Ironworkers, electricians, and other tradespeople crowded the corner on 104 Avenue and 104 Street just across from where the much-hyped downtown arena is currently under construction.
However, they were not on their way to go to work at the construction site — they were there to protest the use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to hire workers to build the arena.
As the price of oil per barrel has dropped significantly over the past few weeks in Alberta, so have the number of tradespersons employed in their fields. To use the TFWP when hundreds of tradespeople are available to work was not acceptable to the protesters, nor to the many supporters who honked their horns as they drove by.
Many at the protest demanded the use of local labour to build the arena, not foreign workers, who are paid less but often less skilled. As well, there is concern that foreign workers brought in under the TFWP are often exploited by employers.
Several union representatives from the Alberta Federation of Labour, Ironworkers Local 720, and Edmonton and District Labour Council spoke at the rally. David Eggen MLA for Edmonton-Calder with the NDP also spoke.
The downtown arena is scheduled to open in 2016.
