Canadian Labour Reporter

VIA Rail, Unifor reach new tentative agreement MONTREAL — VIA Rail Cana- da has reached a tentative agree- ment with UNIFOR, the union that represents the 1,800 of 2,500 of VIA Rail employees who work in stations, customer service centres, maintenance centres and administrative offices. "The positive outcome of these negotiations accurately reflects the focus of all em- ployees of the corporation to provide superior service to our passengers." said Yves Desjar- dins-Siciliano, president and CEO of VIA Rail. "We thank the local UNIFOR leadership team and its national president, Jerry Dias, as well as our respective negotiating teams for their dedication and commit- ment throughout the process. We appreciate the profession- alism and support that Labour Canada's mediation team dem- onstrated under the experienced leadership of Guy Breton, direc- tor general, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services. "This agreement allows the corporation to move ahead positively with its many different projects and initiatives aimed at making VIA Rail service the greener, more human and smarter way to move people in Canada." Quebec bus drivers strike LAVAL, QUE — About 125 bus drivers in Laval, Que., went on strike on June 7. The drivers — employed by Transdev and serving the CIT — launched the labour action in response to a dispute over wages. According to the drivers' union, Teamsters Canada, the employer is unwilling to offer better wages. The employees are calling for a wage in- crease following the termination of their previous agreement, which had a ten-year term and expired on Dec. 31. The parties have failed to come to an agreement following 35 meetings with a conciliator. Other issues in dispute include benefits such as days off for fam- ily-related responsibilities. The walkout affects intercity and intermediary transportation in 14 municipalities. OPSEU welcomes William Osler workers TORONTO — More than 240 diagnostic imaging employees with the William Osler Health System are the newest members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). The workers voted to unionize on June 8. "They're joining a large group of professionals who are already represented by OPSEU. All around them, they saw evidence of the privatization of diagnos- tic services. With all the uncer- tainties in health funding, they needed and wanted a union that was a strong and proven advo- cate for excellent health care ser- vices," said Sara Labelle, chair of OPSEU's Hospital Professionals Division. The William Osler Health Sys- tem, which includes Brampton Civic Hospital and Etobicoke General Hospital, is one of the province's largest community hospitals, serving a population of about 1.3 million. LABOUR BRIEFS 2 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 FORMERLY CLV REPORTS Serving labour relations professionals since 1956 www.labour-reporter.com Published weekly by omson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $595 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 Email: carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com Director, Carswell Media Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Todd Humber Editor/Supervisor Sarah Dobson | (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com Contributing Editors Mallory Hendry Jeff rey R. Smith Marketing Co-ordinator Keith Fulford | (416) 649-9585 keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com © 2016 Carswell, a division of omson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. e publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional advice. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. e analysis contained herein represents the opinion of the authors and should in no way be construed as being either offi cial or unoffi cial policy of any governmental body. ISSN 0045-5113 Publications Registration 2089 Canadian Labour Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications. Visit www.hrreporter.com for more information. Labour Reporter Canadian www.labourreporter.com Photo: Charles Platiau (Reuters) LABOUR LENS A pile of rubbish is seen on the Grands boulevards in Paris during a strike of garbage collectors and sewer workers of the city of Paris to protest the labour reforms law proposal.

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