By Jeremy Allingham
It was the spring of 1975 and 21-year-old Al Bryce had taken the wheel of a Lafarge concrete truck for the very first time.
It was intense. It was exhilarating. But there was just one problem: he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.
His father-in-law Abe Schroeder had brought him to work that day, and for some reason, with no training whatsoever, he quickly put Al into a sink or swim situation. Neither of them were sure how it was going to pan out.
“It was a really old truck that probably nobody today would be able to drive because it had a five and four manual transmission,” Al said. “So (my father-in-law) didn’t explain anything to me, and I knew nothing. He was going to let me drive the empty truck back. So he puts me in the driver’s seat and he hasn’t explained anything. And so when I was screwing up, all he did was start grabbing the sticks to fix it.”
Despite the chaos and confusion of that first day, Al got the truck back to the yard and is still, to this day, a concrete truck driver and a proud 50-year Teamsters 213 member.
After a half century in the industry, we now know that Al got the hang of it and plenty more. He’s become a mentor and celebrated Local 213 member in the process.
“Al Bryce is everything you want in a Teamster,” said Teamsters 213 Principal Officer Tony Santavenere. “He works hard, drives like a pro, supports other drivers and members and has shown up consistently over the course of many decades. And he’s a great guy, too.”
While Al’s first job was with Lafarge in 1975, he quickly moved over to Valley Rite-Mix, where there were more opportunities for young drivers. When Lafarge bought Valley Rite-Mix in 1985, he was back behind the wheel for Lafarge. Now, after corporate restructurings and name changes, he’s driving for Amrize.
It almost seems as though, the more the company changes, the more Al Bryce stays the same.
With a career spanning so many decades, Al has worked on some of the most significant infrastructure projects in B.C. history including the Port Mann Bridge, the Expo Line, the Millenium Line, the Evergreen Line, Douglas College and now, the Surrey Langley Skytrain project.
“All those big jobs with the engineering that goes with it, they’re really interesting because, you build a house, okay, big deal. But you get involved in these really big things that change how our society works, you can say, ‘Hey, I did that.’,” said Bryce. “You get young guys now saying ‘Oh, I did that job and that job,’ and I say, ‘Well, you see that thing they’re tearing down now? I did that one.’ .”
Al is proud of his 50-year membership with Teamsters 213 and credits the union with supporting him early in his career when work was sometimes difficult to come by. He’s also thankful to the union for strong collective agreements that have delivered excellent wages and benefits.
All these decades into his career, Al Bryce shows no signs of slowing down. When asked about retirement, he usually responds in typical fashion.
“At the moment, I’m planning to keep driving,” he said. ‘Everybody needs a hobby, but most hobbies cost money. My hobby pays money.”
And as far as advice for the next generation of concrete truck drivers and Teamsters 213 members, Al keeps it simple.
“I tell the new people, everybody makes happiness on the job. Some make it when you arrive and others make it when you leave. Which one do you want to be?”
