On June 17 and 18 your bargaining committee resumed negotiations with the Employer in attempt to reach a fair and equitable tentative agreement that addresses the needs of our members. In an attempt to expedite the process and get to an agreement the bargaining committee offered a package to the Employer that represented very close to our bottom line.
After much back and forth and many explanations why the remaining proposals were of vital importance to our members, the Employer refused to budge on some very fundamental issues that lead us to an impasse.
Some of the rejected proposals include:
- refusing to decrease the amount of time that discipline remains on a worker’s file. Five years is way too long is way too punitive, and is absolutely outside of the industry norm
- refusing to contact the Union when a return to work or an accommodation is required or requested. The duty to accommodate is a shared responsibility and many of our members have been disadvantaged by the Employer’s arbitrary determinations and the lack of involvement of the Union. The Employer clearly doesn’t want the Union involved to make the Employer practice exactly what the law provides.
- refusing to distribute overtime without regards to seniority. It is fair and reasonable that when a weekend shift requires a number of employees to work overtime, that the positions assigned are determined by seniority competency considered and not by management arbitrarily assigning positions that far too often block senior employees from working the overtime at all.
- refusing to pay a training premium for the many times our members are required to train co-workers in becoming proficient.
Perhaps the most troubling roadblock is the Employer’s insistence on a possible 10 year collective agreement. The Union has repeatedly told the Employer they are not interested in another way too long agreement and certainly not for the few bucks being thrown at our members thinking they can be bought cheaply.
CIPA Lumber needs to get serious about bargaining and stop trying to bribe us for a few bucks. They are not buying a used 91 Dodge with 250,000 kilometers on it. They need to realize and accept the value of their very undervalued employees , the same employees who make them the profits that they and their shareholders continue to enjoy year after year.
Our next step is to set up meetings with the crews at CIPA to explain all of the proposals and to determine our next actions.
In the meantime don’t listen to false rumours from supervisors . Get the truth from your Union bargaining committee.
In Solidarity
USW 2009 CIPA Bargaining Committee
Jeff Bromley Al Bieksa Mike Duhra Aman Chumber Dennis Ewaski Paul Ruth