B.C. carpenters have accepted terms from the B.C. Labour Relations Board enabling them to break from the Washington-based United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
More than 75% of 5,000 carpenters in the Construction, Maintenance and Allied Workers Union voted in favour of an LRB report setting the terms of their separation from the UBCJA.
The CMAW had spent the past decade creating its own Canadian union to represent workers in B.C. and across the country.
As part of the settlement, the B.C. Provincial Council of Carpenters will pay $6 million to the UBCJA for leaving the union and, subject to LRB approval, share the right to represent carpentry in the province. The council will pay $4.5 million up front. The remaining $1.5 million will be paid over a three-year period.
According to the council, more than 95% of carpenter certifications in B.C. are held by the CMAW, which also represents industrial shop works, shipyard works in the Lower Mainland and school board workers in the Interior.
The Vancouver-based CMAW has more than 7,000 members in B.C.