Date: 2023
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Carl Wilson arrived in 1975 in Edmonton with his family after spending a few years in England where he became a pressure welder. He went directly into employment in Fort McMurray and joined the Pipefitters Union as a pressure welder. He worked on different Syncrude crude production sites as a boilermaker/welder and journeyman welder before becoming a job steward. In that role Wilson held camp committee meetings and addressed “wobbles,” spontaneous short-term strikes to protest employer practices. Elected business agent for Local 488 of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters from 1999 to 2006, he travelled to different work sites with the owner’s knowledge and permission, visiting contractors, and workers in the lunchroom and offices. Wilson has extensive knowledge of plant operations, work processes, the powerplants and their locations, jobsite production lines, construction, welding, extraction, and refining and expansion processes. He interacted with all the categories of workers and plant management. He outlines advantages unionists have over members of CLAC.
Wilson describes the hardships of his employment at a distance on his family, especially with his weekly commute from Edmonton to Fort McMurray. He also explains how he has coped with anti-Black racism at work.
Keywords: Bechtel; Boilermaker; Business Agent; Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC); Ironworkers; Pressure welders; PCL; Quality control inspector; Syncrude; Wobbles.
Transcript: Download PDF
See also: Black Communities in Alberta; Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; Oil Workers in Alberta; Systemic Racism in Alberta; United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters