INTERNATIONAL LONGSHORE & WAREHOUSE UNION CANADA

180 - 111 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, BC V5L 4C4. (604) 254-8141Fax (604) 254-8183 E-Mail:

Executive Summary to Metro Vancouver Board

Introduction of Mark Gordienko, President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and resident of North Delta. I have been a longshore worker more than forty years and have been President of ILWU Canada for the past year. I will be presenting an overview of coal shipments from West Coast ports.

Introduction of Robert Ashton, Vice President of ILWU Canada and Port Coquitlam resident. Outside of Union Office Rob has spent most of his longshore career working on Bulk Sites and much time specifically at Neptune. Rob will be presenting information on work conditions, dust control and pollution control at Neptune Terminals.

Introduction of Jyalmen Sidhho, Secretary Treasurer of ILWU Canada and Surrey Resident (close to Delta-Surrey border). Jyalmen has spent most of his nearly 35 year career working as a Millwright and Heavy Duty Mechanic and worked as a steady employee of Neptune for many years. He will not be presenting due to time constraints but will be available if any board members have questions.

Main presentation by Mark Gordienko

  • Three existing coal terminals in BC and all employ ILWU Members
  • Neptune Terminals operating since 1970
  • Westshore Terminals also operating since 1970
  • Ridley Terminals in Prince Rupert operating since 1984
  • Over the years other terminals have shipped coal but mostly consolidated since Neptune and Westshore came into being
  • Approximately 500-600 workers employed in shipping coal
  • Good paying jobs with long term employment
  • High level of experienced and well trained workers
  • Direct supervision of longshore workers by unionized and experienced foremen
  • Employees trained and responsible for operation of dust suppression systems
  • No evidence of any lung disease or other disorders although workers have worked at these operations for many years.
  • All three terminals have high level of safety instruction and very good safety records
  • ILWU concerned that dust conversation is being blown out of proportion and if this project is not allowed to go ahead it will scare away future investment dollars as our reputation as a world class port will be hurt

2

Robert Ashton on Neptune Terminals dust suppression and environmental systems.

  • Decades of work between ILWU/Neptune to become environmentally sound
  • When train is dumped car edges get cleaned and rail cars get sprayed with water
  • While dumping scrubbers come on which suck the dust out of the air
  • As coal goes to pile it is sprayed with water to keep the dust down
  • On dry days water towers spray water onto the piles and a water truck sprays the roadways to keep them clean and dust free
  • The Stacker Reclaimer is run up and down the coal pile spraying water onto the tops of the piles when not in use in loading/unloading operations
  • Labourersare employed to go around the piles and spray the piles with water cannons
  • Labourers wash the coal away that gets built up in the system during production
  • All the water being used is contained on site and recycled through system
  • Neptune utilizes sumps with pumps which draw dirty water through a filtration system
  • System is nearly brand new and state of the art
  • The water that finally leaves the site is probably cleaner than your bath water
  • All this is done through the hard work of the ILWU workers and foremen and Neptune Terminals
  • We as a union are harder on our employers for safety and environmental than anyone else ever could be. We are there all the time and as we all live in these communities we know the value of maintaining high environmental standards

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