NOVEMBER 1999
OCTOBER 1999
NOVA SCOTIA PARAMEDICS ORDERED BACK TO WORK AFTER 24 HOUR WALK OUT
Nova Scotia paramedics go on strike
Nova Scotia paramedics went on strike early Friday morning, leaving an ambulance in front of the provincial legislature with its lights on and siren blaring. This happened as Premier John Hamm was trying to pass an anti-strike bill before the midnight deadline.
Emergency Medical Care (EMC) will be able to manage the most critical emergency medical situations during a work stoppage that began at midnight on the part of its 650 unionized paramedics. If Nova Scotians find themselves in need of emergency medical services, they should continue to call 911 where operators in conjunction with qualified medical professionals will immediately assess the seriousness of the situation. These calls will be managed in priority sequence as quickly as possible based on the seriousness of the emergency. The process will be overseen by an emergency physician on a 24-hour basis.
NOVA SCOTIA: Legislators ready to head off strike
Paramedics takes protest to Province House
Dozens of the country's lowest-paid paramedics converged on the Nova Scotia legislature Monday to witness debate on a government bill that will strip them of their right to strike. The majority Conservatives are determined to force binding arbitration on the province's 650 paramedics and employer Emergency Medical Care Inc. by Friday - the day ambulance workers will be in a legal strike position.
Province moves to prevent strike by paramedics
The Nova Scotia government is using legislation to prevent a provincewide strike by paramedics. The government is imposing binding arbitration on contract talks between the paramedics and their private-sector employer. The paramedics are set to strike in one week's time over issues such as wages and working hours.
N.S. paramedics reject contract offer
Nova Scotia paramedics could be on strike before the end of the month. About 78 per cent of Emergency Medical Care Inc.'s 650 paramedics rejected a tentative agreement Saturday that would have seen issues such as wages and working hours decided in binding arbitration.
ONTARIO NEWSPAPER STRIKE ENDS
A memorandum of agreement was signed yesterday afternoon between the Record and the union representing more than 100 of the newspaper's employees, who had gone on strike two days earlier. The union's bargaining committee has said it will recommend the agreement to its members this afternoon. The five-year contract offered by the Record earlier this week includes wage increases of between 8.5 and 13 per cent, signing bonuses, and aligned contract expiry dates.
KINGSTON CUPE STRIKE SETTLED
CUPE Local 109 members will vote tomorrow on a tentative agreement reached this weekend with the city of Kingston. Some 460 members of Local 109 have been on strike since September 17. Membership Information Meetings followed by ratification votes will take place at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. today, October 26, at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, 53 Yonge Street.
An ongoing strike by city workers in Kingston has shut
down all municipally run facilities including the Grand Theatre.
As a result a number of events have been cancelled or forced to find other
venues including a performance planned for tonight by the Kingston
Symphony Orchestra. But it seems the playing field is uneven when it comes
to sports and the arts.
Union officials representing Kingston's city workers are allowing the city's
hockey team to play in the municipally run hockey arena. However, arts
groups hoping for the same exception for their events at the Grand theatre
were given the cold shoulder.
Wayne Samuelson, the President of the Ontario
Federation of Labour, will be the main speaker at a rally in
support of striking City of Kingston workers at noon.
Samuelson heads the province's central labour body, which
represents some 800,000 unionized workers across the province.
CUPE Local 109 has been on strike since September 17, against the
City of Kingston. Some 460 municipal inside, outside and transit
workers are off the job.
The B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) has reached a tentative agreement with the Salvation Army on a first contract covering workers at Dunsmuir Facilities.
Northern Hardwoods employees are going back to work, leaving Northern Sawmills as the last Buchanan Forest Products' mill on strike in the area. About 150 workers at Northern Hardwoods voted 73 per cent in favour of a collective agreement Sunday, the first deal between the union and the company for the three-year-old operation.
The 450 workers at the Bowater Mersey pulp plant on Nova Scotia's south shore have accepted a new contract offer. The three locals of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union voted more than 80 percent in favour of the six-year deal.
Members of Steelworkers Local 14045 today ratified a new collective agreement with their employer, Philip Enterprises Inc. The one-year agreement provides for an immediate wage increase of 3.6 percent plus a signing bonus of $600.00. The agreement also provides enhanced overtime and shift premiums.According to Doug Brown, the Staff representative in the bargaining, ``the Company came to the table demanding significant concessions. It took a unanimous strike vote to convince the Company that our members were serious about wanting a decent and fair contract.'' The Union took a strike vote on October 8 1999 and would have been in a legal strike position on October 15 1999.
The 450 workers at the Bowater Mersey
pulp plant on Nova Scotia's south shore have accepted a new contract offer.
The three locals of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union
voted more than 80 percent in favour of the six-year deal.
Members of Steelworkers Local 14045 today
ratified a new collective agreement with their employer, Philip Enterprises
Inc.
The one-year agreement provides for an immediate wage increase of 3.6
percent plus a signing bonus of $600.00.
The agreement also provides enhanced overtime and shift premiums.According to Doug Brown, the Staff representative in the bargaining,
``the Company came to the table demanding significant concessions. It took a
unanimous strike vote to convince the Company that our members were serious
about wanting a decent and fair contract.''
The Union took a strike vote on October 8 1999 and would have been in a
legal strike position on October 15 1999.
USWA LOCAL 9331 STRIKE AT SEAGULL PEWTER OVER
The strike by 226 workers at Seagull Pewter
and Silversmiths Limited is proof that the company, which prides itself on ``a
workplace that encourages continuous personal and professional improvements in
an atmosphere of trust and fairplay...'', is no different than any other
company out to profit at the expense of workers.
Cal Luedee, the United Steelworkers' Atlantic Area Coordinator, said
Thursday that only after a call to Seagull's benefit plan carrier did the
company back off on its threat to cut workers off from all medical coverage.
PUGWASH, NS, Sept. 24 /CNW/ - After 10 years of poor management at
Seagull Pewter, members of the United Steelworkers Local 9331 went on strike
Sept. 23. Members overwhelmingly voted to reject the company's
`final offer', which the union says does not address key issues like wages,
dignity and fairness in the workplace.
The majority of Local 9331's 226 production and maintenance workers are
women. Their average wage is between $8.50 and $9 an hour.
USWA LOCAL 5220 ON STRIKE AGAINST ALTASTEEL OVER
Threatened strike averted with help of conciliation officer.
Talks on Friday, October 8 between the River Cabaret and the United Food and Commercial
Workers, Local 832 resulted in a tentative agreement being reached. A government conciliation
officer was present at the meeting. The union negotiating committee will be recommending to the
membership that the agreement be accepted.
ALCAN STRIKE SETTLED
Alcan Aluminium and union leaders have solved
a dispute over subcontracting, allowing construction to
resume Wednesday on a $2.2 billion smelter project.
Alcan Aluminium and labour leaders began intensive talks
Wednesday to end a dispute that has shut down construction of a huge smelter.
Alcan said it hopes the talks, in the presence of a provincial mediator, will allow the
2,500 construction workers to return to their jobs by Monday.
A huge Alcan Aluminium (AL) smelter project has been temporarily shut down by a labour dispute.
Jean-Marc Crevier, a regional representative for the Quebec Federation of Labour, described the shutdown as a lockout over
the issue of subcontracting.
Construction has been shut down at the $2.2
billion Alcan Aluminium smelter project in Alma, Que.
because a labour dispute has led to vandalism of the site by
workers, says the company.
B.C. HOTEL STRIKE ENDS
High tea is expected to be served Saturday afternoon at the landmark Empress Hotel after striking workers
and management reached a tentative deal. The 500 workers at the stately 91-year-old Canadian Pacific Hotel will vote
Thursday on a proposed three-year contract that includes a nine per cent wage increase and improvements to the benefits
package.
For only the second
time in nearly a
century, the world
famous Empress
Hotel in Victoria,
B.C., closed its
ornate doors to
tourists -- and 500
striking members of
the Canadian Auto
Workers union.
The labour disruption
began Monday when
picket lines were
strung up around the Empress for the first time in the hotel's 91-year
history.
As of today the workers of the Chateau Victoria are on strike. The CAW
members walked after talks fell apart in the last couple of days.
Workers are trying to get a wage scale similiar hotel workers in other
Canadian Pacific Hotels in Vancouver. CP is not willing to do this
because they say the cost of living is much less in Victoria.
Kent
CAW local 3000
21 Sep 1999
Unionized staff at The Shopping Channel have
reached a new collective agreement that provides for wage increases averaging
25 per cent over the life of the deal.
The 55 employees, represented by the Communications, Energy and
Paperworkers Union of Canada, ratified a five-year agreement yesterday that
provides for an average wage increase of 13 per cent in the first year and
three per cent in each of the subsequent years. Wage increases for some
employees were as high as 28 per cent in the first year.
The deal was reached with the assistance of a federal mediator after
union and company negotiators bargained past the midnight strike deadline on
September 24.
CALGARY CATHOLIC TEACHERS SETTLE AFTER BEING LOCKED OUT FOR ONE DAY SEPTEMBER 27 1999
Click here for full story
HYDRO QUEBEC STRIKE OVER
Hydro-Quebec and its unionized workers reached an
agreement Monday on a new contract, ending a five month strike.
The two sides have agreed to a five year contract with an 11 per cent pay
raise over that period.
"It is an agreement that is good for everyone," said Andre Caille, president
and chief executive officer of Hydro-Quebec.
Colder weather allowed Hydro-Quebec to boost its
first-quarter profit to $499 million from $418 million a year earlier, the giant utility
said Friday.
Total electricity sales for the first three months of 1999 generated revenue of $2.5
billion, an increase of $220 million.
Electricity sales in Quebec rose $163 million to $2.25 billion, while sales outside
Quebec climbed $57 million to $205 million.
ydro-Québec closed the first quarter of 1999
with consolidated net income of $499 million, up $81 million over the same
period last year. This growth stemmed mainly from a return to more normal
weather conditions.
Striking Hydro-Quebec employees tied up traffic in front of
the utility's downtown headquarters this morning to push for better salaries. About
16,000 Hydro-Quebec technicians and office staff walked off the job after voting
about 80 per cent in favour of a strike. Some 300 workers took part in the
demonstration.
The strike may affect electrical exports to New Brunswick, the United States and
bills sent to Quebec consumers.
But an agreement reached with the Essential Services Council stipulates that repairs
needed on Hydro-Quebec's massive network to guarantee power to Quebecers
will be carried out.
"You should not be affected," union spokesman Louis Caucher said Wednesday.
"Just the billing. Just put money aside to pay the bills when it (the strike) comes to
an end."
The union is seeking a salary increase of seven per cent this year and six per cent
next year.
TORONTO CITY WIDE CUPE STRIKE AVERTED
`We're playing this hour by
hour at this point.'
- Brian Cochrane
CUPE Local 416 president
">Toronto, union reach deal
Toronto District Labour Council announcement
page on solidarity pickets
Talks to avert a strike by almost 7,000 outside city workers
continued early this morning past a midnight deadline, with the
last major sticking point being the issue of job security.
Brian Cochrane, president of Canadian Union of Public
Employees, local 416, emerged from an 11th-hour meeting with
Mayor Mel Lastman expressing optimism that a strike of the
city's garbage collectors, roads crews and water and sewage
treatment workers could be averted.
vv
As a strike by the city's outside workers looms, residents and
businesses in parts of Toronto without privatized garbage
collection are being told they'll have to haul their trash to local
drop-off sites.
But, in the midst of a walkout threat by more than 6,000 outside
workers, some good news came yesterday with the
announcement of an agreement between the city and the union
to keep more than 700 paramedics on the job.
Late last night, Brian Cochrane, president of Local 416 of the
Canadian Union of Public Employees, emerged from three hours
of face-to-face talks with Mayor Mel Lastman to accuse city
officials of thwarting the mayor's efforts to avert a strike by
garbage collectors, and water and roads workers.
Michael R. Garrett, Chief Administrative
Officer for the City of Toronto today released the details of the City's
contingency plans in the event of a labour disruption by the City's outside
workers. CUPE Local 416, which represents outside workers, will be in a legal
strike position at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, September 15, 1999.
OHA President, David MacKinnon welcomed the
agreement reached by the City of Toronto and ambulance and paramedic services
workers represented by CUPE Local 416 earlier today.
``The agreement ensures that there will be no disruption to emergency,
non-emergency and disaster response services provided by Toronto Ambulance
Services,'' he said.
Seven thousand outside workers, including garbage collectors, are in a legal
strike position just after midnight Tuesday night.
The President of the Ontario Hospital
Association, David MacKinnon, is appealing to the City of Toronto and CUPE 416
to provide assurances, by September 5, to patients and hospitals that land
ambulance services in Toronto will not be disrupted during the collective
bargaining process.
/hr>
MANITOBA TELEPHONE WORKERS LOCK OUT ENDED
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers
union (CEP - Locals 7 & 55), advised Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) today
that its members have ratified a new, three-year collective agreement.
The new contract is effective December 20, 1998 to December 19, 2001 and
provides a 6.75% increase over the three-year agreement. With the ratified
collective agreement in place, the 1500 employees represented by the CEP will
start returning to work on Monday, September 13, 1999.
Manitoba Telephone Workers (MTS) members of CEP Local 7 have been locked out since June. A tentative agreement has been reached which the members will vote on September 13.
MANITOBA UFCW SETTLEMENTS
HALIFAX MUNICIPAL WORKERS STRIKE ENDS
Striking inside workers in Halifax could be back to
work Wednesday after narrowly approving a contract offer.
In a two-day decision Friday and Saturday, the workers voted 56.8 per
cent to accept the most recent offer from the Halifax Regional Municipality,
or HRM.
"The narrow vote indicates there are a lot of serious problems at HRM,"
said Donna Wheaton of the Nova Scotia Union of Public Employees.
An end could be in sight to the strike by 500 inside
workers in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
A tentative contract agreement has been reached.
SOLIDARITY NEEDED FOR HALIFAX STRIKERS
Nova Scotia Union of
Public Employees/Local 13
EMAIL SOLDIARITY MESSAGES TO:luvinit@mail.acncanada.net
SEPTEMBER 9/99 UPDATE:
Brothers and Sisters around the World,
On behalf of the NSUPE Local 13 Inside Worker's bargaining team in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, I am formally requesting your support in our struggle against the Halifax Regional Municipality; contracting out and privatization.
We are now mid-way through our tenth week of our strike and it is taking it's toll on both our members and the employer. The employer had sent a letter threatening that if there was not an agreement soon that they would have to "find alternative ways to deliver services on a more permanent basis".
The employer gave it's final proposal to our negotiating team on Wednesday, September 1st and we called the membership to a vote on Thursday, Sept. 2nd where we received a rejection vote of 57%! Some of the rejection vote probably came from the threat! Our team and the membership took this letter as threatening (imagine that?) HRM is now trying to tell us that they didn't mean the letter as a threat after we filed ANOTHER unfair labour practice complaint.
After the "threat", a letter of support from a local union; the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 508, was sent to the Mayor saying that this type of threat was bargaining in bad faith and that if HRM did indeed contract out any of our jobs on a permanent basis that they may find it necessary to take job action in support of our union. This letter was a real morale booster to our tired members.
After our membership rejected HRM's final offer, David Reid, HRM's negotiator told the media that there would be no more offers and the Mayor said the same thing!!!!! It seems that even after hundreds of phone calls to our Councilors that they have no balls to stand up and challenge HRM's senior management's direction.
Our senior management, George McLellan, Ken Meech and Dan English seem to be bent on contracting out the entire city as was done in
Indianapolis, US and to break this union.
It seems that they may be trying to use our rejection vote on this offer as an excuse to push council into approving the contracting out of our jobs now! They did not even try to make the contract look attractive to our members. They blatantly discriminated against our union in many of the clauses and especially discriminated against the women; our membership is about 63% women. They would not put the back pay (retropay) or return to work clauses in the contract in order that they are not enforceable, they want to be able to contract us out, lay us off, let non-union staff do our work in cases of technological change; absolutely NO JOB SECURITY!
They even red-circled over 200 of our 500 members!! with not even an offer of a signing bonus! They did not even give us what other unions in the Municipality already received. They are trying to undo what pay equity had done back in the early 90's by lowering the wage rates for traditionally women's jobs.
I can't possibly say in words how proud I am of our membership to have come together after 9 long weeks of threat after threat from the employer and stay out to fight for a fair contract. We were at the Labor Board (Nova Scotia) this morning to start scheduled hearings against the employer and the parties were told by the Labor Board that they should go back to the table and negotiate.
HRM's lawyers arranged that negotiations resume tomorrow morning with or without the HRM negotiator, David Reid, who flew out to Newfoundland this morning (probably on personal business). We are hoping that he doesn't make it back tomorrow so that we can get a fair contract. We have only postponed the hearing against the employer in case they are still not negotiating in good faith tomorrow. Today at the board, HRM took responsibility for giving out a complete listing of our members' addresses and phone numbers to a local CUPE union who was trying to raid us during the strike and offered to pay for any phone numbers that were unlisted that people want to have changed!
Overall, the support we have been receiving from other unions around the world has been overwhelming!! We have received physical, financial and other verbal and written support from many, many unions!
Solidarity will help us win this fight and I am hoping that you or your union executive will send out an e-mail as soon as you possibly can to our City Mayor (who I think has lost his mind) and our Councilors.
We intend to show HRM that have not beaten us; that we have already won the battle for fighting them for so long. They have already lost the respect of our members and their loyalty and they will be living with the consequences of their actions (unfair labour practices) for a long time to come. We will never forget how badly we have been treated. We need them to know that workers must be treated with dignity and respect in order that they can work productively and be proud of the work that they do!!
Thank you again brothers and sisters for all of your continuous support in our struggle against privatization. The e-mail addresses of our Mayor and Councilors can be found on the Halifax Regional Municipality's home page http://www.region.halifax.ns.ca
Click on the "City Hall" tab and then "Councilor's e-mail links".
In Solidarity,
Audra K. Abbott
NSUPE Local 13 Negotiating Committee Member
Thank you for your letter of support. I have shown your letter along with many
others to our executive. These letters will help to encourage our membership
to keep up the battle.
We have many low income families and single mothers that are hurting already
but, are getting valuable support from other local unions such as CUPE Local
108 and ATU Local 508. We were in negotiations again last night and are going
in again this morning We think that they are just jerking us around, however,
we will hope for the best.
Thank you again.
In Solidarity,
Audra K. Abbott
NSUPE Local 13
Parents and students in much of Cape Breton are
breathing easier after support staff at the Cape Breton-Victoria regional
school board voted to accept a new contract.
The ratification Monday night came just before many students headed back
to the classroom today.
Frustrated truckers blocked a Marine Atlantic Gulf ferry from loading and unloading
passengers on Sunday. For the third time in a week, truckers blocked the ramp preventing vehicles from getting off the Joseph
and Clara Smallwood, but later agreed to let vehicles off the upper deck of the ferry.
The truckers negotiated with Marine Atlantic throughout the morning and reached a settlement later in the day.
"We got what we wanted," said trucker Dennis Porter.
A four-year tentative contract was reached Friday between the
Victoria Times Colonist and its 370 unionized workers. The pact, which must be
ratified by union members, includes a $1,100 signing bonus, a three per cent wage
increase retroactive to January 1999, a two-per-cent increase in 2000 and a
three-per-cent increase in 2001.
A tentative contract agreement has
been reached at the Churchill Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador.
More than 200 workers have been on strike for seven weeks to back their
demand for higher wages.
By signing an
unprecedented
six-year labour deal
with the 620
unionized workers at
its Toronto brewery,
Molson Inc. has
turned up the heat on
unionized workers at
its nearby facility in
Barrie, Ont.
The country's largest
brewer, which
acknowledges its
three Eastern Canada
breweries are
operating below
capacity and that it
may have to close
one, inked a
"world-class brewery
agreement" which offers profit-sharing for the first time, technical
training, higher pension benefits and a 2% salary increase.
The agreement with its second-largest brewery -- which is about
one-third bigger than Barrie -- is a surprise to industry watchers
given the often fractious union relations at that plant.
The police union signed a tentative contract this
morning, ending the threat of job action by the force.
The deal was hammered out in Friday's session of hard bargaining and
made official early today.
Striking workers at Corner Brook Pulp
and Paper will get their first look today at a tentative contract agreement.
The deal was hammered out after a marathon bargaining session on the
weekend.
The deal could bring an end to the often-bitter strike by 600 loggers and
silviculture workers which started in early June.
Talks broke off late last night between the Toronto Police Association and
the police board, with the cops' union boss saying officers may be
responding only to emergency calls by tomorrow afternoon.
"It's crunch time," Craig Bromell told reporters at the Sheraton Parkway
Hotel in Richmond Hill after his team walked out at 11:25 p.m., leaving
behind a 36-hour ultimatum.
BC TRANSIT STRIKE
CAW SLOWDOWN WORK TO RULE AT CASE PLANT IN HAMILTON
TORONTO TRANSIT WORKERS SETTLE STRIKE
CAW PLANT OCCUPATION
CBC STRIKE SETTLED APRIL 4 1999
PSAC HOLDS CANADA WIDE ROTATING STRIKES FOR PAY EQUITY
OPSEU STRIKE SETTLED MARCH 99
TORONTO PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF STRIKE
TORONTO HYDRO STRIKE SETTLED
FIRST McDONALDS UNIONIZED IN NORTH AMERICA
TORONTO PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF STRIKE SETTLED
Click HERE for archived stories on the strike
Page design © Copyright 1999 Eugene W. Plawiuk.
WILL THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CONTRACTING OUT CONTINUE?
BELL CANADA STRIKE
SeeURGENT ACTION! RAISE HELL CALL BELL for more on this story.
BELL CANADA AND DRAKE FORM STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
Drake is providing Bell with outsourcing of jobs. Drake was the same company that provided SCABS during the Liverpool Dockworkers strike!
CLICK HERE AND YOU CAN EMAIL THEM A MESSAGE.
A month-long strike by 9,500 Bell Canada operators and
technicians ended Saturday after workers voted 80 per cent to approve a tentative
agreement on a new five-year contract.
The vote means workers will begin returning to the job Sunday, concluding a bitter
strike that began April 9 at Canada's largest phone company, which serves about
seven million customers in Ontario and Quebec.
The tentative deal - reached last Sunday - gives 7,200 technicians a wage increase
of 13.2 per cent spread over five years, but freezes wages for operators.
It does not stop the transfer of 1,300 out of 2,300 operators to U.S.-based Excell
Global Services at nearly half their Bell wages - the issue that prompted workers to
walk off the job.
"It's an unequivocal vote by which our members gave us their complete agreement,"
said Rejean Bercier, spokesman for the Communications, Energy and
Paperworkers Union which represents the workers.
Bercier said Saturday that public support for the workers - in the form of letters,
petitions and telephone calls - throughout the strike helped tremendously in drawing
up the deal.
Montreal telephone operator Monique Martin said she was disappointed the deal
was approved.
"Never would I have believed that the company would do such a thing to these
women, because we are mostly women," she told Radio-Canada, CBC-TV's
French-language arm.
"It's a good contract for them (the technicians), but we got nothing nothing nothing."
Her colleague Josee Lemay said she'd rather quit than take the offer.
"I'd rather wash dishes in a big hotel than stay there any longer," she said.
"I won't work for Bell Canada again, ever."
Bell Canada workers have voted to end their
five-week strike. The 9,500 operators and technicians ratified
on Saturday a contract agreement that was reached last
Sunday. The vote means workers should be back on the job
by Sunday.But the new deal will not stop the transfer of the 1,300
operators to lower paying positions in the United States.
An overwhelming majority of Bell Canada workers
who had been on strike since April 9 have ratified a new collective agreement
with their employer.
The 9,500 members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of
Canada voted 80% in favour of the new five-year contract which contains wage
increases and job security guarantees for technicians and operators staying
with Bell Canada, and major improvements to severance pay and pensions for
those leaving.
``I'm hearing a lot of positive feedback about the new agreement,'' says
CEP President Fred Pomeroy. ``Clearly, the strike was worth every minute. Our
members deserve a lot of credit for the perseverance and solidarity shown over
the past weeks.''
Workers will return to work as early as Sunday, May 16.
Une très grande majorité des employés de Bell
Canada, qui étaient en grève depuis le 9 avril, ont ratifié une nouvelle
convention collective avec leur employeur.
Les 9 500 membres du Syndicat canadien des communications, de l'énergie
et du papier (SCEP) ont voté à 80 p.100 en faveur du nouveau contrat de cinq
ans. Celui-ci prévoit des augmentations de salaire et des garanties concernant
la sécurité d'emploi pour les techniciens et techniciennes et les
téléphonistes qui restent au service de Bell Canada, et d'importantes
améliorations en matière d'indemnités de fin d'emploi et de retraite pour les
employés qui doivent quitter la Société.
``La nouvelle convention collective suscite de nombreuses réactions
positives, a déclaré Fred Pomeroy, président du SCEP. Cette grève valait
vraiment la peine, et elle n'aurait pas été possible sans la persévérance et
la solidarité de nos membres, au cours des dernières semaines.''
Les employés reprendront le travail dès le dimanche 16 mai.
Bell Canada a été avisée par le syndicat
représentant ses téléphonistes et ses techniciens, le Syndicat
canadien des communications, de l'énergie et du papier, que ses
membres ont ratifié dans une proportion de 80 % l'offre faite par
la compagnie le 9 mai dernier.
Les techniciens et les téléphonistes de Bell Canada commenceront à
retourner au travail le 16 mai, mettant ainsi fin à une grève qui
aura duré cinq semaines. Les activités de la compagnie
reprendront leur cours normal dès que possible.
"Nos clients sont les gagnants dans ce retour au travail de nos
téléphonistes et de nos techniciens, a indiqué John MacDonald,
président et chef de l'exploitation de Bell Canada. Pour les
remercier de leur patience et de leur compréhension durant cette
période difficile, nous mettrons tout en oeuvre pour que les
activités reviennent à la normale le plus vite possible pour
pouvoir continuer de leur offrir les niveaux de service auxquels
ils s'attendent de Bell Canada."
Bell Canada has been informed by the union
representing its operators and technicians, the Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers's Union of Canada, that its members have
ratified, by 80 per cent, the company's offer of May 9th.
Bell Canada's operators and technicians will begin returning to
work May 16, ending a five-week strike. Company operations will
return to normal as quickly as possible.
"Our customers are the winners in this return to work by our
operators and technicians," said John MacDonald, President and COO
of Bell Canada. "Our commitment is to reward customers for their
patience and understanding during this difficult period by working
diligently to return company operations to normal and to maintain
service levels that customers expect from Bell CanadA
Text and Real Audio
A month-long strike by 9,500
Bell Canada operators and technicians could be over by
the end of the week after negotiators reached a tentative
agreement Monday on a new five-year contract.
The union is calling on its members to accept the deal. If
they do, employees could start returning to work
Sunday, ending a strike that began April 9 at the major
phone company serving Quebec and Ontario.
The deal would give 7,200 technicians a wage increase
of 8.4 per cent spread over five years.
But operators are not likely not be pleased with the
agreement. They would get no wage increase and the
deal failed to stop the transfer of 1,300 out of 2,300 operators to Excell Global
Services at nearly half their Bell wages.
A tentative agreement was reached early this
morning between the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union and Bell
Canada. The deal was reached after an eight-day marathon negotiation session
with the help of federal mediators.
The CEP bargaining committee is recommending acceptance of the five-year
contract which contains major improvements to job security - a key issue in
the month-long strike by 9,500 Bell operators and technicians.
One thousand operators will keep their jobs with Bell Canada and those
leaving will receive up to 19 months' salary and major pension improvements as
part of the tentative agreement. Originally faced with a 40 per cent wage
cut, operators transferring to the new company will now have their salaries
protected in the first year. In the second year they will receive half of the
difference between their new wages and their old ones.
Limitations on contracting-out and layoffs are also included in the
agreement for both technicians and operators.
For technicians, the deal contains a prohibition against the sale of any
part of the business between now and Dec. 31, 2000. Beyond that, any
purchaser must adopt the current collective agreement. Wage increases for
most technicians total 2.4 per cent in the first three years and three per
cent in the last two.
Other highlights include:
- A $400 signing bonus for everyone plus COLA in the last two years.
- delay of all office closures.
- Company-paid post retirement benefits.
- Elimination of concessions sought by the employer. For example, daily
hours of work for operators will be seven hours, instead of the 7.5
demanded by Bell in the last offer.
The agreement will be voted on over the next few days. Results should be
available Saturday, May 15.
Une entente de principe est intervenue, tôt ce
matin, entre le Syndicat des communications, de l'énergie et du papier et la
compagnie Bell Canada à l'issue d'un marathon de négociation de huit jours
avec des médiateurs fédéraux.
Le comité de négociation recommande la ratification de la convention de
cinq ans qui comprend des améliorations importantes de la sécurité d'emploi,
laquelle compte parmi les principaux enjeux de la grève que font depuis un
mois 9 500 téléphonistes et techniciens et techniciennes de Bell.
A month-long strike by 9,500
Bell Canada operators and technicians could be over by
the end of the week after negotiators reached a tentative
agreement Monday on a new five-year contract.
The union is calling on its members to accept the deal. If
they do, employees could start returning to work
Sunday, ending a strike that began April 9 at the major
phone company serving Quebec and Ontario.
The deal would give 7,200 technicians a wage increase
of 8.4 per cent spread over five years.
But operators are not likely not be pleased with the
agreement. They would get no wage increase and the
deal failed to stop the transfer of 1,300 out of 2,300 operators to Excell Global
Services at nearly half their Bell wages. Under the new deal, operators who choose to leave the company will get a bigger
severance package - up to 19 weeks of pay.
"It's fine for a few people at the top to find it satisfactory," said one male operator,
interviewed on a picket line in front of Bell headquarters in Montreal.
"But we're the ones who have the last word and if it isn't satisfactory, we'll vote
against it."
Bell Canada and the union representing its
operator services and technical employees, the Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers' Union of Canada, have reached a tentative
agreement that could see striking workers back on the job as early
as May 16.
About 3,000 Bell customers were without telephone
service Monday after some of the company's phone lines south of Montreal
were cut.
The incident came as Bell's striking operators and technicians were into the
fourth week of their work stoppage.
There was no indication who was behind the damage.
"That's for law enforcement officials to identify who committed the acts of
vandalism," said Louis Arsenault, a Bell spokesman.
"Bell's duty is to restore the service as quickly as possible."
The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union said the vandalism
wasn't the fault of the union or its members.
Negotiations between Bell Canada and 9,500 striking
technicians and operators will resume Monday, union officials said Saturday.
The resumption of talks came at the request of federal government mediators.
The 7,200 technicians and 2,300 operators are members of the Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada and have been on strike since April 9.
Le syndicat représentant 9 500 téléphonistes et
techniciens et techniciennes de Bell Canada retournera à la table de
négociation, à Montréal, le lundi 3 mai 1999. La reprise des négociations a
été demandée par les médiateurs du gouvernement fédéral, Arnold Powers et
Jacques Lesard.
Les 7 200 techniciens et techniciennes et les 2 300 téléphonistes, qui
font partie du Syndicat canadien des communications, de l'énergie et du papier
(SCEP), sont en grève depuis le 9 avril 1999.
The union representing 9,500 striking Bell Canada
technicians and operators will be returning to the bargaining table in
Montreal, Monday May 3, 1999. The resumption of negotiations comes at the
request of the Federal government mediators Arnold Powers and Jacques Lesard.
The 7,200 technicians and 2,300 operators are members of the
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) and have been on
strike since April 9, 1999.
The union representing 9,500 striking Bell
Canada operators and technicians has won the latest round in a decade-long
fight to achieve pay equity for its 2,300 telephone operators.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered pay equity hearings
between the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union and Bell Canada to
proceed, despite the company's attempt to stop them.
The April 28th ruling dismissed Bell's request to prohibit the hearings
from starting until a Supreme Court of Canada ruling is handed down.
``The message to Bell is clear,'' says CEP spokesperson Trish
Blackstaffe. The union is saying it, the courts are saying it, and now the
tribunal is saying it: ``Let's get on with it.''
Nortel Networks, Canada’s largest high-tech manufacturer
with 75,000 employees worldwide, will announce details of a massive restructuring
before the end of June. The reorganization, first announced Jan. 13, will result in
layoffs and plant shutdowns affecting 8,000 workers.
Striking Bell telephone workers, angry Quebec
students and shareholder activists banded together Wednesday to chew out
the head of Bell's parent company at a raucous annual meeting.
Bell operators and technicians disrupted the four-hour shareholders meeting
of BCE Inc., with boos and catcalls aimed at Jean Monty, the
telecommunications giant's president and chief executive.
BCE Inc. confirmed today that it will take
special measures to accommodate the unusual number of shareholders
expected at the company's annual meeting, April 28th in Hull.
Last week, the union representing Bell Canada's operators and
technicians, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers' Union of
Canada (CEP), announced it was encouraging striking workers - some
of whom are shareholders - to attend the meeting and express their
"frustration and anger" over the current labour situation.
While the union has not confirmed how many striking employees will
attend the meeting, the company has cancelled the lunch normally
following the meeting, and arranged to use this space as an
overflow room that can be used by shareholders once the main
meeting room reaches its capacity of 800 people. Typically, the
company would host between 600 and 700 shareholders at an annual
meeting held in the Hull-Ottawa area. With these measures, the
company expects it will be able to accommodate roughly twice the
normal number of attendees.
Striking Bell Canada workers will be out in
force at the BCE shareholders meeting scheduled for April 28th, in Hull,
Quebec.
``Bell Canada is making excessive profits, while laying off employees and
destroying whole communities,'' says Richard Long, administrative
vice-president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.
``As shareholders and employees, our members are eager to express their
frustration and anger at a company that has grown up on Canadian money and
talent, selling our jobs to the U.S.
``BCE says shareholder participation is important, so let's see if they
really mean it.''
Rejean Bercier, chair of the union bargaining committee and
administrative vice-president for Quebec vows that ``our members intend to
hold the senior officials of the corporation accountable for their action in
forcing this dispute.''
Jean Monty, chief executive of BCE Inc., is
considering skipping his traditional speech at the company's annual
meeting next week after learning the gathering will be targeted by
striking Bell Canada workers, angry Quebec students and a
shareholder-rights activist.
BCE spokesman Don Doucette yesterday said the company is "not
sure yet" if Mr. Monty will give the usual keynote speech.
"It could be a very long meeting because of the number of
interventions we're expecting and the shareholder proposals and
whatnot, so we'll play it by ear," Mr. Doucette said.
Union officials said up to 2,000 striking operators and technicians,
all of them shareholders, will be there.
"We're going to make the meeting very uncomfortable and probably
somewhat chaotic," said Richard Long, a spokesman for the
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.
A consortium led by Bell Canada International (BI) won
another licence Friday from the Brazilian government to provide telephone service
to the state of Sao Paulo. The bid submitted by the consortium Megatel do Brasil
contained a licence fee of $41 million US and a network plan to cover the major
cities of Sao Paulo.
It is the most economically advanced of the 27 Brazilian states and has a population
of 35 million.
In January the same consortium won the licence to provide service in northeastern
Brazil, which is contiguous to Sao Paulo and home to almost 90 million people.
The union that represents striking Bell Canada
workers has been ordered to limit its Montreal picket lines.
Court injunctions say the strikers must not "swear at, denounce or
intimidate" staff going to and from strikebound offices.
The injunctions also limit the pickets to the area outside two Montreal
locations.
Telephone service in Ontario and Quebec has started to fray at
the edges.
With 9,500 Bell Canada operators and technicians now into their second week on
strike, customers are complaining about long waits for directory assistance,
backlogs for phone line installation and annoying glitches.
"Consumers are telling us they’ve called Bell and have been told it will be three
weeks before anyone gets to them," said Gary Cwitco, spokesman for the striking
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union.
Striking Bell technicians and operators in Toronto jammed the pickets lines
Monday, causing long waits for managers and non-unionized staff entering and
leaving offices. The phone company's 2,300 operators and 7,200 technicians in
Ontario and Quebec walked off the job last Friday over wages, job security and
severance packages.
Police reported no trouble at Bell picket lines in Montreal although managers had to
be escorted into the phone company's main office.
BCE Inc. (BCE) is best known
for telephone service and equipment like wires and
satellites, but it's now poised to open the curtain on a
new business show: Entertainment.
An Ameritech financial executive is taking over as chief
financial officer of Bell Canada. The appointment of Ronald Reising is part of the
agreement announced last month under which Chicago-based Ameritech is paying
$5.1 billion for 20 per cent of Canada's premier telecommunications company.
Bell Canada and Excell Global Services announced
today the creation of a new Canadian company majority-owned by
Bell Canada to be called Nordia Inc. The new Company will perform
directory assistance, teleconferencing as well as long distance
operator-assisted services for telephone companies in Canada and
in the United States. It will also perform directory assistance
and teleconferencing services to Bell Canada.
Bell Canada et Excell Global Services ont
annoncé aujourd'hui la création d'une nouvelle compagnie
canadienne, détenue majoritairement par Bell Canada, qui
s'appellera Nordia Inc. Cette nouvelle entreprise dispensera des
services d'assistance-annuaire, de téléconférence et d'interurbain
aux compagnies de téléphone du Canada et des Etats-Unis. Elle
offrira également des services d'assistance-annuaire et de
téléconférence à Bell Canada.
BCE Inc. is considering a deal with a U.S. partner that could see a
Baby Bell take a significant equity stake in Canada's largest publicly
traded company, industry observers and sources close to BCE said
yesterday.
They said a research firm has been conducting focus groups in
Ottawa and Montreal to gauge public reaction to the prospect of
BCE, which controls quintessentially Canadian corporation Bell
Canada, ceding as much as a 20% share to a U.S. interest. Earlier this year, Bell announced plans to transfer its entire operator
division to an Arizona-based call centre company.
It has since relented and said it will take a majority stake in the U.S.
company. It will offer operators employment in Canada with a new
division.
Industrial Relations Board Rules in Bell Canada's Favour
Over the next three weeks, about 10,000 members
of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union who work at Bell Canada
will vote on the employer's contract offer.
The bargaining committee is strongly recommending rejection of the offer
which -- aside from numerous concessions -- will spell the end of 1700
telephone operator jobs in Ontario and Quebec.
"This means next Wednesday night at midnight, we could end up being in an
all-out strike across Ontario and Quebec," said union spokesman Richard
Long.
Despite round the clock bargaining over the
weekend there has been no negotiated settlement between Bell Canada and the
union representing 10,000 operators and technicians. Work-to-rule and
super-service will begin immediately.
"This is really the McDonaldization of a phone company" says CEP
The Union will be in a legal strike position at 12:01 am on Saturday
February 27, 1999.
An absence of odour from the Weldwood pulp and sawmill was unnerving for
many Hinton residents on the first full day of a strike that threatens to cripple
the mountain town's economy.
"We normally tell visitors it's the smell of money for the company and the
workers," union spokesperson Glenn Taylor said, after nearly 700 union
employees walked off the job in a dispute over a proposed flexible work
practices program.
This is the first time in the mill's 42-year history that a labour dispute has idled
Hinton's biggest employer.
About a hundred guards from several Quebec
prisons gathered outside a Montreal jail Saturday to protest the recent
dismissal of 32 of their colleagues.
Almost 300 CAW members from the Chateau Laurier
hotel attended a membership meeting today to hear an update on their contract
negotiations. They rejected the company's last offer which leaves them behind
the wages of other major Ottawa hotels. They also strongly endorsed the goal
of improving wages and their benefits such as dental, vision care, and sick
benefits, including for part-time workers. They gave their bargaining
committee an 81% per cent strike mandate.
The head of the association representing officers of the celebrated
Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, one of the oldest police forces
in North America, says some of his members are toying with the
idea of requesting a takeover by the RCMP. The association is negotiating for a better contract after the
government rejected the recommendation of an arbitrator who said
the wages of RNC officers should increase by 14.5%. Paul Dicks,
Newfoundland's Justice Minister, has offered a 7% increase, but
Const. Corbin says that is not good enough.
Case Canada workers are on a slowdown and planned a rally
for today to protest their severance pay package. The slowdown began Friday
after talks broke down between management and union workers of the farm
equipment plant in Hamilton.
Case announced just before Christmas that the plant would close this year and
permanently lay off about 200 employees.
Workers at Beer Stores and Brewers Retail
distributing warehouses in the province of Ontario voted over the weekend in
favour of a new three year deal.
The contract which covers approximately 1200 full-time and 4000 part-time
United Food & Commercial Workers replaces the contract which expired on
December 31st, 1998.
Premier Brian Tobin was quick to give his
government credit Friday for averting an illegal strike by nurses in Corner
Brook, Nfld.
Both Tobin and Health Minister Joan-Marie Aylward said the nurses' new
agreement, reached Thursday, was based on the government's detailed
explanation of how it will allocate 325 permanent nursing positions
announced last month.
But the explanation came only after the 500 nurses served notice they'd
stage a wildcat strike Monday.
Grain rail car unloads at the port of Vancouver have surged
to record levels since the end of a strike by federal weighers last month.
Where cold steel rail meets Pacific Ocean, CN Rail set a new record for
unloads, exceeding projections by 25 percent in week 36 of the shipping season.
Some 3,400 workers at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), members of the Public Service
Alliance of Canada, have a new tentative agreement that consolidates 18 former public service agreements.
The tentative agreement, reached Friday, April 30, mirrors the economic settlements recently achieved in the federal public
service and extends those individual expiry dates to December 31, 1999. This was achieved by extending the economic
settlement by a pro-rated 2% increase.
The Globe and Mail wants to hear from you about your experiences with riding the TTC (Toronto
Transit Commission).
Why do you use the system and what are your experiences. Is it the better way for you? If you
have stopped using it, why?
Reporter Jennifer Lewington may contact you individually. You can contact her directly at
JLewington@GlobeAndMail.ca.
Hundreds of thousands of
commuters face at least two more days, and possibly
two more weeks, of traffic headaches after Ontario's
New Democrats thwarted a government plan Monday
to legislate an end to a massive transit strike.
"I'd like it to be resolved tomorrow," Government
House Leader Norm Sterling said late Monday.
"But it could take as long as a couple of weeks."
The opposition New Democrats refused a plea by
Ontario Premier Mike Harris to allow swift passage of
back-to-work legislation during an emergency recall of the legislature planned for
Tuesday.
The NDP said a provision in the bill that could allow the government to appoint an
arbitrator if the union and the Toronto Transit Commission failed to agree on one
could prove unfair to workers.
Spurred by the transit crisis facing
Toronto, Chair of the GTA Mayors and Regional Chairs Committee, Mayor Hazel
McCallion, is calling on the Province to act on the Committee's request to
allocate a portion of the provincial fuel tax to municipalities to help fund
expansion of the GTA transit system.
``With the elimination of the Province's transit subsidy to
municipalities as of January 1998, municipalities have been forced to take
over the full operating and capital costs of both GO Transit and local transit
systems,'' said Mayor McCallion. ``The cost to operate GO Transit and local
transit is now included as part of each municipality's property tax bill,''
she said.
City transit workers voted to strike Saturday, throwing the
daily travel plans of 800,000 weekday commuters into limbo.
After voting 78 per cent against the Toronto Transit Commission's final contract
offer, 7,800 drivers, ticket takers and maintenance workers will be off the job at
midnight tonight - barring an 11th-hour deal.
Motorists are bracing for traffic chaos while transit riders prepare to taxi, carpool,
walk or bike to school or work.
The last strike to affect the city's buses, subway trains and streetcars was an
eight-day walkout in 1991. The resulting influx of cars on city streets created
massive gridlock and a tangle of cyclists.
Premier Mike Harris today expressed concern and
urges both parties of the Toronto Transit Commission negotiations to return
to the bargaining table in an effort to avert a shut down of transit services
in Toronto.
By majority vote, the TTC's Amalgamated Transit
Union, Local 113, today rejected the contract offer put forward by the
Commission.
The contract offer included wage increases of 2%/2%/2% over the 3 year
contract period and some benefit improvements.
Contract negotiations began in January and culminated with a Ministry of
Labour supervised vote on the Commission offer.
The Commission will meet in camera tomorrow morning, Sunday, April 18 at
11 a.m. at the Delta Chelsea Inn to consider the rejection.
Seamstresses at an auto-parts plant scrapped
their occupation of the building earlier this morning after they cut a deal with
management to keep jobs in Canada.
The 25 unionized employees of Canadian Fabricated Products Ltd. took
over the plant nearly 24 hours earlier, in a dramatic effort to win back 57
jobs they were afraid were going to Mexico.
The Canadian Auto Workers Local 1325, which represents the mainly
female workers, said an agreement was reached at 5 a.m., after hours of
tense discussions with the company.
Johnson Controls sought to get an injunction
today regarding the Canadian Auto Workers union occupation of its plant in
Stratford, Ontario. The injunction was dismissed on a technicality late this
afternoon but the company can reapply should it choose to do so.
Members of the Canadian Auto Workers occupied a
Stratford, Ont., factory early today in a dispute over work they say is being
shipped out of the country.
Between 20 and 30 employees of the Canadian Fabrication plant locked
themselves inside a factory building before 6 a.m., after talks with the
company failed to resolve the issue, CAW officials said.
A tentative deal was struck Friday to end the
10-month strike at the Miramar Con Mine gold mine.
Workers at the gold mine -- owned by Vancouver-based Miramar Mines
-- will vote on the deal next week.
Details of the settlement were not released.
The tentative contract came after two weeks of meetings between United
Steelworkers of America Local 802 and Miramar negotiators.
About 180 workers walked off the job last May 14 over company
demands for wage concessions.
Send them an email of solidarity
From the CBC Webpage:
"All questions or concerns regarding the current strike
situation should be directed to Audience Relations at
cbcinput@toronto.cbc.caThank you."
Send Them A Message!Stop Using Scabs and Get Back To the Bargaining Table! Stop Contracting Out! Stop the Privatization of Public Broadcasting!
Resentment and bitterness descended on picket lines at CBC stations
yesterday after broadcast technicians, frustrated by nearly five weeks
on strike, learned that CBC journalists in another union had won a 10%
pay raise only hours before a deadline for a wider strike -- one that
would have thrown the public broadcaster into disarray. The
technicians' union, meanwhile, rejected a new CBC offer for a pay
increase of eight per cent.
The House of Commons sat through the night debating
legislation to force 14,000 government workers back to work, despite a tentative
deal between the government and its blue-collar workers.
Treasury Board President Marcel Masse told the House about the agreement just
minutes after House voted 159-63 in favour of a closure motion as part of the
government’s push to pass back-to-work legislation by the end of the week.
"Just a few hours ago, we have reached a tentative agreement with striking
blue-collar workers," Masse said, provoking an uproar from opposition parties.
Reform, New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois MPs angrily demanded to know why
they were not told about the deal until nearly two hours after Masse was informed
there was a tentative agreement.
The federal government pressed ahead Tuesday with a bill to
force 14,000 of its blue-collar employees back to work amid union complaints the
Liberals would rather legislate than negotiate.
The Chretien government moved to impose closure on debate so the bill can be
passed before the House rises Friday for its two-week Easter break.
As politicians debated, about 500 public employees from Montreal and Ottawa
protested on the steps of Parliament and at government offices around the capital.
"Governments . . . can legislate workers back to work, but they’re not going to
legislate away the frustration," said Bob White, president of the Canadian Labour
Congress.
"Workers are mad as hell."
Legal strike activity by federal civil servants will
likely increase next week as the House of Commons debates back-to-work
legislation, a union official said Friday.
"We will be using this next week to escalate all of our strike activities," said
Marion Meagher, regional vice president of the Public Service Alliance of
Canada.
"The Liberals have provoked this impasse. Either we will have a freely
bargained collective agreement or we'll continue to see them abuse their
powers as legislators."
Reformers and New Democrats yesterday blocked efforts by
Ottawa to introduce legislation ordering striking grain handlers and
other federal blue-collar workers back on the job.
Liberals expect to have thousands of striking
federal blue collar workers, including grain handlers, back on the
job by the end of next week. The government tried to clear the
way for speedy passage of back-to-work legislation Friday but
failed to get unanimous consent from the NDP and Reformers.
The Liberals have lost patience with work stoppages that are
tying up West Coast grain shipments and threatening to delay tax
returns.
Six employees at the Beaverlodge Research Farm walked off the job this week as part of a nationwide series of rotating strikes
by seven groups of General Labour and Trades.
The 14,500 disgruntled workers, represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), are demanding wage
increases and the end of different rates of pay in different provinces for the same positions.
"They haven't had a raise since a three per cent hike in 1992," said PSAC representative Joanna Miazga.
The employees has also been without a contract since 1997.
Rotating strike action began on Jan. 18, but picketers in places like Edmonton have picked up the pace.
"In front of Canada Place, we've been running 24 hour pickets, seven days a week, for the last three weeks," explained Miazga.
"So they're pretty serious."
The Canadian Grain Commission must examine all
options including private sector competition for grain inspection services, the
Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association says.
Threatened with back-to-work legislation, federal blue-collar
workers who have paralyzed Canada's overseas grain shipments at
Vancouver's port have agreed to return to their jobs today.
The move came as Parliament called an emergency debate Thursday night
over the growing grain crisis that the government claims is costing Canadian
farmers millions of dollars in lost or delayed grain sales.
The Commons waged a four-hour
emergency debate Thursday on work stoppages that
are costing millions by tying up West Coast grain
shipments.
"The ministers responsible for solving these national
problems have failed in their tasks," said Howard
Hilstrom, the Reform agriculture critic who called for the
debate, which finally adjourned about 9:30 p.m. EST.
Premier Roy Romanow has endorsed the Saskatchewan
Party's call to legislate coastal grain handlers back to work.
The New Democrat premier said the province's farmers cannot sustain the
loss of markets and the loss of income from the labour dispute involving
federal workers.
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool today called on the
federal government to immediately intervene in the strike by the
Canadian Grain Commission's weigh-staff.
"Our producers and the entire industry are incurring additional
costs due to the labour dispute, an expense we can ill-afford
given the current downturn in the farm economy," said Pool
President and Chairman of the Board Leroy Larsen. "The labour
dispute is resulting in lost sales and higher costs for the entire
agricultural industry."
The Ontario government and its civil servants reached a
tentative three-year contract agreement early today, more than five hours
after a strike deadline passed.
"We got the most for the least," Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario
Public Service Employees Union, said in an interview minutes after the deal
was reached.
"We're quite pleased."
Ontario Public Service employees have beaten back concessions and made satisfactory gains in a
tentative agreement signed with the Ontario government at 5:30 this morning, their union says.
"This contract is the most for the least," said Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
"We took on a huge, hostile, anti-worker employer, and we came out ahead. We beat back all the major concessions the
government was after, we moved ahead in key areas, and we did it without the high price tag of a long and costly strike."
Government demands aimed to undercut seniority, cut benefits for sick and injured workers, slash severance pay for
others, and institute a "pay-for-performance" scheme that would have opened the door to favouritism and harassment of
workers, Casselman said.
"We stopped those concessions, and we went further. We won early retirement for surplused workers, we won speedier
justice for grievances, we won a 50 per cent increase in paid time off for local presidents for union business, and we won
the first wage increase in six years."
The union won wage increases of 1.0 per cent, 1.35 per cent, and 1.95 per cent in successive years of a three-year deal,
plus extra pay adjustments for 5,400 workers in specific occupations.
"Backed by a solid strike vote and workplace organizing, our bargaining teams brought home a collective agreement we
can all be proud of," said Casselman. "Congratulations to all of us."
As the government and union officials representing the
province's 48,000 civil servants kept negotiating long past the strike deadline,
the fate of routine services across Ontario hung in the balance.
When the midnight strike deadline for the Ontario Public Service Employees
Union arrived Wednesday, both sides agreed to extend the contract talks.
A strike would see about 37,000 civil servants represented by OPSEU walk
off the job. The rest, considered essential employees, would stay at work.
Wolfe Islanders could find themselves battling for space aboard
the minuscule Amherst Island ferry tomorrow if ferry employees
reduce service as part of a province-wide public service strike.
The union representing 48,000 Ontario civil servants
slashed its wage demands Tuesday in an effort to ward off a provincewide
strike that could come as early as midnight tonight.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is now asking for pay hikes of
between eight and 9.5 per cent over two years, a tactic they hope will
encourage the province to loosen its purse strings.
Tens of thousands of Ontario government workers are
poised to walk off the job at midnight Wednesday night unless they can
reach a contract deal with the province.
But a government official says it's as though a strike has already begun.
Three-quarters of the jail guards at six Ontario jails called in sick Monday,
forcing prisoners across the province to stay locked in their cells.
Workers at several government offices are already working to rule, refusing
to take on any extra jobs or perform tasks they argue break health and
safety codes.
At other offices, information picket lines have been hoisted.
A mass sick-in by Ontario jail guards has affected
operations at six provincial institutions today.
Corrections Ontario spokesman Ross Virgo said up to three-quarters of the
workers at the jails called in sick.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has
set a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, March 18 in
public service contract talks with the Ontario government.
Government negotiators announced March 14 that they had no mandate
to address the union's issues or to withdraw their demands for
major concessions at the Central Bargaining Table.
The union representing 48,000 Ontario civil servants
denied Thursday that it wants to see its members on the picket line next
week.
But unless the government gets serious about negotiating a new contract,
that's precisely where they'll be, said Leah Casselman, head of the Ontario
Public Service Employees Union.
OPSEU President Leah Casselman is strongly recommending that OPSEU
members in the Ontario Public Service, reject the government’s contract offer when they come
out to vote between Wednesday, March 3 and Friday, March 5.
Ontario's civil servants took to the polls Wednesday
on the first day of a three-day strike vote that could see 48,000 union
members walk off the job in two weeks.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is urging its members to reject
the provincial government's latest contract offer.
The Ontario government offered to increase wages
and withdraw a contentious layoff proposal Thursday in an effort to avert a
strike by 48,000 civil servants.
But the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents the
workers, immediately rejected the offer.
Union head Leah Casselman says civil servants will vote on the offer in a
strike vote scheduled next Wednesday through Friday.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has asked the province to come up
with a full contract offer it can take to its members.
OPSEU President Leah Casselman Thursday challenged Management Board
Chairman Chris Hodgson to come to the table himself and bargain a contract for her 48,000
members in the Ontario Public Service."You have moved on your concessions; and you have moved in the right direction," she said. "Let's
sit down and finish the job. The so-called 'final offer' tabled today is not acceptable.
Solidarity Messages can be sent to CUPE Local 4400: Tel (416) 597-3957, Fax (416) 204-1570
The city's school board and striking support workers
reached a tentative agreement Friday night to end the dispute that caused
some schools to close and disrupted others.
But union and school board officials agreed a larger battle against the
province's education funding formula still lies ahead.
"We do not want anyone to think that because a tentative settlement has
been reached, that public education is no longer at risk," said John
Weatherup, president of the local Canadian Union of Public Employees.
"We have done important damage control, but the crisis in education cannot
be resolved through collective bargaining alone."
including a discussion area, voice your support for CUPE workers
Mass picket locations - Friday, March 12th, 1999
Emery CI
East York CI
Etobicoke CI
Marc Garneau CI
Stephen Leacock CI
Timothy Eaton BTI
York Humber HS
York Mills CI
The education funding formula that's blamed for
keeping 14,000 school support workers in Toronto on the picket line is not
written in stone, says Ontario's education minister.
Teachers across the city are calling on the Toronto District School Board
to either return to the bargaining table with CUPE 4400 or close the schools.
The situation in the schools is deteriorating. It is no longer a viable option
to keep these schools open.
TORONTO, March 4 /CNW/ - A mediator has been named in the contract
negotiations between the Toronto District School Board and the Canadian Union
of Public Employees, Local 4400.
Kevin Burkett has been appointed effective 8:00 p.m., March 3, 1999.
Burkett is one of Ontario's most well-respected labour mediators.
The announcement of the mediator sends the negotiations into a full
``media blackout.''
Phyllis Benedict, President of the Elementary
Teachers' Federation of Ontario, has strongly objected to the Toronto District
School Board requiring teachers to perform duties of CUPE Local 4400 members
presently on strike.
WORKERS VOTE FOR FIRST CONTRACT
Historic First Agreement at First MacDonalds Organized in North America.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--Local 3519 of the Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE), representing custodial and maintenance staff at
the Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest, reached a
tentative agreement with the employer at 3:00 p.m. yesterday,
avoiding a strike at francophone public schools in the
centre-south-west area of the province, including Metro Toronto.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--La section locale 3519 du Syndicat canadien de
la fonction publique (SCFP), qui représente le personnel de
conciergerie et d'entretien du Conseil scolaire de district du
Centre-Sud-Ouest a conclu une entente provisoire avec l'employeur
hier à 15 h, évitant une grève dans les écoles publiques de langue
française du Centre-sud-ouest de la province, y compris la région
du Grand Toronto.
OPSEU SETTLES
If the Ontario Tories are indeed
planning to call a spring election, they will now be able
to campaign with tens of thousands of civil servants on
the job instead of the picket lines.
But even if 37,000 members of the Ontario Public
Service Employees Union had gone on strike Thursday,
it likely wouldn't have mattered much to the
government, political observers say.
Envirotest Canada, provincial contractor
for the AirCare program, has reached a tentative agreement with its employees.
The employees are members of The British Columbia Government and Service
Employees' Union (BCGEU).
A strike by support workers with the Toronto District
School Board is officially over.
The 14,000 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees voted 92
per cent in favour of a new two-year contract Saturday.
The caretakers, secretaries and teaching assistants were off the job for two
weeks earlier this month, forcing the closure of dozens of city high schools.
Laidlaw Transit Limited and Amalgamated Transit
Union Local 279 have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract covering
the Laidlaw drivers at Para Transpo.
Union negotiators have agreed to forward the contract settlement
agreement to a meeting of its Para Transpo members, with a recommendation that
it be approved.
Both the company and the union also agreed that they will jointly propose
Monday that the Canada Industrial Relations Board delay hearings on the
question of essential services in the event of a strike pending the vote by
the drivers.
The latest union certification vote at Michelin's three
Nova Scotia tire plants is on hold.
The Labour Relations Board has raised questions about whether the
Canadian Auto Workers union has the required 40 per cent of workers
signed up.
Contents are © Copyright the individual authors, or original sources that have been linked.
Produced By Volunteer Union Labour
IU560