The clock is ticking toward a U. S. Steel strike or lock-out in Hamilton.

The company triggered the countdown Wednesday by asking for a provincial conciliator after four months of negotiations with the United Steel Workers Local 1005.

In an announcement on its web site, the union advised members of the development, explaining once a conciliation officer is appointed he will try to bring the sides together. If that effort fails the officer will issue a “no board” report. That puts either side in a strike-lock-out position after 17 days.

That means if a no board report is issued next Friday, there could be picket lines in front of the company’s Hamilton plant by Oct. 17.

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GUELPH, ON, Sept. 23 /CNW/ – Members of OPSEU local 203 have voted 88 per cent in favour of walking off the job if negotiations on a first contract with Guelph Independent Living fail to reach an agreement.

“Our members have spoken forcefully and they’re saying the status quo doesn’t work anymore,” said Laura Webster, president of the local which represents about 75 workers. “We haven’t received a wage increase in eight years and they’re fed up with being the lowest paid workers compared to others doing similar work in the region.”

OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas said the strong strike vote means members aren’t likely to knuckle under to management’s hard line.

“Our members are fighting for a first contract and management will be playing hardball. That strategy won’t work in the face of the powerful mandate our members have delivered to their negotiating team,” said Thomas.

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SAINT JOHN, N.B. – Striking workers from an armoured car company are picketing in front of some New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island banks today.

Employees from the security company G4S put signs up at several banks, including the Royal, CIBC and TD branches.

Teamster Union spokesman Phillip Comeau says workers are looking for a better wage in a three-year contract.

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Claudette Carbonneau, president of the Confederation des syndicats nationaux labour federation, representing 253 Journal de Montreal staffers locked out for 20 months in a bitter contract dispute, met yesterday with provincial Labour Minister Lise Theriault.

Carbonneau is asking the minister to amend Quebec’s anti-scab law to take into account technological change, which allows replacement workers to do the work of people locked out without being in the office.

“We aren’t asking for the moon,” Carbonneau said, after addressing some of the locked-out employees who came to the National Assembly from Montreal.

She said the anti-scab law was written in 1977 when most work was done under one roof. “You were on the production line or you weren’t,” Carbonneau said.

At lockouts at its Quebec City and Montreal papers, owner Quebecor has been using reporters and photographers who never set foot in its newsroom.

The union representing Le Journal de Quebec employees won a Commission des relations du travail decision declaring these type of workers to be replacement workers, or scabs. But the ruling was overturned on appeal and appears headed to the Supreme Court of Canada for a final ruling.

“We don’t want to wait seven or eight years,” said Carbonneau, referring to the lengthy court procedures that often occur before the high court makes its ruling.

That is why she is asking Theriault to change the law.

“We think the National Assembly is there for the common good and the general interest,” she said.

Amending the anti-scab law to take into account new technology would “re-establish a balance between the parties,” she said, noting that because Quebecor papers can continue to operate, even with a lockout, the company has been unwilling to negotiate.

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The strike by Northern Ontario School of Medicine support staff will continue for at least another week.

OPSEU and the management group have agreed to resume talks.

But that won’t be until next Thursday in Sudbury.

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The board of directors of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is looking at possible legal action against striking support staff to prevent picketers from blocking access to the medical school’s Sudbury location.

Medical school dean Dr. Roger Strasser said striking members of OPSEU Local 677 prevented students and faculty from accessing the car park at the medical school’s East campus at Laurentian University on Monday.

About 150 members of the local have been on strike in Sudbury and at the West campus of NOSM at Thunder Bay’s Lakehead University since Aug. 16.

But the chair of the union‘s bargaining committee trying to negotiate a first collective agreement for the local denied strikers prevented anyone from crossing their line Monday and said Strasser parked his automobile in the school’s parking lot.

Tyler England said atten-dance by striking OPSEU members was heavy Monday morning after talks broke off between the two sides Friday.

Strikers moved their pickets from the main Laurentian entrance on Ramsey Lake Road to the South Bay Road entrance to the med school, but their method of picketing did not change from recent days, England said.

Picketers stopped vehicles and distributed information pamphlets outlining OPSEU Local 677′s position and detained vehicles as long as motorists wished to talk with strikers about the issues, said England.

But Strasser said students and staff weren’t allowed in to the car park, putting medical school’s board in the position of examining legal options to get around picketers.

Motorists have complained about delays entering the university throughout the strike, but England insists members are only exercising their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom to dis-tribute information about their cause.

Strasser and England also disagreed Monday about the progress of four days of mediated bargaining that occurred last week in Thunder Bay.

Strasser said OPSEU negotiators walked away from the bargaining table Friday afternoon when the medical school was prepared to continue bargaining even though the mediator had other commitments. He also said substantial progress had been made.

England said NOSM’s failure to respond to a last language proposal from his union indicated to OPSEU negotiators there was no point in continuing.

Strasser is the spokesman for NOSM, although he does not sit on its bargaining committee. He said the team is proposing the two sides sit down again Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 — with or without a mediator.

England said his bargaining committee is ready to resume negotiations immediately — if the medical school indicates it is willing to budge on some language issues.

Strasser said the school’s bargaining committee’s hands are tied because of “compensation restraints” imposed by the province on the public sector.

The medical school and OPSEU began bargaining in October 2009 for a first collective agreement and Strasser said progress was being made monthly until July, after the province announced its compensation restraint policy.

The day after Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that policy, OPSEU’s chief negotiator “initiated” the actions that led to the Aug. 16 strike, he said.

Virtually all of the school’s funding comes from the province.

But England said money is one of seven key issues, most of which relate to work-life balance. Many of OPSEU Local 677 members are young and have children, and are looking for assurances about their hours of work, days of work and vacation time.

It is the contract language around those issues that seems to be keeping the parties at odds.

Strasser said it is important in settling a first contract to get the language right.

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Close to 400 employees in three Pictou County long term care facilities have given their union a strong strike vote.

CUPE Local 2330 President Nan McFadgen says, “Members employed at Glen Haven Manor, Valley View Villa and the Maritime Oddfellows Home cast their ballots in a strike vote on Monday, September 20.

“They have voted 96% in favour of job action if we are unable to reach a negotiated settlement.”

CUPE National Representative Wayne Thomas says, “As part of CUPE’s provincial bargaining with government, we will return to the table on September 30 for Conciliation talks. We need to get serious about addressing the issue of wage parity for our more than 3,500 members in this sector.”

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Members of OPSEU Local 677 have moved their picket lines from the entrances to Laurentian University off of Ramsey Lake Road and South Bay Road to the entrance to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) — at least for today (Sept. 20).

The picket lines, which have been manned by clerical, administrative and technical NOSM workers since they went on strike Aug. 16, have caused traffic tie-ups along Ramsey Lake Road.

The union’s bargaining team chair, Tyler England, said the union decided to change its picketing strategy to provide information directly to those entering and exiting the medical school building.  He said they also heard the medical school has hired at least one replacement worker.

“Every day we look at the situation and determine how we’re putting our information out there,” England said.

“It would be difficult to say at this time what will happen tomorrow. We’re not sure at this point if it’s a permanent change or not. I really can’t comment on that.”

England denies the decision to change the location of the picket line Sept. 20 was due to public pressure about traffic jams on Ramsey Lake Road.

He also said the issue was not discussed during the most recent set of mediated talks between the two parties, which took place last week and broke off Sept. 17.

So far, the picketers have had a positive response to moving their picket line, he said.

“A lot of (Laurentian students) have come down and thanked us for what we’re doing today,” he said. “As well, it’s been great being able to speak with the medical students as they’ve been coming through, and being able to give them the information directly.”

A press release put out by NOSM last week said the medical school’s bargaining team was prepared to talk through the weekend, but OPSEU’s bargaining team left the talks at around 4 p.m. Sept. 17.

“Although considerable progress was made this week, the parties were unable to resolve all outstanding matters and reach a first collective agreement,” the press release from NOSM stated.

“NOSM has proposed that the two sides resume bargaining again September 30 and October 1, 2010, and is awaiting response from the OPSEU Staff Unit.”

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ANTIGONISH, N.S. – A group of credit union employees in Nova Scotia has voted in favour of a strike.

The Canadian Auto Workers Union represents approximately 50 workers at Bergengren Credit Union branches in New Glasgow, Antigonish and St. Andrew’s.

The workers, who’ve been without a contract since the end of December, voted on Thursday 93.8 per cent in favour of a strike action.

Union representative Rick Garint says the union and the employer have met 11 times since talks started in February, including five times in conciliation, but have failed to come to an agreement.

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Brazilian miner Vale SA ( VALE | PowerRating) will meet with officials from the United Steelworkers union Sunday in an attempt to end a strike at the company’s Voisey’s Bay operations in eastern Canada that has lasted almost 14 months.

The provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador appointed an independent mediator late Thursday to assist in finding a resolution to the deadlock. The strike has been ongoing since Aug. 1, 2009.

The last round of contract talks between the company and the union broke off on July 20 in a deadlock over the proposed bonus structure. Vale says union demands would drive up labor costs at Voisey’s Bay by 45%.

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