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Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017
CEZinc
workers reject
'fi nal' off er
VALLEYFIELD, Que. — Af-
ter nearly eight months on the
picket line, striking CEZinc em-
ployees have overwhelmingly
rejected a "final" contract offer
from the company.
"Eight months into the strike,
Noranda Income Fund offered
its employees more or less the
same contract that provoked the
strike in the first place," said Luc
Julien, a staff representative with
the United Steelworkers (USW),
after union members voted Oct.
2, by a 97 per cent majority, to re-
ject the contract offer.
"Our members have sent
a clear message to the Fund's
board of directors — its offer was
unacceptable in February and it
is no more acceptable after eight
months on the picket line," said
Julien
The zinc refinery — located
west of Montreal in Valleyfield,
Que. — is operated by Noranda
Income Fund, and resource gi-
ant Glencore is the largest share-
holder.
The 371 unionized work-
ers at the CEZinc refinery have
been on strike since Feb. 12
over working conditions and
the pension plan. The company
demanded pension concessions
even though the plan is over-
funded, said the union.
Lab workers
in Windsor,
Ont., strike
WINDSOR, Ont. — Medical
lab assistants and medical lab
technologists working at Medi-
cal Laboratories of Windsor,
Ont., represented by Unifor Lo-
cal 2458, went on strike at mid-
night on Oct. 2.
"These members are perform-
ing highly skilled, technical jobs
that provide vital medical infor-
mation for patients, yet many are
making half of what those doing
the same job in a hospital are
paid," said Tullio DiPonti, Local
2458 secretary-treasurer.
Since the Ontario government
began to contract out to for-
profit labs, wages for lab workers
working outside the hospital sys-
tem have fallen steadily while the
cost to the system has increased,
said the union.
For the first five years of ser-
vice, medical lab technologists
earn $22 per hour and medical
lab assistants earn $13.50. The
workers have been without a
contract since March, according
to Unifor.
River Rock
Casino
workers
sign fi rst deal
RICHMOND, B.C. — Govern-
ment and Service Employees'
Union (BCGEU) members at
River Rock Casino Resort in
Richmond, B.C., voted Sept.
25 to ratify a four-year collec-
tive agreement after more than
a year of negotiations with the
Great Canadian Gaming Corpo-
ration.
"The agreement will bring
vast improvements to working
conditions and makes impres-
sive strides in job security, pen-
sions, benefits and a much stron-
ger wage grid," said Stephanie
Smith, BCGEU president.
Almost 1,000 members at Riv-
er Rock will receive an average
19 per cent wage increase, mak-
ing them among the best-paid
casino workers in the province,
said the union.
Extended health and den-
tal care, parental and adoption
leave, and fair vacation entitle-
ments are also among the ben-
efits, according to the BCGEU.
Photo:
Mike
Hutchings
(Reuters)
LABOUR LENS
Protesters attend a demonstration organized by the Congress of South African Trade Unions which are
pushing for a nationwide strike to protest against corruption, in Cape Town, South Africa, on Sept. 27.
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