in the week.

They also handed out $25-gift certificates for the Atlantic Superstore, purchased with $500 collected out-of-pocket from the protesters.

MikeDuncan, an electrician who had been working on the LNG project for about a year but got laid off in June and has since found another job, said the group felt they needed to apologize to local residents.

The gesture seemed to be appreciated. "You know what, it was for our guys to get the jobs instead of bringing in these foreigners from out of town; all the power to you," said one woman, who was sitting on her front step.

"The heart of the matter has always been our jobs for our city," said Duncan. "Just utilize the local workforce, whether they be union or non-union."

He said travel is part of construction life. But the difference this time is that when New Brunswickers work in other provinces, they are invited to work there but only after the local labour pool has been depleted. "We're happy to come and help," he said.

Guy Barbara, owner of the Hotel Courtney Bay, said he's lost millions of dollars in cancellationsafter the workers were moved to another location.