PSAC members working at the airport vote in favour of strike action

VANCOUVER, Aug. 20 /CNW/ – A possible labour disruption could cause delays for travelers arriving or departing from Vancouver International Airport in the near future. Employees working for the Vancouver International
Airport Authority (YVR), members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), have voted in favour of taking strike action, should it be necessary,in an effort to bring the Airport Authority back to the argaining table with a meaningful mandate.

“We have one more meeting with a federal Conciliation Officer in an effort to avert a disruption in service, whether that be a strike or lockout.” says Kay Sinclair PSAC Regional Vice-President for BC. “Our first two days of meeting with the Conciliation Officer proved to be an exercise in futility and our members have no choice but to take this next step.”

“Despite making over 31 million dollars in revenue over expenses in the first six months of this year, YVR have tabled a financial offer that is far below average wage increases in the airport sector. They claim this is due to the state of the economy and the airline industry.” says Dave Clark, President of Local 20221 of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees (UCTE), a Component of the PSAC. “In the same economic environment every other comparable airport in the country is able to provide reasonable wage increase to their employees. Why can’t this Airport Authority?” asks Clark.

There are more than 325 PSAC members employed by the VIAA. These workers provide key services such as mergency response, international arrivals customer care, runway maintenance, airfield & approach lighting, computer system maintenance, baggage handling, passenger loading bridge operation, maintenance of airport equipment and administrative services.

A diverse union of over 165,000 and growing, PSAC members working in the public and private sectors deliver quality products and services to Canadians every day.

YVR Bargaining Backgrounder

Vancouver International Airport Authority is the not-for-profit society that manages the Vancouver airport.

Over 325 PSAC members are employed by the Airport Authority.

They provide key services such as emergency response, international arrivals customer care, runway maintenance, airfield & approach lighting, computer system maintenance, baggage handling, passenger loading bridge operation, maintenance of airport equipment and administrative services.

The contract expired December 31, 2008 and the parties have had four bargaining sessions since then. They also met for 2 days with a federal
Conciliation Officer in July and there is one more day scheduled for August 21st, 2009.

VIAA forecast $19.9 million in revenue over expenses for the first 6 months of 2009, the actual revenue over expenses in this period was $31.8 million.
    VIAA’s final monetary offer is 2%, 2%, 2.5% over three years.
    The Union’s position is 3.5% per year over two years.

    Recent settlements in the airport sector

        -  Toronto: average increase of 3%/year over 5 years
        -  Montreal: average increase of 4%/year over 5 years
        -  Winnipeg: average increase of 3.1%/year over 4 years
        -  Edmonton: average increase of 4.3%/year over 4 years
        -  Ottawa: average increase of 4%/year over 4 years

Other non monetary items

Pension plan conversion: from a defined contributions plan in which employees manage their own pension savings to a more secure group plan with
defined benefits. This change in plan administration would come at no cost to the employer.

Flexible hours: a proposal to allow employees to work on a flexible schedule, with consideration for operational requirements. Similar programs
are in effect at Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Halifax airports. This would come at no cost to the employer.

Compassionate care without pay: an expansion of the definition of family to consistent with the Employment Insurance Act and an increase in the maximum amount of non paid leave employees are able to take. This would also come at no cost to the employer.

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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The United Steelworkers union (USW) warned on Thursday that any attempt by Brazilian-owned nickel-miner Vale Inco to run operations in Sudbury, in Canada, while some 3 100 of the union’s members are on strike, would be a “huge mistake”.

Given that the striking workers make up the bulk of the 4 700 or so Vale Inco employees in Sudbury, it seems unlikely that anything worth mentioning would resume until an agreement is reached between the miner and the union.

Still, the rumour mill has been working over-time this week, after local press reported that the company was holding skills training for non-unionised staff at its Sudbury nickel refinery.

Vale Inco spokesperson Cory McPhee confirmed on Thursday afternoon that a single ‘train-the-trainer’ workshop is being held in Sudbury this week, as part of the company’s “contingency planning”.

“As the name implies, this is simply ensuring we have people in place to provide training if necessary,” McPhee said.

There are about a dozen employees involved in the training and there has been no decision to restart production at this point, but “we are keeping all options open”, McPhee said.

The company has not ruled out the possibility of restarting operations.

But, speaking to reporters on Thursday, USW international president Leo Gerard warned that any moves by the company to have nonunionised workers do strikers’ jobs would be a “huge mistake”.

“It’s more than unacceptable, it is literally putting lives at risk.”

“We know the dangers of working in the mines, the smelters, the mills, the refineries,” Gerard said.

“And if they think they can bring in a couple of guys that they can train in a week, we are going to go after the federal government, the provincial government because you need a licence to do that,” he said.

“These are dangerous places, they are not candy stores.”

NO TALKS SCHEDULED

The USW workers in Sudbury downed tools on July 13 after rejecting the company’s three-year contract offer and neither side appears inclined to return to the bargaining table any time soon.

At the company’s Port Colborne, Ontario, precious-metals refinery, 125 workers are on strike, and a work stoppage is also under way at Vale’s nickel mine at Voisey’s Bay, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

McPhee confirmed that there were no new talks scheduled with the union.

“We are always willing to negotiate but we can’t negotiate by ourselves,” he said.

The main sticking points are understood to be pension structures and bonuses.

Vale maintains that it needs to implement changes to cut costs, in order to ensure the operations are economically viable “in all price cycles and all economic environments”.

“Until the union accepts that change is necessary there is little for us to talk about,” McPhee said.

Following scheduled maintenance in May this year, Vale Inco had implemented an eight-week shutdown at its Sudbury mining and processing operations, starting June 1, in response to weak demand and prices for for the metal, which is used to make stainless steel.

Workers subsequently voted to strike before operations were scheduled to resume.

Local 6500 vice-president Rick Bertrand said on Thursday the union was prepared to go to the bargaining table at any time, but added that he doesn’t “see that happening any time soon”.

The company has taken the stance that “there’s no use bargaining until we accept the changes, and that’s not bargaining. That’s demanding.”

Vale, the world’s biggest iron-ore producer, bought Canadian nickel-miner Inco in 2007.

However, while nickel traded above $24/lb in 2007, it has since fallen sharply, as slowing global economic activity dampened demand.

The price fell to around $4/lb in the fourth quarter of last year, but has since recovered to around $8,60/lb.

In an effort to cut costs and improve margins, Vale Inco said in March it would cut 900 jobs around the world, including 423 in Canada.

It has also indefinitely closed the Copper Cliff South mine, in Sudbury, and deferred a $814-million capital project, to replace the shafts in the mine and the neighbouring Copper Cliff North operation with a single shaft.

Vale CEO Roger Agnelli was quoted as saying in July that the Sudbury operations were “not sustainable”.

However, the union maintains that the operations are profitable.

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Montreal’s blue-collar union, which sent a strike notice to the city late Wednesday afternoon, has been without a contract since August 2007. (CBC)

Montreal blue-collar workers will hold a one-day strike at the end of the month.

The union sent a strike notice to the city late Wednesday afternoon. The workers have been without a contract since August 2007. About 5,000 workers are expected to be off the job as of midnight on Aug. 31, which is the anniversary of the expiration of their contract.

Union president Michel Parent said the union has been waiting for the latest offer from the city since last June. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), local 301 represents public workers in Montreal who deliver a range of services, including garbage collection and road maintenance.

Montreal’s director of professional relations, Jean Yves Hinse, said the city is still waiting for all the union’s demands before making a counter-offer, adding that he thought negotiations were going well.

“Yes we’re a little bit surprised at this moment because we reached an agreement last May with the pension fund,” said Hinse.

Parent said the union doesn’t want to hold Montrealers hostage but he said it’s time people are aware of how slowly negotiations with the city are proceeding.

Negotiations have been stalled over salaries and the use of subcontractors. Parent said the $355-million water metre contract the city signed with a private company is just the tip of the iceberg.

The union is asking for close to $100 million more than the city is offering. Parent said the union could hold a longer strike in the future if a deal isn’t reached.

The union also sent notice of the strike to Quebec’s essential services council, which was expected to meet on Thursday or Friday to rule on a list of services the union must deliver during the one-day strike.

Blue-collar workers in Montreal have not held a strike in 18 years. The average annual salary of a blue-collar worker is $42,000.

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Agency not accessing provincial wage increases, paying 5 times more to employ scabs to keep skilled workers off the job

CARLETON PLACE, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Aug. 20, 2009) – CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan urged Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government to look into the financial accountability of the Community Living Association-Lanark County at a news conference today outside the agency’s head office.

“Community Living Association-Lanark County has refused to access all the provincial funding for wage increases it is entitled to, at the same time it’s paying 5 times more for scabs to keep skilled CUPE members off the job,” Ryan said. “We have little choice but to ask the McGuinty government to initiate an operational review of the employer, focused on the financial accountability of the agency’s administration.”

Community Living Association-Lanark County balked at accessing provincial monies made available to increase wages in the sector – the only agency in Ontario to do so. Instead of accessing the full $1.40 more per worker per hour, the agency only accessed 50 cents more per hour, leaving workers 90 cents per hour short since 2007.

And now, the agency has spent upwards of 500 per cent more taxpayer dollars on strikebreaking than they would on regular wages for its skilled, qualified staff who know and understand the people they serve. On at least one occasion, striking staff have had to call police after witnessing replacement workers inappropriately restraining residents.

“Other Community Living Agencies had the foresight to access the available wage gap money, but the Lanark ED’s decision to forgo the funding set the stage for the current strike, which is now into its 7th week,” Ryan said.

The 90 members of CUPE 1521-02 have been on strike since early July, seeking access to the same pension plan Community Living workers across the province rely on. Despite numerous efforts by the union to bargain a settlement, the employer has dismissed all proposals out of hand.

“The employer is prolonging this strike by betraying its workers, betraying the public purse and, most importantly, betraying the residents of Lanark,” Ryan said. “Such betrayal requires intervention by the Provincial government, in order to ensure society’s most vulnerable are not used as pawns by an employer more interested in ‘running the clock’ than negotiating a fair settlement.”

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