Canadian Labour Reporter

March 18, 2019

Canadian Labour Reporter is the trusted source of information for labour relations professionals. Published weekly, it features news, details on collective agreements and arbitration summaries to help you stay on top of the changing landscape.

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2 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2019 Locked-out ABI workers reject off er BÉCANCOUR, Que. — Locked-out workers from the ABI aluminum smelter in Bé- cancour, Que., voted by an 82 per cent majority on March 11 to reject the company's unilateral contract offer. The vote came after 90 per cent of the workers — locked out for 14 months — held a meeting to discuss the ABI offer as well as a proposed return-to-work pro- tocol. Members of three separate bargaining units within United Steelworkers (USW), Local 9700 rejected the company's offer, said the union. "The offer represented a series of take-backs by the company. ABI has refused to negotiate, it has refused to accept third-party arbitration. It just wanted to im- pose its will, counting on fatigue from by its 14-month lockout," said Clément Masse, USW, Lo- cal 9700 president. While only two issues were in dispute when ABI locked out its employees on Jan. 11, 2018, the company added to the list 4saof concession demands with its lat- est offer, which called for mul- tiple concessions, said the union. ABI's offer also was accompanied by a unilateral return-to-work protocol, which had not been the subject of any discussion between the parties. The company proposed that locked-out employees would return to work gradually, over a period of at least 10 months and possibly longer, during which time managers and contract workers would take the jobs of regular employees, said USW. Employees in Powell River/ Nelson, B.C. join CUPE POWELL RIVER/NELSON, B.C. — The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) welcomed 27 new members from Powell River and Nelson, both in B.C., following two successful votes. CUPE 476, representing K-12 workers in Powell River, B.C., brought two IT workers into their local. These members had worked alongside CUPE K-12 mem- bers for 25 years — initially as contractors, — before being absorbed into excluded staff, said Aileen O'Keefe, CUPE 476 president. Following a vote, the Labour Relations Board also granted CUPE 3999's application to vary their certification to include 25 workers from Nelson CARES Society at Stepping Stones Emergency Shelter. First deal for Flemingdon Health Centre workers TORONTO — United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) Canada, Local 175 members at Flemingdon Health Centre in Toronto ratified their first collective agreement on March 4. The 90 workers employed by Flemingdon provide commu- nity health-care services at three locations in Toronto. The parties reached the agree- ment after more than 45 days of bargaining over the last year and a half. This included conciliation to issue a "no-board report," and to assist in the last days of negotiations, said the union. The first contract contains language to bring the employees closer to Ministry of Health wage guidelines, with the understanding that as new fund- ing becomes available, it will be applied to raise wages even fur- ther, said UFCW. LABOUR BRIEFS FORMERLY CLV REPORTS Serving labour relations professionals since 1956 www.labour-reporter.com Published weekly by omson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $599 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Email: customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com Website: www.labour-reporter.com Director, Media Solutions, Canada Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Todd Humber Editor/Supervisor Sarah Dobson | (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com News Editor John Dujay | (416) 298-5129 john.dujay@thomsonreuters.com Sales Manager Paul Burton | (416) 649-9928 paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com Marketing Co-ordinator Keith Fulford | (416) 649-9585 keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com Labour Reporter Canadian www.labour-reporter.com LABOUR LENS Photo: REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya © 2019 omson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. e publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional advice. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. e analysis contained herein represents the opinion of the authors and should in no way be construed as being either offi cial or unoffi cial policy of any governmental body. ISSN 0045-5113 Publications Registration 2089 Canadian Labour Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications. Visit www.hrreporter.com for more information. Passengers gather to be screened for check-in at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport during a labour dispute that grounded ights, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on March 6.

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