Around sixty people protesting at the Bull Arm site today say they will stay there for as long as it takes.
Workers from a variety of trades and sixteen unions are on site protesting being “pushed out” of work on the site by government.
The sticking point is an agreement between DF Barnes and the carpenters Local 585 for work on the Transocean Barrents, which is now in port for a refit.
All other unions were shut out of the work which amounts to 40-50 jobs according to ironworker Philip Tulk.
Tulk says that there are people here that could be doing the work. He says with the labour shortages across Canada, construction jobs are dwindling, so the little bit of work of work that the province does have, they want a piece of it.
Tulk says that by being pushed out by one faction of a local international side of the carpenters is just not right. He says they live and work here and have a right to some of the work.
Tulk says a representative from DF Barnes briefly came out to speak with them but didn’t really give them any answers.
Local Workers Doing Local Work is Something to Celebrate says DF Barnes
DF Barnes is responding to the protest outside the Bull Arm site this morning.
The company says it stands by the “excellent work” being done at Bull Arm by local workers.
In a release issued this morning the company says it is on its second contract to carry out service on drill rigs. The West Aquarius thruster change-out was the first, and local workers have again been hired to complete the “highly skilled and technical service and maintenance work” on a second rig.
DF Barnes says that’s something to celebrate, not protest.
The company says it bodes well for future work at the site, conducted by a local workforce, instead of “foreign yards as has been the case in the past.”