Contract talks between Air Canada and the union representing the airline’s customer service agents begin in Toronto this week, and the union plans to shine the spotlight on wage increases, sick time and shift scheduling.
“The key priority is wages for sure,” said Leslie Dias, the national staff representative for the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union. “Essentially, it’s also time-off issues. It’s vacation.”
The opening round of talks, which will include CAW president Ken Lewenza, start on Friday. The current contract expires Feb. 28.
Employees have made “tremendous sacrifices” in order to help the airline become profitable again, the union said in a newsletter to its members.
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MONTREAL – In what’s being billed as a Canadian first, Crown prosecutors and government lawyers have gone on strike in Quebec, adding a pile of delayed cases onto the backlog already plaguing the province’s justice system.
Hundreds of criminal cases were sidelined when 1,450 lawyers and prosecutors walked off the job on Tuesday, emptying countless courtrooms and inspiring memorable protests in Montreal and Quebec City.
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Unionized workers at Kootenay Savings Credit Union are in a legal position to go on strike any day, after common ground on a new collective agreement couldn’t be reached last week.
“We really don’t know what to expect,” said credit union president Brent Tremblay when contacted Sunday.
The credit union received notice last week that a strike could be on the horizon; this after a vote to strike was cast in January by the members of United Steelworkers Locals 9705 and 1-405.
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The president of the Toronto Civic Employees’ Union (TCEU) Local 416 says the city’s move to privatize garbage collection is a move in the wrong direction.
Mark Ferguson spoke at a press conference broadcast on CP24 today after Mayor Rob Ford announced his plan to recommend a competitive bid process for parts of the city’s garbage collection, including curbside pickup for residences west of Yonge Street.
“(This is) an irresponsible and wrong-headed approach to the delivery of city services,” Ferguson said.
The city has suggested the union itself could potentially put forth a bid for the contracts, which Ferguson says is not an option.
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THE union representing about 2,000 longshoremen who work in Vancouver’s port terminals has received a strike vote that could pave the way to a shut down of port operations, including port terminals on the North Shore.
Tom Dufresne, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada, says he has no plans to issue strike notice anytime soon.
But the association representing port terminals said this week the mere suggestion of a strike has caused its customers to begin diverting significant amounts of cargo to U.S. ports.
“We have significant diversion occurring,” said Greg Vurdela, spokesman for the B.C. Maritime Employers Association, which is negotiating on behalf of the ports.
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Hospital pharmacists, respiratory therapists and other health-care workers in Saskatchewan are being urged to give their union a strike mandate.
The Health Sciences Association is sending ballots out this week to more than 3,000 members asking them to back a walkout if necessary.
Association president Cathy Dickson said many workers see the latest contract offer of 5.5 per cent wage increase over four years as an insult.
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Workers at Teck Coal’s Elkview operations near Sparwood B.C. are on strike.
More than 700 members of United Steelworkers Local 9346 walked out Sunday at the open pit mine, operated by a subsidiary of Teck Resources.
Union members have been without a contract since Oct. 2010, and voted 98.2 per cent in favour of job action before issuing strike notice on Jan. 27.
Among the outstanding issues are the employer’s contribution levels to the workers’ retirement plan and retiree benefits.
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Four trawlers working for an Ocean Choice International plant in southern Newfoundland are tied up in the wake of a strike involving deepsea fishermen.
About 59 per cent of trawlermen represented by the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union in Marystown voted to reject a company offer, insisting that the proposed wages are too low.
The FFAW had recommended that the approximately 90 trawlermen accept the package.
“It’s really a money issue,” FFAW president Earle McCurdy said Tuesday.
“The guys are out working in the roughest kind of conditions, and they’re just not satisfied that the pay reflects the toughness of the job and what’s expected of them.”
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Citing what it claims is intransigence by management, the union representing 54,000 workers at Canada Post announced Friday that it has applied for conciliation, a move that starts the clock ticking towards a possible strike this spring.
“We’ve taken this action because Canada Post has to move from its hardline position on demanding significant concessions from our members, even while it continues to post profits and spend money on technological changes,” said Denis Lemelin, national president and chief negotiator for the union.
A government-appointed conciliator will now attempt to bring the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canada Post Corp. to a negotiated settlement.
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Workers at Armada Toolworks Lt. in Lindsay, Ont., have voted to give their union a strike mandate in contract negotiations.
Local 222 of the Canadian Auto Workers says 89 per cent of those who voted Sunday approved the strike mandate.
Their current contract expires Nov. 30.
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