The Building Union of Canada

8 BUSINESS ELITE CANADA | JANUARY 2019 saves the employer a lot of money, and no matter how the market performs, our members get a minimum 3 per cent return—even in a down year. If the market is up, that full return goes to them. Last year, for instance, our return was 9.45 per cent.” “Because many other pensions are underfunded, they may only get 45 per cent to transfer their funds. With our pension, there are no worries about that. We can arrange Collective Agreements includes wage increases of $2.00 per hour and Pension contri- bution increase of $1.00 per hour for all of the BUC members.” “It is a win-win-win for everybody,” says Bromell. “Our members get more money, more value in their pension, health benefit plans comparable, with the employer still saving over five dollars an hour.” Wall-to-Wall Union What has the reaction been to a new kid on the block? Bromell says other unions have definitely taken notice. “We have a niche and created some- thing very effective,” he says. “If they don’t want to change their model, that is great, that means less competition for our contractors.” The BUC is what is known as a “wall-to- wall” union, meaning it can represent different industries. This makes it easy for companies to deal with because it means one collective agreement as