Controversy in B.C. Employment Standards

Peter Severinson

| June 9, 2010

Image by: Robert Kenney

Richard Skujins says his B.C. roofing business is suffering from contractors who cut corners on working standards to win deals.

If employment  standards aren’t enforced, will B.C.  lose its honest employers?

It’s perhaps not surprising that a search for one of Vancouver’s major roofing contractors leads to a less-than-picturesque part of town. Speeding transport trucks rattle the windows of the repair shops and equipment suppliers that line East Kent Avenue North, a two-lane road running directly underneath the Knight Street Bridge. A railway lies to one side, a steam-belching factory next to that, and the Fraser River somewhere beyond. There’s a wicked tang in the air, maybe from the nearby fish plant; it smells like someone’s cooking a few tonnes of seaweed in ammonia.

Richard Skujins, co-owner of Cambie Roofing and Drainage Contractors Ltd., works out of a small spotless office across the road from the railway. He’s spent all his working life in roofing, taking after his father, uncle and grandfather. But while the business has been good to the family, it also has an ugly side. Roofing is intensely competitive, and the sector is rife with fly-by-night operators who flaunt workplace standards to score contracts. And for someone like Skujins, who prides himself on his company’s good relationship with workers, that’s a growing problem.

“I bet you we’re the only company out there that pays overtime,” says the fit, confident 40-year-old, straight-faced under the brim of a ball cap. “It does take a part of our bottom line. Absolutely.” 

Cambie Roofing employs between 80 and 130 workers, depending on the season, and treating them right has been part of the corporate culture since his father, Knute, bought the company about 40 years ago, Skujins says. It’s the kind of place where workers can expect Christmas parties and company barbecues. But that kind of tradition can put a financial strain on a company in today’s hypercompetitive marketplace.  

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BCB magazine publishes a

Submitted by mbrodie (not verified) on Fri, 2010-10-29 07:52.

BCB magazine publishes a graph not found in this BCB online article. The graph plots the number of complaints to the B.C. Employment Standards Branch over the last decade. Up to around 2002, the graph depicts complaints relatively steady at 12,000 per annum, then a rapid decline to 6,000 per annum occurred, after which the figure has remained stable up to present. If this is accurate, these numbers are reminiscent of customer service management at big Telcom and Hydro. For example, between 1960 and 1970, one candidate for president at Toronto Hydro ran his election platform on the basis that he would reduce the number of service complaints by fifty percent. He marketed the popular idea that he would improve Hydro’s customer service. He won the election. On entering office he ordered the removal of half of all telephones in the customer service department. The number of reported complaints fell by half. In 2010, while good companies like Cambie Roofing are being undercut by unscrupulous employers, Mr Severinson has made us pause and think about self-regulation, but have we really thought about it enough? - Thomas Sutton, Vancouver BC

The article seems to imply

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2010-07-05 09:59.

The article seems to imply that it's the construction industry that is unlikely to pay overtime - however, it's common place in white-collar work. Recent studies even showed that upwards of 40% of white-collar workers do hours and hours of overtime at work and/or work taken home that they never get paid for. The tragedy is that it's women workers who still don't make the same dollar as men for the same white-collar work. As someone who's unemployed, the past two jobs I've had have actually stated that you're not supposed to "think" on the job as well. Employees in BC are expected to be automatons without the requisite ability to determine ethical practices and/or be able to even defend themselves when going through the termination process. The attitude by most management is, "Don't ask questions, be grateful that you have a job and grovel and ass-kiss at the drop of a hat, don't think - ever, don't expect to be paid what you're worth, and don't expect to ever be paid for over-time." And we won't even go into the nepotism that runs rampant in BC... It's common-place - it's a tragedy, it's BC.

This is so typical of B.C

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2010-07-02 14:33.

This is so typical of B.C and Canada in general.. employees are more slaves than workers!!! min wage unchanged in the last 10 years worker right = NO RIGHTS Beg for a job instead of being a valued employee (with pride for what you do) Canada the beautiful??? yes with a nasty underbelly