By Justin Brake | The Independent
The union representing provincial snowplow operators says the Newfoundland and Labrador government’s decision to improve 24-hour snow clearing on a number of provincial highways is a “significant step in the right direction.”
NAPE President Jerry Earle also cautions that uncompetitive pay and the previous Liberal government’s snow-clearing cutbacks have contributed to a worker shortage that could make hiring and retaining heavy equipment operators difficult.
“It’s such a competitive environment because there’s so many shortages right across the system,” Earle says, adding the City of St. John’s and other large municipalities pay snowplow operators more than the province does. According to the province’s current collective agreement with NAPE, equipment operators are paid between $25.03 to $27.70 while their counterparts working for the City of St. John’s earn $29.23 to $38.23.
With mining projects underway in Labrador and Central Newfoundland, the province will be “competing for a shrinking pool” of qualified workers, Earle says, adding the province will also need to work with colleges in the province “because we don’t train as many people [like] the heavy equipment operators and heavy equipment technicians that repair these vehicles.”
Once workers are hired, Earle says the province needs to work to keep them. “Next spring when these operators get laid off, we better be sure we can get them back next September or we’re going to be in even more critical shape.”
Improving, not reinstating, 24-hour snow clearing
On Wednesday Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Barry Petten announced the PCs are improving 24-hour snow clearing to routes to which the Liberals had cut back services, reducing snowplow operators’ work hours and having workers on-call instead of in the highway depots at night. The government is projecting the move will cost $3 million annually, $1.1 million more than it estimated in its election platform last month.
“Once staff have been recruited, snowplows will be working around the clock from December to March each year to keep these main routes clear and safe, especially during bad weather,” the government said in a news release Wednesday.
During the fall election campaign, the PCs promised to “fix the Liberal mistake of cancelling 24-hour snow clearing,” according to the party’s platform. But Liberal MHAs are taking issue with the PC’s decision to have snow plow operators working around the clock instead of on-call at nighttime.
“Today’s announcement on the 14 routes that will receive 24-hour snow clearing are the same 14 routes that were already snow cleared on a 24-hour schedule when precipitation was forecasted. This is a fact,” Burgeo-La Poile MHA Michael King posted on Facebook Wednesday. “What seemed to be promised by the PCs during the campaign was 24-hour snow clearing for the whole province, ‘for all of us’,” he added, referencing the Progressive Conservatives’ campaign slogan.
King pointed out that the portion of the TCH through his riding and other secondary highways “are busy routes that are travelled by residents and visitors all throughout the year,” asking why those areas are being ignored.
The routes to be staffed by on-shift workers and serviced with 24-hour snow clearing include:
According to the Winter Maintenance Operations Policy put in place by the previous government, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure “looks at detailed forecasts, and if there’s any snow in the forecast, crews are kept on these 14 routes, proactively salting and then plowing once the storm starts.”
The policy also states that, “[m]aintenance crews report for work between 4:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., five days a week, depending on the area of the province. They work until mid-afternoon, unless weather conditions dictate they work additional hours. During storms, plowing continues until 9:30 p.m. or longer until all roads are open to traffic, if the storm is ending. If the snow is continuing, crews normally go home around 10:00 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. the next day. Between 10:00 p.m. and 4:30 a.m./ 5:00 a.m. crews are generally not in operation, except in emergency situations. During this period, vehicular traffic flow is typically very low.”
From Earle’s perspective, “it was easy for the previous administration to say [snow plow operators] could be called out” when they were needed, “but a lot of times what actually happened [was] EMS and ambulances would call up and say, ‘We need a snow plow.’ Sometimes they were delayed because—and this had no reflection on the frontline workers—they had to leave, go get the snow plow, and then leave the depot and get to the point.
Earle says on-call snow plow operators “were operating almost like a volunteer fire department: they’re at home and they had to go get the fire truck. Whereas if you call in St. John’s when there’s an emergency, there’s somebody sitting in the station. There may be no fires, but there’s somebody readily available. In the winter time that’s just as important with keeping our highway system that open, especially for emergencies.”
‘Significant number’ of openings
Upward of 50 positions—25 part-time and 25 full-time—will be filled, “which is a significant number,” Earle says.
“They’re important jobs for what they do. Most of us in the winter time, when we’re told to stay home, they’re the ones that’s out there working in the most adverse condition that you can imagine.”
The NAPE president says he and Petten spoke briefly at Wednesday’s announcement and have agreed to meet in the near future to discuss the matter, and that he asked the minister if he could bring a couple of frontline workers with him because “ they’re the experts” who know the roads and challenges better than anyone.
“And he said, ‘absolutely.’”
