Date: 2015
Location: Fort McMurray
Profile: Kim Conway became safety chairperson for Unifor Local 707A after working as a lab technician at Suncor from 2001 to 2013. Raised in Gander, Newfoundland, Conway earned a BSc in Biology from Memorial University. After moving to Alberta, she worked at McMurray Resources Research and Testing, a non-union employer that paid different wages for the same work. At Suncor she works 6 days on, 6 days off, with 14-15 hours away from home workdays, necessitating a nanny for her 10-year-old son.
Conway’s interview focuses on Unifor’s struggle for safety improvements at Suncor. In 2014, 3 Local members and 2 brother contractors died on the job. Two drownings from equipment failures, equipment crushing a contractor, an electrocution, and a bear attack caused the deaths. These were avoidable deaths, and Conway worked with the company to change practices that could lead to harm to workers. The plant also has asbestos and silica, and various dangers. In one case workers refused to lift a heavy hauler box, and Suncor agreed to use wireless remotes for the job. Conway notes that the union supports drug testing but rejects the company vehicle for testing—urinalysis—because it tests for use, not impairment.
Keywords: Asbestos; Deaths on the job at Suncor; Drug testing of workers; McMurray Resources Research and Testing; Safety chairperson; Silica; Suncor; Work hours and child-raising duties; Wireless remotes.
Interview Transcript: Downbload PDF
See also: Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; Unifor; Women and Work in Alberta