Flights for Muskrat Falls workers planned, as Astaldi shuts down work at site

Flights are set to begin Friday afternoon to ferry hundreds of departing Astaldi workers out of Goose Bay, after Nalcor Energy issued a stop-work order to the main contractor on the Muskrat Falls site.

On Thursday, Nalcor issued the directive to Astaldi.

But initially, it wasn't clear whether Astaldi would comply, or keep employees on the job there anyway.

However, in a statement issued Friday afternoon, Nalcor confirmed Astaldi is "in the process of cleaning up their worksites and shutting their worksites down."

On Friday morning, Astaldi workers at the Happy Valley-Goose Bay airport told CBC News they have not been laid off, and were on a regular turnaround.

They indicated it was business as usual at the construction site.

In an interview early Friday morning, Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall said it was his understanding they carried on work overnight.

"We gave them the order yesterday. They have 24 hours in which to comply. So I can't speak for Astaldi," Marshall said at the time.

"All we can do is say, 'Look, we've given you the notice. You should be winding down the work. You should be sending your workers home. Nalcor has arranged for transportation.' So I'm not sure of the exact situation this morning. But I have to assume that everybody is complying with that order."

According to Nalcor, the first flight for workers was scheduled for around 2 p.m. (Labrador time) Friday.

"Part of the concern here is for the workers, to make sure that they do get paid for any work they do, and this whole situation has arisen because we see no path for Astaldi to finish the job, and pay the workers and all our people who've been providing services to them," Marshall said.

Astaldi officials did not reply to requests for comment from CBC News.

Trades council wants premier to intervene

The premier's office said late Friday morning that Nalcor was "closely monitoring" the situation, and stressed that the Crown corporation is "taking this action to minimize the financial harm placed upon the workers" by Astaldi. 

"My government's priorities are with the workers affected and we will continue to work with RDTC to ensure workers' rights are protected," Premier Dwight Ball said in an emailed statement.

But the Resource Development Trades Council (RDTC) wants Ball to get directly involved.

"As premier of the province, we are requesting Mr. Ball's intervention into this development to ensure our workers are treated fairly and receive their wages, health, welfare and pension benefits," Darin King, executive director of Trades NL, said in a press release.

Earlier this week, CBC News reported that the RDTC — the umbrella group for 16 local trades unions working on the hydro megaproject — filed a $7.8 million lawsuit against Astaldi and Nalcor over unpaid remittances to those benefit plans.

On Thursday evening, Nalcor said there are financial protections in place for those workers.

The immediate focus at this point, according to the RDTC, is getting Astaldi employees home.

"We want to ensure that the workers affected by Nalcor's stop work order to Astaldi are accommodated and travel logistics are scheduled to bring them home in a safe manner as quickly as possible," King said.

Innu Nation has concerns about stop work impact

Meanwhile, Innu Nation leaders were in St. John's Friday to meet with Marshall, about the impact of the stop work order on 50 Innu workers employed by Astaldi.

"Innu Nation has an impacts and benefits agreement with Nalcor Energy that contractors at the Muskrat Falls site must respect," Grand Chief Gregory Rich said.

Rich wants Nalcor to ensure that it will fulfil its obligations under that agreement — that Innu workers "are transferred into other positions or have first priority for return to work."

After those meetings Friday afternoon, Marshall said the Innu "have preferential rights under the agreement we have with them [and] those will be honoured."

With files from Rebecca Martel in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Marie Isabelle Rochon in St. John's

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