18. Utilities

18.1 List the primary utilities utilized (electricity, gas, water, telephone, etc.).
18.2 List firms that provide utilities.
18.3 Are any of the providers unionized?

Firms require util­i­ties to cre­ate prod­ucts and ser­vices. Under­stand­ing their use of util­i­ties can be very impor­tant, espe­cially when research­ing man­u­fac­tur­ing firms.  For example, in their campaign against Rio Tinto at an aluminum facility in Quebec, the Steelworkers discovered that the company was selling back electricity to the province during a lockout for $15 million a month. This became an important part of their campaign.

Workers are the best source for identifying utilities. Some information may be found on the company’s web site, or in a general news search.