American industrial giant Caterpillar is closing its locomotive plant in London and putting 460 workers out of their jobs just over a month after they were locked out for rejecting pay cuts of up to 50 per cent.
The dramatic move at the Electro-Motive Canada factory, owned by Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail, confirmed the worst suspicions of the Canadian Auto Workers union before the lockout began.
“We said it had all the markings of a closure,” CAW president Ken Lewenza said Friday after the closure was announced by the company.
“They denied it at the time . . . but they did exactly what they planned to do. I’m pissed.”
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The Mayor Rob Ford administration has an ultimatum for 6,000 city workers — surrender almost all job security and more, or have the concessions imposed anyway at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
The threat — extremely unusual in the public sector and regarded as a way to get workers to accept an offer or force them to go on strike — seems to remove any chance of the city locking out the outside workers this weekend.
Bruce Anderson, the city’s head of human resources, told reporters Friday the demands were tabled Thursday night after months of bargaining to replace the contract with Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416.
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The first transit strike in Halifax since 1998 left thousands of people in the city scrambling to find alternate methods of transportation as Metro Transit and its unionized workers refused to budge from their positions.
More than 700 workers walked off the job just after 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, after union representatives rejected Metro Transit’s latest proposal.
The rejection came after a last-minute bargaining session, as both sides of the contract dispute were called back to the table less than an hour before the midnight strike deadline.
On Thursday, both Metro Transit and the Amalgamated Transit Union stuck to their respective messages.
“We understand the importance of public transportation,” said Ken Wilson, the president of Local 508 of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
“It’s blatantly obvious that the mayor and the 23 councillors do not understand the importance. If they did, they would have kept us at the table.”
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The union representing 481 locked-out Electro-Motive employees won a round in court Wednesday when a judge ruled against a proposed injunction that would have ended their blockade of a locomotive in Ingersoll.
The locomotive — identified in court as unit 4 — had been stopped on the tracks since Jan. 25.
Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 27 enlisted members from Local 88 at Cami Automotive in Ingersoll to attend the blockade round-the-clock.
But with the CAW ending the blockade Tuesday night, the locomotive was free to go on its way to be painted before being shipped to Brazil.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday it was still in place. Six other locomotives are also ready, though their whereabouts are unknown.
Lawyer Trevor Lawson, representing Electro-Motive Canada, tried to convince Superior Court Judge Peter Hockin that if workers blocked one locomotive, they would block the others as well.
Lawson argued that unless the sweeping injunction was approved, the two sides would soon be back in court the next time the tracks were blocked.
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Locked out Electro-Motive workers in London have ended their blockade of a locomotive in Ingersoll.
Members of the CAW, which represents workers at the London plant, had prevented the locomotive from moving since Jan. 25.
The locomotive was one of the last units to be produced at the Electro-Motive plant before parent company Caterpillar Inc. locked the workers out on New Year’s Day. The train engine was on its way to be painted at a facility near Tillsonburg.
The CAW members said if they weren’t locked out, it would have been painted at their factory in London.
Local CAW president Tim Carrie said the blockade ended because of an injunction the company had sought. The issue was to go to court Wednesday.
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HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA–(Marketwire – Feb. 1, 2012) - Unionized employees with the Halifax Regional Water Commission (HRWC) have soundly rejected a so-called final offer from their employer.
CUPE Local 227 President Dave Dort explains, “In a vote held last night, our members sent a definitive message to HRWC: we deserve a new contract that is fair and reasonable and enables us to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of living in this city.
“Like all working families, our members are watching the price of everything go up around them – home heating costs, gas, groceries, post-secondary education, you name it,” says Dort.
“These workers do not want to go on strike and view it as a last resort. Nobody wants to see a disruption in service to HRM residents. But they deserve fairness and respect and they have not received that at the bargaining table,” he says.
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As a Sunday deadline approaches, Toronto’s deputy mayor says it’s time for the city’s outside workers to get down to business and negotiate a new contract.
In an interview on Metro Morning, Doug Holyday said the threat of a lockout is not off the table, if CUPE 416 fails to reach agreement on a new contract by Feb. 5.
“That’s one of the things that could happen. I can’t say for certain what’s going to happen at that time,” he said.
A showdown is looming between CUPE 416 — which represents about 6,000 workers in Toronto — and the city which is trying to negotiate a new contract, seeking a number of changes that the union is resisting.
“There’s a lot of things in this contract that are wrong that have to be corrected,” Holyday said.
It’s been suggested that seniority rights, wages and benefits are the main issues.
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With Metro Transit drivers poised to go on strike this week, Halifax universities are making alternative plans for their students.
Dalhousie University has about 7,000 students who rely on the bus, while 1,000 students use public transit regularly at Saint Mary’s University.
That means if the strike goes ahead and buses and ferries stop Thursday, students will be among the many people stranded.
On Monday, university administrators met to figure out how to get students and staff to campus.
“We may shift things to have a carpool lot, promote other ways for people to match up in terms of carpooling, promote our telework policy and our compressed work week and guaranteed ride home,” said Dalhousie’s Rochelle Owen.
“We have a number of initiatives that we’ll try and promote.”
Dalhousie is also considering temporarily offering some of the classes online to reach those who can’t make it to campus.
Both universities have shuttle buses to taxi students around, but they won’t come close to reaching the number of students who will need a ride.
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The Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada local at the Crofton Pulp and Paper Mill has rejected a tentative agreement, necessary for the company’s financial survival.
Local 2, representing some 400 workers, turned down the proposal Saturday by 58 per cent.
The other union at the Crofton mill, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada local 1132, voted in favour of a new collective agreement. The CEP local at the Crofton mill joins unions at Catalyst plants in Port Alberni and Powell River in approving new deals before their current ones expire April 30.
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GUELPH — NEARLY 800 WORKERS AT CARGILL MEAT SOLUTIONS IN GUELPH COULD BE ON STRIKE BY THE END OF THE WEEK, IF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COMPANY AND ITS UNIONIZED EMPLOYEES CANNOT BE REACHED.
THE WORKERS AT THE DUNLOP DRIVE MEAT PROCESSING FACILITY IN GUELPH’S EAST SIDE ARE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS, LOCAL 175. OVER THE WEEKEND, THE UNION REJECTED A CONTRACT OFFER, AND A MEDIATOR HAS BEEN CALLED IN. THE DEADLINE FOR AN AGREEMENT IS FRIDAY AT MIDNIGHT.
“WE ARE GOING INTO MEDIATION ON THURSDAY MORNING,” SAID LUC LACELLE, DIRECTOR OF REGION 6 OF THE UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS AND A MEMBER OF THE UNION’S BARGAINING COMMITTEE IN THE CARGILL MEAT SOLUTIONS NEGOTIATIONS. “THERE COULD BE A MEDIATED SETTLEMENT.”
IF AN OFFER COMES OUT OF THE MEDIATION PROCESS, LACELLE EXPLAINED, THE MEMBERSHIP WILL AGAIN VOTE ON WHETHER TO ACCEPT OR REJECT IT. THE COMPANY’S FIRST OFFER OF SETTLEMENT WAS REJECTED, HE SAID, BECAUSE IT SOUGHT “ROLLBACKS.
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