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Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018
Ontario
MPAC workers
ratify 4-year
contract
PICKERING, Ont. — About
1,400 employees working at the
Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation (MPAC) in On-
tario voted to ratify a contract
that features four years of wage
increases and no concessions,
according to the Ontario Public
Service Employees Union (OP-
SEU).
The four-year agreement pro-
vides annual wage increases of
1.9 per cent in each of the first
three years and 1.75 per cent in
the final year, according to OP-
SEU.
The deal provides all mem-
bers with a one-time payment
of $750 for health and wellness,
said the union
It also includes a one-time
payment of $250 for all perma-
nent members, to help offset the
costs of affiliate and candidacy
fees, according to OPSEU.
Alcoa
demands
concessions
at ABI: USW
BÉCANCOUR, Que. — Alu-
minum producer Alcoa is indi-
cating that it is not interested in
settling a nine-month lockout
of 1,030 employees at its ABI
smelter in Bécancour, Que., said
the United Steelworkers (USW).
Alcoa has demanded more
concessions from the locked-out
workers even though the ABI
smelter has the lowest labour
costs per unit production among
all of Alcoa's facilities in North
America, according to USW.
The situation prompted for-
mer Quebec Premier Lucien
Bouchard, appointed by the pro-
vincial government as a special
mediator in the labour dispute,
to suspend the mediation pro-
cess on Oct. 5, said the union.
The locked-out workers,
members of USW/Syndicat des
Métallos, Local 9700, met Oct.
9 in Trois-Rivières, Que., to
discuss the breakdown in nego-
tiations as well as their plan to
escalate a campaign to increase
pressure on Alcoa for a fair set-
tlement.
"Alcoa has demanded new
concessions from workers sever-
al times during the negotiations,"
said Clément Masse, USW Local
9700 president. "The company
is trying to make workers bear
the brunt of its bad decision to
lock out its employees in the first
place."
Workers have been locked out
since Jan. 11 at the ABI smelter,
which is co-owned by Alcoa and
Rio Tinto.
Toronto
health-care
workers
sign fi rst deal
TORONTO — Members of In-
ternational Association of Ma-
chinists and Aerospace Workers
(IAM), Local 1231 employed by
Spectrum Healthcare in Toron-
to ratified their first collective
agreement on Oct. 10.
"Due to the size of this group
and the nature of their work we
conducted a mail-in ballot and
the response has been a 92 per
cent acceptance of their first
agreement," said Ralph Martin,
IAM grand lodge representa-
tive.
The five-year agreement pro-
vides wage adjustments and
wage increases ranging from a
guaranteed 5.8 per cent to a po-
tential 10.8 per cent, according
to IAM.
Other agreement highlights
include inclusion in the IAM la-
bour management pension plan,
enhanced vacation benefits and
new bereavement benefits, said
the union.
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Photo:
REUTERS/Jim
Urquhart
U.S. Senator Jon Tester meets with striking members of the International Boilermakers Union, Local D239
and their supporters outside Imerys Talc America in Three Forks, Mont., on Oct. 13.
