CarePartners
nursing and
administrative
staff strike
TORONTO — About 100
nursing and administrative
staff at CarePartners went on
strike at midnight on April 9.
The walkout forced the com-
munity care access centre to
find alternative care for patients
receiving publicly funded home
nursing care in Niagara and
Norfolk County.
"We have given CarePartners
a very long runway to get a first
contract negotiated," said War-
ren (Smokey) Thomas, presi-
dent of the Ontario Public Ser-
vice Employees Union.
"This is an agency that has
had trouble retaining skilled
nursing staff yet has been un-
willing to budge on the working
conditions and compensation
issues that are leading to that
exodus."
Key issues for the CarePart-
ners employees include sick pay
and pay equity between visiting
and clinic nurses employed lo-
cally by the company.
Labour groups
urge Canadians
to boycott
beer cans
TORONTO — Labour groups
are urging Canadians to reach
in the cooler for a bottle of beer,
as opposed to a can.
The boycott was initially
launched by the United Steel-
workers against Crown Hold-
ings, a U.S.-based beer can
manufacturer whose Toronto
facility has been at the epicen-
tre of a long and bitter labour
dispute.
In 2013, the local chapter's
120 workers went on strike
after the company pushed for
major concessions.
Nineteen months later, on
April 9, the Canadian Labour
Congress (an umbrella group
that represents 54 unions and
more than three million affiliat-
ed workers nationwide) joined
the boycott, effectively making
the effort a national one.
"We must not let this incred-
ibly profitable multinational
company — with a CEO mak-
ing an average of $13 million
a year — show such utter con-
tempt for the very workers who
have helped build its success,"
said Hassan Yussuff, CLC's
president.
Crown Holdings initially
proposed new-hires would be
paid 42 per cent less than vet-
eran staffers, which the union
rejected. The company then
proposed all workers accept
an across-the-board wage cut
of 33 per cent, according to the
CLC.
With both sides digging in
their heels at the bargaining
table, Ontario labour minis-
ter Kevin Flynn intervened in
March and appointed media-
tor-arbitrator Morton Mitch-
nick to conduct an industrial in-
quiry. That process is currently
ongoing.
In its 25-year history of being
unionized, Crown Holdings'
Toronto operation has only had
one other strike — a six-week
endeavour in 1995.
The boycott includes canned
Molson, Coors, Labatt, Bud-
weiser, Moosehead and Cree-
more brands.
LABOUR BRIEFS
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LABOUR LENS
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practice that has workers fi nding out only hours before the start of a shift that they must report for duty.
The policy could violate state legislation that guarantees any employee who shows up as scheduled be
paid for at least four hours at the minimum wage.
