Newspaper workers picket Mirabel printing plant December 15, 2009
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Journal de Montréal workers, who have been locked out since last January, picketed the paper’s printing plant Monday overnight.(CBC)Locked-out workers at the Journal de Montréal picketed the newspaper’s Mirabel printing plant Monday night, delaying delivery trucks.
About 100 employees travelled to the plant north of Montreal late in the evening for the overnight protest.
They blocked delivery trucks leaving the premises with copies of the morning newspaper.
Mirabel police called provincial authorities for backup around 11 p.m., said provincial police Sgt. Gregory Gomez del Prado.
“Our officers went on the scene, we had a team there that was ready to intervene,” but the protesters dispersed around 4:30 a.m. and police “didn’t have to intervene at all,” he said.
The protest means copies of the Journal and Montreal newspaper Le Devoir ? also printed at the Quebecor plant in Mirabel ? may be delivered late on Tuesday, officials said.
About 250 workers at the Journal have been locked out since last January.
Employees and management are at odds over job layoffs, salaries, and benefits.
MPs debate back-to-work bill for CN workers December 4, 2009
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Canadian National Railway locomotive engineers began a strike Saturday, but legislation ordering them back to work was tabled on Monday and will be debated Wednesday afternoon. (CBC)
Federal MPs will debate back-to-work legislation for about 1,700 CN locomotive engineers on Wednesday afternoon.
Labour Minister Rona Ambrose introduced the bill on Monday after weekend talks failed to produce a deal between the Canadian National Railway Co. and the workers’ union, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.
The workers have only been on strike since Saturday, but the government said it threatens the country’s fragile economic recovery, observing that the ports of Halifax and Prince Rupert, B.C., rely entirely on CN to transport goods. CN handles half of the rail shipments that come through Vancouver and 30 per cent of those through Montreal.
The legislation would end the strike within 24 hours of receiving royal assent, and send all the issues to binding arbitration.
The Teamsters union wanted to submit the wage-increase issues to binding arbitration upon a successful resolution of other outstanding issues, including the maximum distance engineers can travel in one month. But the company said the two sides have been unable to resolve those other issues in 14 months of talks.
CN wanted everything to go to arbitration. It offered a 1.5 per cent wage increase and wanted to increase the travel distance maximum by 820 kilometres to 6,900 kilometres. The union said the higher maximum would make some of its members redundant and lead to the loss of 220 positions.
On Tuesday, CN offered to go to binding arbitration on wage and benefit issues, and roll back the 6,900 kilometre monthly cap to 6,080 kilometres on the condition that the union withdraws its work-rule demands from the bargaining table.
Over the weekend, the company used managers to keep trains running.
In April 2007, the federal government ordered conductors at CN back to work after a two-month labour dispute. Arbitration, which followed, favoured the company’s offer.
‘Nortel bill’ would protect workers, pensioners November 30, 2009
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Technology giant Nortel has been selling off its units since falling under bankruptcy protection in January. (Rebecca Zandbergen/CBC)
A private member’s bill proposed by a New Democrat MP could help protect employees and pensioners in the wake of a corporate collapse.
Wayne Marston, a Hamilton-area MP, tabled the so-called Nortel bill in early November to change the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act so that former workers and pensioners would become preferred creditors in situations of corporate bankruptcy.
Currently, former workers ? like those who were with Nortel Networks Corp., which filed for bankruptcy in January ? are considered unsecured creditors and are at the back of the line to receive payouts from bankruptcy proceedings.
Laid-off and retired Nortel employees are having to fight the company in court for their severance packages, pensions and disability payments, and a recent court ruling suggests there is no guarantee they will be paid. On Thursday, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Nortel did not violate the law when it refused to pay 45 former workers any severance or retirement payments.
While opposition bills are rarely passed into law, Marston said his proposed legislation has been well-received by both government and opposition members. However, he stressed that Parliament needs to work quickly to get the amendments in place in time to help former Nortel employees.
More exec raises approved
The recent news of executive bonuses at Nortel has highlighted the push for legislative change to help former workers get severance and pensions in cases of corporate collapse. On Thursday, CBC News reported that management at Nortel Networks, already under fire for handing out executive bonuses, approved a plan this fall to give another round of raises to its top managers.
According to an internal corporate document obtained by CBC News, 72 Nortel executives will receive a total of $7.5 million US in salary increases, investments or bonuses on top of their current salaries in 2009.
The biggest earner under the new compensation plan is former treasurer John Doolittle, who took over as head of the company’s corporate group in August. Doolittle’s total compensation has been bumped to $1.68 million this year, an increase of $1.12 million over 2008, when he earned $390,000 US in salary and an estimated $170,000 US in investment and bonus money.
Marston said he’s disgusted by the news of the bonuses.
“This particular group of people and the gentleman who heads up [Nortel] makes half-a-million a year, now getting $1.7 million in bonuses ? How does he sleep at night?”
Chris Buchanan, a former Nortel manager who was laid off a year ago with no severance, said the bonuses may not be illegal, but they’re unethical.
“I’m puzzled, is the polite way of putting it. I don’t think there’s any working employee at Nortel who really understands what the logic is at the exec level. I think there’s a lot of suspicion that the execs, their primary goal is to maximize the incentives they got.”
Safeway poised to lock out Edmonton workers September 7, 2009
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Canada Safeway has served notice to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union that it will lock out more than 300 workers at its Edmonton Distribution Centre and Lucerne Ice Cream plant starting at 6 a.m. Monday.
The move comes after the union rejected the grocery retailer’s latest offer by a margin of 71 per cent and 76 per cent for the warehouse and ice cream workers respectively, according to the union’s website. Canada Safeway owns the Lucerne Ice Cream plant.
The workers’ contract expired last December. The current dispute is over hours, benefits and wages. One of the issues is Safeway’s desire to have full-time employees work 40 hours a week, up from the 37 hours they work now, said Douglas O’Halloran, president of the UFCW Local 401. Workers also want a wage increase.
“When the economic boom was on, these workers were working under a contract that called for 35 cents an hour increase … and they feel that they should get paid a fair wage increase because Canada Safeway didn’t offer them any money when it was in a boom,” O’Halloran said.
The company placed ads in both Edmonton newspapers Friday looking for replacement workers. During labour disputes in Alberta, it is not illegal to bring in replacement workers.
“I don’t blame Safeway so much as I blame the Alberta government,” O’Halloran said. “We have terrible labour laws in this province and Safeway is doing what they can within the laws and to try and operate their warehouses. What we need is a change in labour laws that give workers some protection.”
If the workers are locked out Monday, O’Halloran doesn’t expect a quick resolution to the dispute.
“I think we have to plan for a long strike and the workers shouldn’t be under any illusion that this is going to be over quickly.”
Striking Inco workers demand fairness August 25, 2009
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Striking Vale Inco workers shouldn’t be treated like second-class citizens, the head of their union says, after reports surfaced that the mining company is considering restarting some operations in Sudbury, Ont., without them.
Wayne Fraser, director of United Steelworkers District 6, said the union has been willing to return to the bargaining table but the company seems disinterested.
In a report from The Canadian Press and radio station CJMX, he said he hopes the union can get a meeting with federal Industry Minister Tony Clement to discuss his concerns.
Clement will be in Sudbury on Monday to meet with Mayor John Rodriguez and make a funding announcement for the city.
It’ll be the first time the minister has visited the city since enraging locals with a comment about Sudbury’s future. In July he said it was a good thing Vale of Brazil bought Inco because the city would have become a “valley of death.”
As of Monday, workers will have been on strike for six weeks.
With files from The Canadian Press (more…)
GM Canada workers vote on new concession package May 24, 2009
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Canadian workers at General Motors will begin voting Sunday on their union’s latest contract concessions, outlined in a deal announced after two weeks of negotiations.
The agreement reached late Thursday would slash annual labour costs by more than $8,000 per worker, but wages and pension benefits are protected.
Under the deal, the company is also committed to addressing a shortfall of more than $6.5 billion in the pension plan, the Canadian Auto Workers union says.
Workers in the Ontario communities of Windsor, Woodstock and St. Catharines will vote on the agreement Sunday, while workers in Oshawa vote Monday.
The third tentative contract agreement between GM and the CAW within the past year comes as the company continues to restructure to avoid collapse.
The federal and Ontario governments have told the two sides that major cost concessions are needed before the automaker is eligible for $6 billion in federal and provincial loans.
The company faces a May 31 deadline to present its restructuring plan.
Union leader Ken Lewenza on Friday said a key victory is the company’s willingness to restructure its troubled pension plan.
GM Canada had a pension deficit of about $4.9 billion as of November 2007, but reports say it ballooned after financial markets crashed last year.
Specific details of the overall deal were not immediately known, but Lewenza said it delivers a $15 to $16 reduction in the average per-hour wage of GM’s Canadian workers on top of a previously negotiated $7 cut.
Unionized Quebec Wal-Mart workers get 1st contract April 13, 2009
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Unionized workers at Wal-Mart in St-Hyacinthe, Que., now have a collective agreement.(CBC)It took nearly four years, but unionized workers at a Quebec Wal-Mart store now have their first collective agreement, a first in North America.
A Quebec arbitrator sealed the two-year deal for employees at the St-Hyacinthe Wal-Mart east of Montreal earlier this week.
Some 200 workers at the store received their union accreditation in January 2005, but called on an arbitrator when contract negotiations with the retail giant stalled.
The new agreement includes a $0.30 per hour wage increase on a yearly basis, for the next two years, for current employees.
New hires won?t be eligible for the wage increase.
Employees are delighted, said Louis Bolduc, director of the United Commercial and Food Workers. “We feel good. It’s the only collective agreement [of its kind] in North America. We’re really glad to have one,” he told CBC News.
Wal-Mart spokesman Andrew Pelletier said the arbitrator indicated the retailer is competitive, and in some cases, pays better than rival Zeller?s.
He wouldn?t speculate on the future of the St-Hyacinthe outlet, and Bolduc said he?s not concerned about the store?s viability. “I?m not worried at all. I don?t see any reason why they would close the store, and there?s no indication they would close the store,? he said Thursday.
Wal-Mart shut down its store in Saguenay, Que., in April 2005 after workers unionized and were engaging in a binding arbitration process to settle a contract. Two-hundred workers lost their jobs. At the time, Wal-Mart said the store wasn?t profitable.
The retailer also closed its automotive centre in Gatineau, Que., just across the river from Ottawa, after employees unionized and an an arbitrator imposed a 33 per cent wage increase.
Employees at three Saskatchewan stores, and one other Quebec outlet have also applied for union certification.
With files from The Canadian Press (more…)
Potash Corp. extends layoff of 940 workers March 18, 2009
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Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan plans to extend the temporary layoff of 940 workers who were let go in January.
The layoff covers workers at Potash’s Saskatchewan plants in Rocanville, Lanigan and Allan.
Workers at those fertilizer sites were initially laid off for eight weeks.
The extended layoffs come one day after Potash said it is reducing its 2009 potash production by an additional 1.5 million tonnes, bringing the total expected cut of its capacity to at least 3.5 million tonnes this year.
With inventories in its key markets expected to be mostly depleted in the second quarter of this year, the company said it is expecting a strong rebound in potash demand in the second half of 2009 that should continue into 2010.
“Farmers, like other consumers, have been on a buying hiatus but they cannot remain on the sidelines indefinitely,? said PotashCorp CEO Bill Doyle.
?People need to eat, farmers need to grow and sell crops, and maintaining soil fertility is essential for those things to happen,” he said in a release.
With files from Canadian Press (more…)
GM workers say yes to cost-cutting deal March 13, 2009
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Members of the Canadian Auto Workers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a cost-cutting deal with General Motors.
Around 87 per cent voted in support of the deal, reached over the weekend, which includes concessions such as a wage freeze, the elimination of an annual bonus and reduction in paid time off.
“These changes are difficult for our members and retirees, but CAW members at GM agree that accepting these changes is the best choice under the circumstances,” CAW national president Ken Lewenza said.
The results came Wednesday night following a two-day vote by 10,000 members. The deal is contingent on GM winning federal and provincial support.
“Our labour costs did not cause this global crisis, and labour concessions ? no matter how deep they go ? cannot solve that crisis,” Lewenza said.
“However, our members understand that the CAW must be part of the solution, and we have done that.”
The deal covers CAW members at GM’s Ontario operations in Oshawa, St. Catharines, Woodstock and Windsor and includes concessions by the union that add up to an estimated $148 million.
The deal would extend the current collective agreement for an additional year to September 2012, with no reduction in average assembly-worker base pay of $34 an hour.
It would also eliminate a $1,700 annual “special bonus” and reduce paid time off to 40 hours a year from 80 hours. This time is in addition to vacation entitlements ranging up to five weeks annually for high-seniority workers, reduced last year from six weeks.
GM workers would also for the first time make payments toward their own health benefits ? $30 a month per worker family.
Earlier Wednesday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the Ontario government cannot guarantee autoworkers will still have their jobs even if they make concessions.
McGuinty was responding to a question at Queen’s Park from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who called on the province to ensure long-term job security for Ontario autoworkers as part of the $4.2-billion bailout package the federal and Ontario governments have pledged for the auto sector.
“They and their families want assurances that their sacrifices are not for naught,? that the company doesn’t have to come back to them for more,” Horwath told the legislature.
“I wish I could provide the assurance that the leader of the NDP is seeking on behalf of those families,” McGuinty replied.
“But what assurance I can provide is that we will work as hard as we can, Speaker, together with all of our partners, to maintain our share of production here in Ontario.”
McGuinty also said he’s confident negotiations aimed at securing a bailout for the auto industry won’t be derailed by politics.
On Tuesday, federal Industry Minister Tony Clement called the tentative labour deal at GM just “one piece of the puzzle.” He also said Ottawa wants to look at a range of issues, including how the company estimates its costs, before acting on a bailout.
“Ford and Toyota need General Motors to survive. They need Chrysler to survive because if they don’t survive, their whole supply chain becomes dysfunctional. We’re all in the same boat together and we all have to find a solution together,” he said.
With files from the Canadian Press (more…)
Help wanted: IT workers and accounting professionals March 6, 2009
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The outlook for information technology hiring is positive for the second quarter, the Canadian arm of staffing company Robert Half International said Wednesday.
The demand for full-time accounting and finance professionals is also expected to increase, although more modestly, the Toronto-based company said.
A telephone survey of more than 270 chief information officers (CIOs) found that 12 per cent expected to hire information technology (IT) workers in the second quarter, while only four per cent planned cuts.
“This represents a net eight per cent increase,” Robert Half said in a news release.
A similar calculation based on interviews with chief financial officers showed a net five per cent increase in hiring plans.
“Businesses are turning to accounting and finance staff to implement cost-saving strategies and manage critical priorities,” said Kathryn Bolt, district president of the company’s Canadian operations.
For IT workers, higher workloads were driving demand. The CIOs cited desktop support and network administration as areas of growth.
