VANCOUVER, May 31, 2017 /CNW/ - The B.C. Coalition for Safety Before Profits and its members have issued a warning to potential Kinder Morgan IPO investors. Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. has started open market trading of its IPO, to help finance the cost of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
B.C. Coalition for Safety Before Profits spokesperson Patrick Campbell said, "The investments for projects like this often come from large union-owned pension funds and institutional investors. We've been relegated to at best a token role with the possibility of being squeezed out of this project completely – the vast majority of construction jobs are being assigned to cheaper, less skilled labour that may or not come from B.C. and Canadian sources."
"Our members are clear on this – we will not contribute from our investment portfolios to use our members' pension monies to support a project that will not engage our working membership in a meaningful way. We firmly believe there is a safe, cost-effective and environmentally responsible way to get this project built – but it won't happen without the meaningful involvement of the highly skilled B.C. and Canadian pipeline unions that have built nearly every major pipeline in Canada to date," said Campbell. "These jobs were promised to the people of B.C., and that should mean something. British Columbians demand that Kinder Morgan puts safety before its own profits."
Founding coalition members – the International Union of Operating Engineers, the Labourer's International Union of North America, United Association Canada (Canadian Piping Trades), and Teamsters Canada – as well as more than 1,500 supporters are letting potential Kinder Morgan IPO investors that their money may be at risk if Kinder Morgan refuses to uphold its commitments to building and operating the most safe, environmentally responsible pipeline across Western Canada.
To learn more, concerned citizens are encouraged to visit the coalition website at safetybeforeprofits.ca and tell Kinder Morgan to keep its promise to B.C.
SOURCE B.C. Coalition for Safety Before Profits
Media inquiries: Patrick Campbell, International Representative - Canadian Region, International Union of Operating Engineers, 204-430-6334 (c), 204-774-6377 (p), Email: [email protected]
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