THE University of Manitoba’s 850 teaching assistants, markers, lab assistants and tutors are being urged to reject the university’s contract offer in a vote today.

Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3909 is urging its members to reject the deal, which calls for a two-year wage freeze, followed by two annual increases of 2.9 per cent a year.

U of M public affairs director John Danakas said the offer that the university asked CUPE to put before its members is consistent with deals that professors and other bargaining units have accepted.

But Local 3909 president Matt McLean said some bargaining units are getting some money in the second year, and other campus bargaining units get benefit increases — his members get none. With budget cuts across campus, “People have been asked to do more work with less hours,” McLean said.

McLean said that members get 60 to 80 hours work per semester, and get paid about $3,000 for a full academic year. Those with an undergraduate degree get $19.32 an hour, those still working on their first degree get $17.57.

There are no increments, he said: “The wage you make the first day is the wage you’ll make forever.”

Sessional lecturers are members of Local 3909, but are covered by a separate agreement. They are not involved in the current talks.

If members reject the contract offer, CUPE will ask the province to appoint a conciliation officer, McLean said. There are no immediate plans to go on strike.

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Dow Jones quoted Mr. Wayne Rae United Steelworkers’ Union official as saying that Brazilian miner Vale SA may face difficult negotiations on renewing a collective labor contract at the Thompson, Manitoba, nickel mine and smelter in Canada when it expires in August or September 2011.

Mr. Rae said that negotiations may be tricky as Vale, the world’s second-biggest nickel producer, has already signaled losses of 500 jobs at the Thompson site where it will need to shut a smelter due to environmental restrictions. This will cut the workforce to 700 from the current 1,200.

Mr. Rae president of the USW local 6200 said that the forthcoming negotiations follow the recent settling of a year long strike at Vale’s Sudbury and Port Colborne nickel units, and a strike that stretched on for one and a half years at Voisey’s Bay in Newfoundland, resulting in an uneasy peace between labor and management, particularly due to the increase in the percentage of contracted out labor used at Vale’s nickel operations in the recent past.

He added that “Every grievance now goes to independent arbitration. Management and workers are unable to settle the disputes themselves.”

According to Mr. Rae, the current three year collective contract at Thompson was signed in 2008 and negotiations should be starting shortly. The company will need to shut down a smelter there, meaning that it won’t be able to operate its furnace at full capacity.

He said that mining will still continue at Thompson and ore will be shipped to Sudbury for processing. There is the possibility that a processing factory will be built in Voisey’s Bay.

Mr. Rae said that Vale officers in Canada were not immediately available for comment on the prospects for negotiations at Thompson. After a breakdown during collective contract negotiations at Sudbury and Voisey’s Bay, which led to the recent strikes, Vale’s Port Colborne workers accepted a new labor contract valid until 2015 while those at Voisey’s Bay agreed a contract lasting till 2016.

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HALIFAX – Nurses working for Nova Scotia’s largest health authority have voted 94 per cent in favour of going on strike.

The nurses, represented by the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, work for the Capital District Health Authority.

The two sides are headed into conciliation.

Union president Joan Jessome says the nurses won’t settle for a one per cent pay raise.

The nurses work in a variety of areas, including mental health, public health, critical care, transplants, corrections, occupational health, education and rehabilitation.

Their collective agreement expired Oct. 31, 2009.

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TECUMSEH, Ont. — Locked-out Essex Powerlines workers have been forming picket lines outside town halls to try to get the corporation back to the bargaining table.

“We’re not that far apart and it could be done,” Brian Manninger, the bargaining agent for the workers who were locked out April 1, said Tuesday.

Essex Power lines, which serves 28,000 residential and commercial customers in the urban areas of Tecumseh, LaSalle, Amherstburg and Leamington, locked out 32 unionized employees April 1.

Manninger, the business representative for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 636, said they are the workers who got the power back after the June 6 Leamington tornado and are off the job as another storm season approaches.

He said without power, residents who have flooding can’t use their sump pumps. He is trying to encourage politicians from the four towns to pressure the board to get the company back to the bargaining table.

On Saturday about 400 Amherstburg residents were without power for more than three hours. Essex Power lines operations manager Dave Dunn said it had to do with an accident in which a LaSalle Hydro One pole was hit.

Dunn said the power outages, which are sometimes a problem with Hydro One lines and not the Essex Powerlines equipment, would be the same with or without a labour dispute and the four managers have been able to deal with problems so far. He said it can sometimes take one or two hours to determine the problem before fixing it so the Saturday outage was not considered lengthy.

The union approached the Ministry of Labour last week but the employer won’t come back to the table, Manninger said. “They’ve taken the position that it’s their way or the highway,” he said.

Manninger said one of the issues is on-call language — the company would like to reduce the number of workers on standby from four to two. Since there are four municipalities which own the utility, Manninger said it would reduce response times if the number of on-call workers is reduced. Other outstanding issues include some concessions, wages and a dispute over company issued clothing.

Joe Barile, the human resource, legal and regulatory adviser for Essex Powerlines, said the company will not negotiate through the media.

Francois Massé was one of the 15 locked-out workers picketing in front of Tecumseh town hall Tuesday night. He said workers are frustrated and the morale is low because the company doesn’t appear to want to work with its employees.

“We agree with many of their proposals and many of the other things are just petty issues,” the lineman of nine years said.

“I’ve had to cancel two dentist appointments for my wife and kids because I would have to for them out of pocket.

“All we want to do is get back to work.”

Massé said the union members have attempted to have issue brought up at both Amherstburg and Tecumseh council but were unsuccessful.

The workers’ three-year contract expired March 31. The union didn’t hold a strike vote and wanted to negotiate, Manninger said.

He said he didn’t know the average salary of the line workers and inside customer service representatives. The linemen make about $34 an hour.

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COURTENAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – April 27, 2011) - Last night, the city workers of Courtenay, represented by CUPE 556, voted 92 per cent to strike for fairness and respect on the job. Despite huge budget surpluses, exorbitant managerial wages and substantial boosts to private contractor pay, the city workers are frustrated by the employer’s argument that they cannot afford to properly compensate city workers.

“Everyone deserves a fair share,” says Melissa Moroz, CUPE National representative and negotiator for CUPE 556. “City workers are a proud part of what makes Courtenay work and it only makes sense that they should also be fairly compensated during a time of large budget surpluses and rising costs of living.”

CUPE 556 has produced and is distributing a list of Financial Facts (http://www.cupe.bc.ca/sites/default/files/Financial%20facts.pdf) about the City of Courtenay to help dispel the employer’s argument that the refusal to offer a fair contract and support public services is driven by financial concerns. Some interesting facts include:

• In 2010, the actual budget surplus was $3.6 million, almost $2 million more than projected.
• Garbage and recycling fees to the public have been increased (5.4 per cent since 2010) to profit the private contractor doing collection (Emterra).
• Senior staff are compensated generously (Administrator, $170,167 in 2009 with almost $10,000 in additional expenses) and a disproportionate amount of wage increases go to staff making over $75,000 a year.
• The 2011 budget once again forecasts a surplus of $1.93 million.

Courtenay city workers are seeking a 3 per cent increase in every year of the contract, as well as improvements ensuring the fair distribution of work.

CUPE 556 represents approximately 80 inside and outside workers in the city of Courtenay.

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Contract talks are scheduled to resume Tuesday between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).

Union members recently voted 94.5% in in favour of giving their negotiators a strike mandate. CUPW will be in a position to strike midnight May 24 if an agreement is not reached.

“We would expect this week to see, hopefully, more movement,” said Gerry Deveau, the union’s national director for the Ontario Region.

There are about 110 CUPW members in Sarnia, he said.

“The employer is proposing major rollbacks.”

The union has said Canada Post wants to pay new employees 30% less, reduce benefits, weaken job security and provide “an inferior pension.”

Deveau said the turnout at the recent strike vote was the highest in the union’s history.

“A 94.5% strike vote sends a clear message to Canada Post,’ CUPW national president Denis Lemelin said in a press release.

For breaking news go to theobserver.ca, or check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

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Employees at Connors Bros. Ltd. in Blacks Harbour have accepted a collective agreement that will lower their wages anywhere from one to eight per cent and have an impact on the amount of overtime pay they can claim, union president William Beney confirmed Wednesday.

Slightly more than three-quarters of the 734 members of the Charlotte Seafood Employees Association voted in favour of the contract. They see the move as a way to save a factory that employs approximately 850 people in a town of about 950, Beney said minutes after tallying the results.

“I’d like to see us be competitive and keep the factory here,” Beney said. “We are the last sardine factory in North America.”

Competition with less expensive overseas labour has put the canned sardine giant in a tough spot. Connors Bros. eliminated 30 salaried positions at the Blacks Harbour operations in February and was awarded $3 million in forgivable loans by the provincial government last year. In 2010 the last U.S. factory was shut down in Prospect Harbour, Maine, in part because of reductions in herring catch limits in the region.

A strong Canadian dollar, combined with a few years of poor fishing in the Bay of Fundy, have created a void in Blacks Harbour that low-cost overseas producers have filled.

“Thailand is 65 cents an hour, what they pay for labour, and they’re competing with us for shelf space,” Beney said.

On average, the hourly rate in Blacks Harbour, before the new contract, was $15.

The lower cost of labour in areas such as Thailand, Poland and Morocco means that domestic suppliers such as Connors Bros. must find solutions to remain competitive and viable, Ron Schindler, executive vice-president, Connors Bros. Clover Leaf Seafoods Co. managing director, said in an emailed statement.

“We remain very concerned by heightened competition within the sardine industry and share gains by foreign competitors with significantly lower labor costs,” Schindler said.

“Both the company and the Employee Association have made compromises to ensure that operations in Blacks Harbour remain competitive in a challenging global marketplace. We are confident that these changes will help towards ensuring the future viability of the plant and our long-term presence in Blacks Harbour.”

Mayor Terry James said she is very concerned about the impacts of a pay cut in a village where almost everyone is connected in some way to the factory. The municipality plays no role in labour relations issues, and James says while there’s nothing she can do with regard to the negotiations, she can’t help but feel for the employees.

“In this climate of ever increasing inflation, having to take a pay reduction would be very hard on families,” James said.

The new agreement in Blacks Harbour takes effect May 1.

“I have mixed feelings on it,” Beney said with a sigh.

“I’m glad that it’s done, and we can move on and face whatever else is coming at us.”

Connor Bros. has had a presence in Blacks Harbour since the 1890s, making it one of Canada’s oldest food producers. It is the largest producer of canned sardines in the world.

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A transit strike is looming in Kelowna as workers employed by a private company bristle at attempts to impose public-sector wage restraints on their next collective agreement.

“We know what we are. We know we’re the cheaper alternative to government employees,” said Les Milton, president of Amalgamated Transit Union local 1722, which represents 189 Kelowna bus drivers, clerical staff and maintenance workers. “We’re willing to live with that. What we’re not willing to live with is putting us into restraint, same as [government employees].”

Bus service in Kelowna is provided by First Canada ULC under a contract with B.C. Transit, the Crown corporation responsible for public transportation in British Columbia outside Greater Vancouver. B.C. Transit uses contractors to operate 80 of the 81 transit systems it oversees, with Victoria the lone exception.

The last collective agreement between the union and First Canada expired over a year ago, and workers are looking for pay increases of about 2 per cent a year for three years. The company has refused, citing the provincial government’s net-zero mandate that seeks to hold the line on public-sector wages for two years.

“The company has said, well you’re not government employees but you’re bound by this government restraint, so we can’t give you any money,” said Mr. Milton.

While the net-zero mandate is not legally binding on First Canada, any pay increases would have to come out of its profits rather than be passed on to B.C. Transit.

“Last year, B.C. Transit determined that we could not provide additional funding to contracted operating companies for wage-rate increases unless there was a pre-existing collective agreement,” said B.C. Transit spokeswoman Joanna Linsangan. “This decision was made because B.C. Transit is required to operate under the provincial government’s net-zero mandate.”

Mr. Milton said it is unfair to treat people who work for a contractor like public-sector employees. He added that transit workers in Kelowna make between $3 to $5 an hour less than their counterparts in Victoria and don’t get anywhere near the same health and pension benefits.

“We’re not even the poor cousins,” he said.

His members also have very little job security. When First Canada’s contract expires in 2014, B.C. Transit will issue a request for proposals. If a different company wins the bid, it will be under no obligation to retain the current employees at the same pay.

First Canada’s last offer was for a three-year deal with no pay raises for two years and a “me-too” clause for the third year. Any wage increase would have been pegged to what Victoria transit workers employed directly by B.C. Transit are able to negotiate once the zero-mandate expires.

That deal was overwhelmingly rejected by union members in Kelowna, who voted 95 per cent against it. The two sides are slated to enter mediation at the end of the month.

“I’m not so optimistic,” said Mr. Milton of the prospects that a mediator can broker a resolution.

First Canada’s regional vice-president responsible for the Kelowna system, Alvin Zaharko, refused to comment on the negotiations.

If mediation fails, transit workers could go on strike in early May, idling a system that carried 4.3 million passengers last year.

It’s a prospect that frustrates Kelowna Mayor Sharon Shepherd. Her city pays close to $4-million a year for transit services, while other communities in the region kick in $2-million. B.C. Transit provides $7.4-million and fares contribute about $5-million.

“It will be terrible if there’s a strike. Pressure will be put on us to do something about it,” said Ms. Shepherd, adding that despite their financial contributions, the municipalities have no say in what happens at the bargaining table and would be powerless to intervene in the event of a strike.

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The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, frustrated at the pace of talks with Canada Post, is asking its urban operations members to vote on a strike. If the majority votes for a strike, the union would be in a stronger position to negotiate with Canada Post management in the current round of bargaining for a new contract.

A strike vote at this point does not mean there will be a strike, and such moves are common in the negotiating process. But the union warns in a press release that the country could be facing a postal strike “towards the end of April.”

Canada Post Corporation (CPC) is facing declining revenues at the same time as it needs to modernize its plants and expand its delivery routes as the country’s population grows.

CUPW says on its web site: “CPC negotiators presented what they portrayed as a ‘Global Offer’ to the Union on March 15th. The ‘offer’ contains few new proposals. It is mostly a collection of the demands for concessions they have previously tabled, with some new details.

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TORONTO – The union representing some 3,800 Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) customer service and sales agents says it is applying for conciliation following several weeks of bargaining “with little progress.”

The Canadian Auto Workers union local 2002, which represents the employees, has been meeting with the airline since Feb. 11.

The union says its employees have seen cut backs in vacation and break times, while delivering productivity increases and is looking for a wage increase.

It says it has filed a notice of dispute under the Canada Labour Code to begin the conciliation process, a step that must be followed.

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