Renowned security expert Rob Shuster will make leading-edge training solutions a top priority

CLEVELAND, May 18 /PRNewswire/ - Ohio-based International Management Assistance Corporation (IMAC), the leader in crisis and disaster response services, is growing again with the appointment of Rob Shuster as its new vice president of protective services and training. Mr. Shuster, a noted authority with 30 years of experience in the private security industry, will focus on building cutting edge training programs and a world class security training platform to enhance IMACs extensive suite of crisis and disaster services. He assumes the position effective immediately.

In his new leadership role at IMAC, Rob Shuster will be responsible for the development and management of close protection operations as well as the enhancement of internal training and client training programs. A large part of his work will center on the development of a powerful new training platform that will allow IMAC to offer elite security training courses to government and private industries in a variety of sectors. Mr. Shuster will operate out of IMAC’s northern Virginia office.

“We are thrilled to welcome Rob Shuster, a consummate industry professional and well-recognized security training subject matter expert, to the IMAC team, says IMAC president Peter Martin. “As our newly appointed vice president, he will reinforce IMAC’s reputation as the most knowledgeable and trusted ‘single source provider’, allowing us to deliver the largest collection of superior crisis and disaster security services available in North America.”

Prior to joining IMAC, Mr. Shuster spent most of his 30 year career at Vance International, a global leader in uniform security and investigations services. There, he held various positions including: executive protection detail leader, director of training, vice president of corporate development and senior vice president of the asset protection team. Mr. Shuster is a respected knowledge expert in security practices and training related to crisis management & response, labor disputes, close protection operations, special event security, security awareness programs, evasive & defensive driving, and executive protection program design. He has written corporate security articles and white papers, and has been lectured for many noted organizations including the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), the International Society of Special Event Planners, the Young Presidents Organization, Penn State University, the Tactical Response Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Mr. Shuster has also served two (2) four year terms on the private security advisory board for the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.

“IMAC’s accomplished and highly knowledgeable executive team has made their organization a world class operation, says Shuster. “I am thrilled to join forces with them and have the opportunity to apply my years of experience to making this great company even stronger.”

Picket lines went up Monday at high profile building sites in Winnipeg, including James Richardson International Airport and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at the Forks.

Members of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters voted Sunday against a contract settlement with employers. The workers are reportedly seeking an 18 percent wage increase over three years.

A dozen or so construction workers wearing placards formed a picket line at the museum construction site early Monday. And pickets appeared at the airport as well.

Strike captain Rick Fournier said unionized plumbers and pipefitters overwhelmingly rejected a three percent per year wage offer from the Construction Labour Relations Association however CLRA spokesman Peter Wightman said the employer offered the union a 10.4 percent wage boost over three years.

Fournier said members of his union local are among the lowest paid workers in the trade in Canada.

Fournier said other trades including unionized iron workers and carpenters are expected to honour their picket lines.

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MONTREAL – Regional airline Jazz Air is facing a strike vote by its pilots who could be off the job as early as mid-June, potentially disrupting travellers’ summer vacation plans.

Negotiations are expected to go right down to the wire, Brian Shury of the Air Line Pilots Association said Friday.

“We’re hoping for the best and planning for the worst,” said Shury, who is chairman of the union’s master executive council for Jazz pilots.

No strike deadline has been set, however the mandatory cooling-off period will expire at midnight on June 12.

“We fully anticipate that there will negotiations with the company after that time period and right up to the potential deadline,” Shury said from Toronto.

Halifax-based Jazz Air Income Fund said it has reached deals with some of its unions, but it’s still negotiating with several others, including the pilots.

“Our dispatchers ratified their new collective agreement and the process continues with our pilots, flight attendants and crew schedulers,” Jazz CEO Joseph Randell told a conference call with analysts on Friday.

Shury predicted the pilots’ vote will be highly in favour of a strike once the results are counted on May 27, adding that will put pressure on Jazz to bargain “meaningfully.”

“The strike vote is a normal part of the bargaining process and we feel it’s going to bring the proper amount of pressure on all of the parties to find a tentative agreement before a work disruption takes place,” he said.

Analyst Michael Mills said the strike threat can’t be dismissed.

“I think it has to be taken seriously,” said Mills of Halifax-based Beacon Securities.

“These guys have been without a contract since the end of June last year, and certainly the negotiations with both the pilots and flight attendants have taken much longer than I was expecting and longer than most people were expecting.”

Mills noted that Jazz has pointed it out during the conference call that it has put money aside for its labour agreements.

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TORONTO – Hundreds of CAW members from across the Greater Toronto Area will rally in support of striking St. Marys Cement workers on Tuesday, May 18 in Bowmanville, Ontario.

The 100 St. Marys workers, represented by CAW Local 222, have been on strike since March 14 - with the employer making no sign of getting back to the bargaining table any time soon.

St. Marys Cement is demanding the elimination of the pension plan among other concessions, including a drastic reduction in benefits.

CAW President Ken Lewenza said that the Brazilian parent company is making enormous profits, yet is trying to go after the workers to give up important benefits, like retirement security. “This is outright bullying of this small group of workers,” said Lewenza. “This company is far from destitute and the rollback of any hard won workers’ benefits is out of the question.”

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TILBURY — Workers at Mahle Filter Systems in Tilbury have rejected a three-year contract offer from the company. Mark Pastorius, plant chairman for CAW Local 1941, says 62% of the membership turned down the deal in a ratification vote.

“Both sides bargained and we thought we had a deal that was satisfactory and that both sides could live with,” said Pastorius. “The membership voiced their concern with the 62 per cent ‘No’ vote.”

Pastorius cited concerns over concessions related to internal operations at the plant as the reason why the offer was rejected.

The current collective agreement expires Aug. 25. While the deadline is several weeks away, Pastorius says the union is willing go back to the bargaining table at any time.

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The Grim Reaper took a break from her deathly duties yesterday to protest pending changes at Canada Post.

When asked why she decided to join a protest of approximately 30 postal workers outside the Malenfant Boulevard Canada Post mail processing plant, the cloaked figure slowly swung her scythe and uttered: “Job cuts. Death to jobs, death to the local economy.”

When not in costume and presiding over symbolic funeral processions at protests, the Grim Reaper is actually postal employee and union representative Louise Comtois. As her colleagues marched around the entrance into the Canada Post property yesterday, she explained that they’re trying to bring attention to changes being proposed by Canada Post.

“The biggest issue for us is job loss, but what goes along with that is service to the public,” she said. “We’re providing an excellent service right now, we’re beating Canada Post standards for mail delivery and now they want to truck it to Saint John, which to us is ludicrous.”

Canada Post plans to send letter mail to its Saint John facility starting in August, where it will be sorted by a machine. It’s currently being sorted manually in Dieppe.

Once sorted in Saint John, it will then return to Metro Moncton for delivery.

Canada Post says there will be absolutely no delay in people receiving their mail because it’s sorted in Saint John.

“There will be no impact to the level of postal service provided,” says spokeswoman Genevieve Latour.

She adds that no one will lose their job, either. Ten positions will eventually be eliminated, but through retirement or attrition.

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Ontario’s premier and Labour minister said Wednesday they would like to see Vale Inco and striking Steelworkers return to negotiations, but have no plans to ban the use of replacement workers.

On Wednesday, Premier Dalton McGuinty also said he would prefer it if Vale Inco did not hire replacement workers in Sudbury.

“To be perfectly clear, we strongly urge and encourage the employer not to hire replacement workers,” McGuinty told the legislature.

“It is not the kind of thing that we, in our government, would do. In fact, we specifically adopted that as a policy on our part.”

The premier’s staff later clarified he was talking about the government as an employer not hiring replacement workers.

Later, outside the legislature, Labour Minister Peter Fonseca refused to consider banning replacement workers, and urged both sides to return to the bargaining table.

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The Town of Tecumseh is facing a potential strike Monday by CUPE members over largely the same issue that sent Windsor workers to the picket lines for three months last summer.

“Unless there’s any call from town council we’ll be on active picket duty come Monday morning,” said Laura Moore, CUPE national representative.

“It is a strong possibility.”

The town’s 41 inside and outside workers are represented by CUPE Local 702.

The town has already contracted out garbage collection.

Services that would be affected include parks and recreation maintenance, permit issuing, public works and water quality testing.

The last contract, a four-year deal with three per cent increases annually, expired on Dec. 31.

Talks broke down Tuesday over the issue of post-retirement benefits, and an attempt by the town to move an employee out of the bargaining unit and into management.

The town is also seeking a wage freeze.

Moore said the union reluctantly agreed to eliminate post-retirement benefits for future hires but wanted the benefits grandfathered for existing employees for good, as happened in Windsor.

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WINNIPEG, May 10 /CNW/ – The United Steelworkers union (USW) is lobbying members of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly to improve labour laws and the Fatalities Inquiries Act as it applies to workplace deaths.

“We believe that workers in Manitoba should be able to sign up to join a union and a 50%-plus-one majority should prevail,” said USW Local 7913 President Cory Szczepanski. “We also say workers involved in a labour dispute shouldn’t be threatened with use of replacement workers.”

Replacement workers pose a serious threat to USW members in Thompson who go into bargaining with Vale Inco next year.

USW members in Sudbury, Ont. have been locked in a bitter dispute with Brazil-based Vale for 10 months. Vale is using replacement workers – a move the Steelworkers say typically prolongs strikes and encourages violence, particularly in resource-based communities like Sudbury and Thompson where labour disputes feature so prominently in the community.

“We don’t need the kind of tactics Vale Inco is using in Sudbury to find their way to Thompson,” said Wayne Skrypnyk, USW area coordinator for Manitoba.

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