2008 - USW 6166
Daycare Expansion &
New Hall Update
March 18, 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On August 21, 2007, a letter was sent to the membership of USW Local 6166 informing you of a discussion, with regards to the possibility of expanding the Thompson Children's World Day Care facility, at the September 2007 Membership meeting.
This expansion would coincide with the development of a new Union Hall at another site location. On September 12, 2007 at the monthly membership meeting, the Daycare Committee made their presentation. I opened the floor for debate on whether we should proceed with this initiative. The membership, present at this meeting, voted in favour of proceeding. In addition, at that particular meeting, I stated we would proceed with a Feasibility Study and if this project was not feasible, we would not continue and we would inform the membership of the outcome.
The Daycare Committee representatives proceeded to look at the possibility of purchasing land from the City of Thompson in order to build the new Union Hall. During this time, Vale Inco had requested to carry out their own engineering study of the existing Union Hall to determine what would be needed to renovate and turn the entire building into a Daycare. It took over 4 months for a response from the Engineering Study after it was completed. During this time, the City decided to re-evaluate the price of the land for the new USW Local 6166 Union Hall. The end result was City Council approved a new rate increase for the cost of the land, which almost doubled the original purchase price.
We met with Vale Inco to review an Engineering Study completed by "Stantec". This study showed it could cost upwards of $1.5 million to completely renovate our existing Union Hall, under current provincial regulations and legislation, in order to bring it up to daycare standards.
Vale Inco also looked at other options and continue to do so, including building 2 brand new daycare facilities. Our Union did not, at anytime, know the Company intended to look at other options other than the USW Local 6166 proposal. After we finished reviewing the Engineering Study, we informed Vale Inco we would take the findings back to our Executive Committee to reconsider our decision to move forward.
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The increased cost of land for a new Union Hall was too expensive.
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To spend $1.5 million in an old facility was not feasible.
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Indication from Vale Inco was we would be the last resort of the 3 possible options.
A decision was made not to proceed with the initiative to expand the existing Union Hall into a Daycare facility.
In closing, we will continue to provide space for the current Thompson Children's World Daycare, until such time it is determined there is available daycare space for them in Thompson. However, at some time in the future, we will definitely have to look at additional space for USW Local 6166 to adequately serve our membership.
Thank you for your patience and support during this Feasibility Study.
In Solidarity,
Les Ellsworth
