Canadian Labour Reporter

1 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 JANUARY 20, 2014 LABOUR BRIEFS Richtree restaurant workers win labour board ruling / University of New Brunswick faculty walk off the job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS • TOK Transit Alberta, Fort McMurray, Alta. Four-month probation period . . . . . . . . 3 • CASA Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health, Edmonton. One moving day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 • Association of Commercial and Industrial Contractors of P.E.I., P.E.I. $20 meal allowance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 • Prince George Airport Authority, Prince George, B.C., All travel expenses paid by employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 • Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, N.L. 14 paid holidays . . . . . . 5 • Océan Remorquage Côte-Nord, Québec, Que. Two wedding days . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 ARBITRATION AWARDS • Mayhem follows job merger . . . . . . . . . 6 • Contract overlooked, professor's sabbatical protected after all . . . . . . . . 8 ON LABOUR-REPORTER.COM CUPE slams Ontario's collective bargaining bill for schools and Detroit's emergency manager freezes city staffer's pension funds. Visit www.labour-reporter.com for daily news stories. Follow us on Twitter @ labourreporter. And dont' forget — all collective agreement summaries on labour-reporter.com now include links to the full agreements. UPCOMING ISSUES The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) reports its strict policy requiring a doctor's note after one sick day has dramatically reduced absenteeism. Medical experts, however, say the cost to Canada's health care system is much greater. Find out more in next week's issue of Canadian Labour Reporter. | by SAbRINA NANJI | RUMOURS OF ThE union's death have been greatly exaggerated, it would seem. Organizing efforts at two heavy- weight transportation companies — Cal- gary-based WestJet and Toyota's Ontario plants — have kicked into high gear. Despite recent stabilization of unionization rates in the country fol- lowing a 30-year slump, the move could signal a watershed moment for the labour movement. Cue Unifor and the Ca- nadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) union drives targeting Toyota's 7,000 employees and WestJet's 2,800 flight at- tendants, respectively. This isn't the first time unions have attempted cer- tification at either company — initial efforts date back more than 25 years. But his- torically, organizing efforts have proven futile. As it stands, both unions are ex- tremely confident, saying the timing has never been better. "The whole mindset is much differ- ent today and the drive is really being pushed from within. The majority of this organizing is happening in Toyota facilities themselves, so that's the whole change here," said Jerry Dias, president of Unifor. "I think people are really say- ing it's not just about wages and pen- sions anymore. It's about having some say, it's about having an element of con- trol over our lives." In order to get certified, a union needs 35 per cent of workers to sign union cards to hold a certification vote, or 50 per cent support in order to be automatically certified. Over at WestJet, Ricardo Miranda, CUPE's national representative helm- ing the campaign, in- tends to bypass the 35 per cent vote and instead go straight for instant certifi- cation. At issue for work- ers is that, as the company grows, they fear they are being left behind. "They used to be this small airline — the little airline that could. They've now turned into a huge corporation, and it contin- ues to grow," Miranda explained. "The change in the culture has meant the working conditions have changed. Peo- ple don't feel heard or happy." Perhaps surprisingly, both union drives have been gaining traction where there was little or no traction before. Employee attitude coupled with intense organizing efforts (Unifor, for instance, has designated 10 per cent of resources — $10 million — to union drives such as Union drives go full steam ahead Toyota, WestJet targets of major private sector certification effort PM #40065782 Continued on page 7 "It's not just about wages and pensions anymore. It's about having some say, it's about having an element of control over our lives." IN THIS ISSUE

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