Canadian Labour Reporter

1 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 MARCH 3, 2014 LABOUR BRIEFS Social services staffers ink new deal in British Columbia / Steelworkers applaud boycott of Carnival Cruises . . . . . . . . . . . 2 COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS • Black Velvet Distilling Company, Lethbridge, Alta. Five minute wash-up period at the end of each shift . . . . . . . 3 • University of British Columbia, province- wide, B.C. Up to $750 for retirement counselling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 • Burnco Rock Products, Calgary. Driver improvement courses for employees involved in accidents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 • Société des Casinos du Québec, Mon- treal, Que. Employees not responsible for dealing with counterfeit cash . . . . . . . 4 • Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, province-wide. Three days for family emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 • Government of Nova Scotia, province- wide. Eight unpaid weeks for compassion- ate care leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 ARBITRATION AWARDS • Would-be engineer fired for fraudulent wage claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 • Calgary firefighter sets pension debate ablaze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 CORRECTION The Feb. 18 issue should have indicated bus operators employed at Saskatchewan Transportation earn 74.03¢ per kilometre, rising in four steps to 89.71¢. The original article stated the figure in dollars per hour. UPCOMING ISSUES Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak recently proposed a plan to contract out government services that would see public sector unions competing with private companies for government contracts in the province. Find out more about the Financial Accountability Act and the services it could affect in next week's issue of CLR. | by SAbRINA NANJI | UNIONS ARE FACING a volatile and tu- multuous time ahead at the bargaining table, something made all the more clear after the latest numbers revealed wage hikes have hit a new low. Recent numbers from Employment and Social Development Canada show that in 2013, wage improvements were the lowest they have been over the pre- vious 16 years — with average pay in- creases for unionized work- ers sitting at 1.4 per cent. In the public sector, aver- age pay hikes sat at 0.9 per cent, while private sector workers saw gains averag- ing 2.1 per cent. Austerity agendas touted by governments, coupled with wounds still not yet healed from the 2008 reces- sion, has ended up in mod- est wage adjustments across the board in unionized environments. "The language of restraint and fiscal responsibility has become accepted over the last four years," said Simon Mortim- er, a labour and employment lawyer at Hicks Morley in Toronto. "In discussions and negotiations there is an understand- ing, almost a baseline understanding, of trade unions and others that we have an obligation to our economy to fiscal re- sponsibility." Whereas public sector employers are held by the directives of the government, Mortimer said private sector employers have tightened the purse strings in order to keep their heads above water. "For private sector employers, I be- lieve the focus is on them ensuring they have long-term stability plans for fair and reasonable long-term structural in- tegrity," Mortimer explained. That translates to a push for stabil- ity at the bargaining table. A stable re- lationship with no sudden movements has been the mantra for employers at the bargaining table and — perhaps sur- prisingly — for unions too. An overall atmosphere of recession-like fiscal con- servatism runs through unions' veins, especially in the public sector, where governments have focused on balancing the books. "Austerity seems to be the order of the day at almost all levels of government, and private companies are sitting on record amounts of cash," offered Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employ- ees (CUPE). "Everything points, in the public sector, to a very complicated and difficult bargaining environment. We're predicting wage increases will remain low, less than inflation." According to data from Statistics Can- ada, the national inflation rate was 1.5 per cent in January. Moist calls the immediate past, pres- Rocky road forecasted for bargaining tables Wage increases hit major slump PM #40065782 Continued on page 7 "The language of restraint and fiscal responsibility has become accepted over the last four years." IN THIS ISSUE

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