If Ontario goes ahead with a proposed wage freeze for public sector workers, there could be huge consequences.
The head of the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) warns that strikes are likely if Premier Dalton McGuinty sticks to his plan, which would maintain wages at their current rate for two years.
But CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn says it’s too early to tell if a job action is imminent.
Approximately one million workers would be affected.
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The CAW is calling for the Ontario government to intervene in the more than year-long stand-off between the union and heavy truck manufacturer Navistar Corporation, after talks today failed to make any progress.
The CAW called the meeting with Navistar in an attempt to resolve the temporary closure of the plant and explore ways to maximize production at the facility, but the discussions failed to produce any resolutions.
The company did not provide any plans for the future of the facility but has pledged to provide a detailed and formal response within two weeks.
“Navistar Corporation has to understand that to manage change in a workplace it must be done in conjunction with the workers. Those who are affected by these changes must be treated with respect and dignity,” said CAW President Ken Lewenza, following the meeting.
“It is unconscionable that this corporation is allowed to send the historic production, supported by Ontario and Canadian tax dollars, to a foreign country like Mexico. The meeting today and all the meetings to this point have been extremely frustrating and now we will wait for the corporation’s response within the next two weeks.”
“This situation cannot be resolved through collective bargaining and requires significant intervention by the government.”
Navistar temporarily closed the facility in June 2009, laying off its entire workforce after a breakdown in negotiations between the two sides.
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CAW members will be demonstrating outside long term care provider Extendicare’s head office tomorrow, just north of Toronto, protesting the company’s refusal to negotiate a fair settlement.
The company broke off talks with the union on April 26 and workers have been without a contract since March 31. The demonstration is just one in a series of pickets organized by the union since talks ground to a halt.
“Our members are frustrated that this multi-million dollar company, a for-profit long term care home provider, is now crying poor when it comes time to compensate its staff,” said CAW President Ken Lewenza.
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The first face-to-face meeting in more than a year between former Navistar Chatham workers and company executives is on tap for Thursday.
The session, involving officials of CAW Local 127 – which represents factory workers and Local 35 – representing office workers – will be held in Windsor.
A plan tabled last year by the company to greatly downsize operations at the Richmond Street truck plant was flatly rejected by the CAW.
Since the old contract expired at the end of June last year the plant has sat idled. In its heyday in the late 1990s it employed more than 2,200 workers.
CAW representatives are hopeful tomorrow’s meeting will shed new light on the company’s plans for the Chatham facility.
Company spokesman Roy Wiley has said repeatedly the company is willing to talk provided the talks are productive.
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The Fairmont Empress Hotel could find itself behind picket lines as early as the end of August. The collective agreement between the hotel and CAW Local 4276 expires at midnight on August 31, with no talks currently scheduled.
A strike vote has been called for Thursday, August 19 and meetings will be held throughout the day.
“We have made some progress since starting bargaining in July but things stalled quickly last week when we began discussions on monetary issues,” said Stu Shields, CAW national representative.
Shields said the wage and benefit package is a big issue and the hotel’s offer was far below the kind of increases negotiated in Fairmont hotels across the country. “The Empress has fared the economic downturn well and business continues to increase, so there’s no reason workers there should see lower compensation than their counterparts at other Fairmont hotels,” said Shields. There are also a number of non-monetary issues outstanding including the application of part-time versus full-time scheduling, inconsistencies around workload and seniority.
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There is a glimmer of hope for the Navistar International Truck and Engine plant in Chatham.
Aaron Neaves, president of CAW Local 127, said the union found out late Monday afternoon the company has finally responded to its request to meet soon for “exploratory discussions.
“That’s all we can tell you right now,” he told reporters outside Chatham-Kent council chambers after hearing a brief report on what economic development has done over the last month to help with the situation.
He added the membership needs to be informed of the date before it’s made public.
Neaves said he is “very cautiously optimistic,” but stressed they’re only exploratory discussions.
The Richmond Street truck assembly plant has sat idle for more than a year as the company and union remain stalemated over the future of the plant.
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BOWMANVILLE — The strike at Bowmanville’s St. Marys Cement has entered its 18th week, and talks between the two sides have broken off.
Approximately 100 Canadian Auto Workers Local 222 workers hit the bricks March 12, with pensions as the major issue.
Talks broke off last Friday, CAW local president Chris Buckley said.
“We’re waiting to get a signal the company’s ready to go back to the table,” he said, noting the union’s willingness to bargain to end the “terrible dispute.”
But, “St. Marys has no desire to end the strike, because they’re running the plant with scabs,” Mr. Buckley said.
Replacement workers are bused in and out, past the picket line on Waverley Road, south of Hwy. 401, each day, and the plant is said to be running at 60 to 80 per cent capacity, Mr. Buckley said, calling on the Province for anti-scab legislation.
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Frustrated by a lack of action at the bargaining table during a strike in its 16th week, miners from CBM/St. Marys cement manufacturing plant in Bowmanville brought their protest to the company’s Windsor location on Tuesday.
Members of CAW Local 222 — backed by about a dozen local union officials and supporters — slowed cement trucks throughout the day from entering St. Marys’ riverfront Russell Street plant location on the city’s west end for 15 minutes each.
The company is one of Canada’s largest quarry, gravel and cement operations. Almost 90 workers in Bowmanville have been without a contract since Jan. 31 and have been fighting changes to their pension plan.
There have been no talks since the strike started in mid-March. Local St. Marys employees are Teamsters members and not part of the strike.
“What we are hoping to do is get the company’s attention,” said Enzo Vizza, a member of the bargaining committee in Bowmanville who was leading the rally in Windsor. “We don’t want a raise and just hold the contract the way it is.”
Problems with the company started when it was purchased about six years ago by a corporation based in San Paolo, Brazil, Vizza said.
The pension plan of the workers has been defined, so what they were expecting to receive is predetermined. But the corporation is seeking changes that could bump the current prospect of receiving $44,000 annually in retirement to as low as $7,900, Vizza said.
“They say it’s a cultural change and they are going to change the way to do business here,” he said. “We want people across the province to know there are 87 families in real jeopardy in Bowmanville as a result of this foreign company.”
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Navistar workers have made a significant impact and should play a role in the future, said a labour delegation to Chatham- Kent council on Monday.
More than 150 people took part in a march from Canadian Auto Workers headquarters to the Civic Centre to raise awareness on the idled truck-making facility.
Aaron Neaves, CAW Local 127 president, said a grassroots effort is needed to lobby senior levels of government to get involved.
“The Navistar plant is important,” he said. “Too important to let slip away.”
He said the economy is on the upswing with a higher demand projected for heavy-duty trucks.
“We need to ensure our plant and our community take part in this recovery,” he said.
In the 1990s, the Richmond Street facility employed more than 2,000 workers. The plant was idled at the end of June last year when the last contract expired.
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Frustrated by a lack of action at the bargaining table during a strike in its 16th week, miners from CBM/St. Marys cement manufacturing plant in Bowmanville brought their protest to the company’s Windsor location on Tuesday.
Members of CAW Local 222 — backed by about a dozen local union officials and supporters — slowed cement trucks throughout the day from entering St. Marys’ riverfront Russell Street plant location on the city’s west end for 15 minutes each.
The company is one of Canada’s largest quarry, gravel and cement operations. Almost 90 workers in Bowmanville have been without a contract since Jan. 31 and have been fighting changes to their pension plan.
There have been no talks since the strike started in mid-March. Local St. Marys employees are Teamsters members and not part of the strike.
“What we are hoping to do is get the company’s attention,” said Enzo Vizza, a member of the bargaining committee in Bowmanville who was leading the rally in Windsor. “We don’t want a raise and just hold the contract the way it is.”
Problems with the company started when it was purchased about six years ago by a corporation based in San Paolo, Brazil, Vizza said.
The pension plan of the workers has been defined, so what they were expecting to receive is predetermined. But the corporation is seeking changes that could bump the current prospect of receiving $44,000 annually in retirement to as low as $7,900, Vizza said.
“They say it’s a cultural change and they are going to change the way to do business here,” he said. “We want people across the province to know there are 87 families in real jeopardy in Bowmanville as a result of this foreign company.”
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