Year: 2015
Location: Fort McMurray
Profile: Norma Wesche works as a housekeeper for Civeo (formerly PTI) at their Wapasu West camp. Her home is in British Colombia where she is a certified nursing assistant. When the healthcare system in BC declined due to government cutbacks, she turned to the oilfields.
Wesche feels that time in camp is isolating and has challenges, but that there are also some very good perks to the job. Earlier in her career, Wesche joined UFCW Local 401 after she and a fellow worker were fired for helping the union organize a site. She had not initiated the organizing but she did join the other worker in aiding the union’s work.
The union filed for unjust termination on behalf of Wesche and won.
Wesche went on to help many sites organize, helping workers understand how the union could protect them, especially temporary foreign workers who Wesche recognized were being exploited and kept in fear of losing their jobs. She even met some people in the woods so workers could sign up without being seen. She describes how the union has improved working conditions in the camps.
Keywords: Card signing; Civeo (formerly PTI); Clean Harbours; Fort McMurray; Housekeeper; Kearl; Alberta Labour Relations Board; United Food and Commercial Workers – Locals 401, 1118; Wapasu.
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See also: Migrante Alberta; Occupational Health and Safety; Oil Workers in Alberta; Temporary Foreign Workers in Alberta; United Food and Commercial Workers; Women in Skilled Trades in Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta