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Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017
Brink's
workers
deliver strike
mandate
TORONTO — Unifor mem-
bers at Brink's Canada in British
Columbia and Ontario voted on
Sept. 15 to deliver overwhelming
strike mandates.
"The physical safety of our
members is at the core of these
negotiations so there is no ques-
tion that Unifor is prepared to
take any and all necessary ac-
tion," said Jerry Dias, Unifor na-
tional president.
In Ontario, a total of 800 mem-
bers voted 98 per cent in favour
of a strike mandate. An addi-
tional 300 members represented
by Unifor Local 114 in B.C. voted
95 per cent in favour of strike ac-
tion if a fair and reasonable set-
tlement is not reached, said the
union.
The votes are just ahead of
scheduled negotiations in B.C.
in September and in Ontario in
October. The company risks si-
multaneous labour disputes in
both provinces as workers will
enter legal strike positions on
Oct. 15 and 16 respectively, ac-
cording to Unifor.
A key dispute involves the
implementation of the "all-off "
crewing model, where the use
of two-person crews means the
driver and messenger are both
forced to disembark from the ve-
hicle at drop-offs and pick-ups,
leaving them vulnerable to at-
tack. Unifor has long advocated
for the elimination of the "all-
off " model, instead calling for
three-person crews to permit
the driver to stay in the vehicle
to function as a lookout and pro-
tect his fellow crew members,
said the union.
Other contentious issues in-
clude a proposal by Brink's to
switch workers from a success-
ful, well-funded defined benefit
pension to a voluntary defined
contribution plan. Workers in
British Columbia also lag be-
hind their Ontario counterparts
financially, despite the fact that
many of the corporate contracts
are national, according to Unifor.
CUPE ratifi es
Pacifi c Blue
Cross deal
BURNABY, B.C. — Worker
sat Pacific Blue Cross (PBC) in
Burnaby, B.C., ratified a new col-
lective agreement Sept. 10 that
includes annual wage increases,
preserves retiree benefits and
establishes a health and welfare
trust to be managed by joint
union-management trustees.
The six-year contract — rati-
fied at a Canadian Union of Pub-
lic Employees (CUPE), Local
1816 meeting — includes wage
increases of 1.5 per cent for year
one (retroactive), 1.75 per cent
for year two, and two per cent for
each of the final four years.
Workers at
GDI Services
achieve new
contract
QUEBEC — United Food and
Commercial Workers Canada
(UFCW), Local 501 members
working at GDI Services in Que-
bec City signed a new collective
agreement Sept. 11 that runs un-
til Dec. 31, 2020.
The three-year agreement
features:
• new team leader position
• $0.50 per hour premium for
electrical workers
• improved outdoor work cloth-
ing
• an eight per cent increase in
salary over the duration of the
contract.
Photo:
Gleb
Garanich
(Reuters)
LABOUR LENS
Health workers take part in a rally organized by members of Ukrainian trade unions in Kiev, Ukraine, on
Sept. 19.
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