The local plumbers’ union says a B.C. company was looking to hire journeyperson mechanical workers at a rate that is in breach of contract under Yukon procurement rules.

Pitt Meadows Plumbing and Mechanical Ltd. is based in Maple Ridge, B.C.

The company is the plumbing and mechanical subcontractor partnered with PCL Westcoast, to work on the Whistle Bend continuing care facility.

As of Thursday night, two postings were listed on indeed.com.

One asked for a journeyperson plumber at a rate of $28 an hour. The other asked for a plumbing apprentice at $16 an hour.

According to the Yukon fair wage schedule, the current fair wage for a plumber on a government-contracted job is $32.13.

The current rate for a first-year apprentice is 60 per cent of a journeyperson wage, which is $19.28.

“I don’t even know if they’ll have any takers on those kind of wages that they’re offering,” Marc Gagne, the business manager of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 310 of Whitehorse, said Thursday.

“They will say, ‘No one came to the table. We have to bring people up.’”

Gagne said that, back in May or June, the plumbers’ union approached Pitt Meadows about providing workers for the job.

“I called them a number of times and got one phone call once and it died,” he said. “I said it would be nice to meet in Vancouver, and then the line went cold.”

Steve Robinson, the president of Pitt Meadows, called the Star late Thursday afternoon, when the job posting was still up.

By this morning, it had been taken down.

“(Gagne) has had conversations with me and we have never come to any kind of arrangement,” Robinson said.

He also said he didn’t know his company was in violation of the fair wage schedule.

“Mainly because of the fact that I’m not responsible for all these cost computations and what all the legalities of these contracts are,” he said.

He said the company’s initial posting was a matter of crossed wires, and that Pitt Meadows will do everything to meet the fair wage requirements.

He said the ad that was posted is the same used all over B.C. and Alberta. It just so happened that Whitehorse got the same ad, he said.

Robinson said no one was hired by way of that particular job posting, but that Pitt Meadows has hired everyone it needs for the job at this point.

Initially, he wouldn’t say where those employees were hired. Eventually, he said Pitt Meadows has purchased a house in Whitehorse to house employees coming up from B.C.

“We have hundreds of our own people,” he said. “We don’t need to hire other people.”

In a press release issued Thursday, Gagne said it happens frequently that Yukon companies lose contracts to southern companies.

“Many of these companies violate Yukon employment standards like the fair wage schedule – which is in fact the very bare minimum,” read the release.

“Yukon tradespeople have worked too hard and for too long at their trades to have to settle for insulting wages with no benefits or pension plan.”

Speaking to the Star, Gagne said he doesn’t know the specifics of the contract with Pitt Meadows, but he said it’s standard practice to include details of the fair wage schedule within such an agreement.

“I can pretty much bet you it’s in the contract,” he said.

Shane Hickey, the director of employment standards and residential tenancies for the Yukon, said he can’t speak to specifics of any cases, but could speak in general terms about contracts and bidding.

“To my knowledge, basically the fair wage is communicated clearly in tender documents,” he said.

“Both general contractors and subcontractors are required to pay fair wage.”

Hickey said the employment standards branch handles an average of 100 complaints annually.

These generally come from employees who have already been hired and are working.

In the case of a complaint from someone who has not been hired, action depends on the circumstances.

Issues of potential discrimination would go to the Yukon Human Rights Commission. With complaints about wages, employment standards officials would follow up directly with a company.

Hickey could not say whether Pitt Meadows had been contacted.

Robinson said Pitt Meadows had been contacted this week by the Yukon government.

Gagne said he wants to avoid this kind of situation in the future by more closely monitoring contracts and bidding processes.

“I want to make 100 per cent sure the company can’t turn around and say they didn’t know it wasn’t in the contract,” he said.

“(I’d like to see) an officer in place in the government that would be able to pull pay stubs randomly, check for averaging and tricks that are being done by these southern companies.”

“Some people use the town as a camp.”