Workers who feed, house B.C.'s oil and gas sector are asking for a raise. Some of their efforts are paying off

Staff feeding and housing oil and gas workers in northern B.C. are preparing for a possible strike.

Hospitality employees at the Crossroads Lodge work camp near Kitimat, B.C., are in contract talks with operator Horizon North — but have been on strike notice ever since members approved job action on Aug. 1.

The union representing them said most of the workers are immigrants as well as Indigenous people, and many of them are women.

"The workers that we represent tend to be the lowest-paid workers at the camps," said Michelle Travis, research director with UNITE HERE Local 40, in an interview Friday.

"Billions of dollars are being invested in these projects … they feel like they deserve their fair share too."

It is just the latest contract dispute in work camps that have burgeoned in areas of the province facing rapid resource development.

Much of it is linked to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. The massive LNG Canada plant in Kitimat, about 630 kilometres west of Prince George, is now roughly 85 per cent complete.

Two weeks ago, hospitality workers at another oil-and-gas camp in the region averted their own strike, signing a deal that included a 30- to 40 per cent raise, a retirement plan, and limits on workloads. 

They are represented by the same union, which is currently in contract talks across multiple facilities and employers. The union has nearly 1,000 members working in eight work camps.

"When everything was signed — lock, stock and barrel — I wish I could just let you see the smiles on people's face from tears of fears, the tears of joy," said Larry Samaroo, a cook for the past three years at Cedar Lodge camp, which can host up to 5,000 people, operated by Sodexo.

"The workers here were getting very frustrated, and we decided to make a move — to get together.

"It was a very hard hill to climb … but now the spirit has lifted and people are getting the respect that we deserve in this industry."

He said most of his colleagues are immigrants like himself — he is from Trinidad and Tobago originally, and commutes north every three weeks from Richmond, B.C., just south of Vancouver. A disproportionate number of workers in hospitality are also women, he said.

"These are poor people, come from nothing and we were getting nothing to be honest," he told CBC News from inside the work camp on Friday.

"We were getting a raw deal, and inflation is high, the cost of living is high."

Industry and workers are watching closely

Neither Sodexo nor Horizon North responded to requests for comment.

But with the same union active across multiple facilities in B.C.'s north, one expert said it's certain the disputes are being watched closely by industry — and other people who feed and house the province's resource sector workers.

Accommodation and hospitality workers are among the least unionized workforce in the province, and that is on the decline. 

"The workers in those work camps are the people basically keeping the camp going, literally feeding the workers who are going off and working in LNG," said John-Henry Harter, a lecturer in history and labour studies at Simon Fraser University. 

"We're talking about some of the lowest-paid workers in British Columbia … and the most marginalized, working in some of these most exploited sectors."

For Samaroo, he said it's no surprise an increasing number of camp workers elsewhere in B.C. are becoming more vocal as they see industry money flowing, and daily costs going up.

He hopes others learn from his co-workers' fight, and not be afraid of exercising their right to collective bargaining. 

"Some of the camps right now are a little bit intimidated about getting together, they have a big fear here about a strike," Samaroo said. "If we can do it, they all can do it.

"We play a very important part here and we've got that respect now … This camp is a great camp, but there's always room for improvement in everything."