President’s Message
We are happy to announce that negotiations for the 2022-2025 agreement have been finalized and it went very smoothly and timely.
The agreement was considered fair and beneficial to our membership. It was the industry average across the board and was attained for both the brick and tile agreements. In negotiations we managed to acquire funding for the Denovo Treatment Centres for all the locals; to the great advantage of all of our members. We also were welcomed back into the Provincial Building Trades as the Brick and Allied Craft Union of Canada after a long hiatus.
Through negotiations we added five cents to the Scholarship Fund which will be able to assist many of our members’ children with their educational endeavors. With this addition we will be able to raise our contribution to those children to $1,500.00 per school year instead of the $1,000.00 per year.
We are thrilled to announce that our annual golf tournament was held this year after two years of suspension due to the pandemic. We raised $20,000.00 for the fund to aid future recipients of the scholarship. You can acquire an application through your local or contact the Provincial Office. All active members’ children are encouraged to apply.
The BACU recently purchased hard hats for our entire membership and will be distributed in the months of July and August of 2022. The BACU is responsive in the Health & Safety of our membership.
As the pandemic hopefully reaches an end, the Province of Ontario is back to work and in full swing. With our new government there is 180 billion dollars to filter into the infrastructure of Ontario and that means more work for our members. We are always attempting to gain more work and attract new members and apprentices.
The pension is well funded but because of the stock market dips in 2022, some areas of the pension fund are struggling. We still have time to recover as we are presently reaching our targets.
With all of that being said I want to thank all of our membership for going to work every day as this Union is nothing without your hard work keeping us strong and unified.
In Solidarity,
Tony Di Maria,
President, BACU Canada