A company that runs hospitality and worker camps in Northeast BC is being accused of unfair labour practices.
The union representing camp workers has filed an unfair labour practice complaint with the BC Labour Relations Board against Horizon North, a subsidiary of Dexterra Group.
The complaint alleges that the company is blacklisting low-wage immigrant workers because of their union affiliation.
“This is blatant blacklisting of low-wage immigrant workers who dared to join a union,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40.
The complaint accuses the company of violating Section 6 of the BC Labour Relations Code and seeks an order to end the practice, release records of affected workers, and compensate those denied work.
“Horizon North is punishing them for organizing and stripping them of future job opportunities,” added Chan.
The company frequently reassigns laid-off staff to other camps when work slows. However, the union says Horizon North is systematically denying those reassignments to workers from unionized camps, blocking them from jobs at non-union sites solely because they are members of Local 40.
The union claim that In some cases, management told workers they were ineligible for reassignment because of their union affiliation.
This complaint comes two months after Horizon North locked out workers from Kobes Creek Lodge and left them stranded in Fort St John, hundreds of kilometers from their homes in Edmonton.
Horizon North operates remote work camps across Western Canada and employs hundreds of workers—many in food service, housekeeping, and maintenance roles.