GODERICH – Unifor and Compass Minerals returned to the bargaining table today and progress was made.
Both sides have agreed to extend talks and will return to the negotiating table at 9 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, July 13, 2018, in the interests of negotiating a collective agreement that meets the needs of all parties.
The Council of Unions Health Care Bargaining Committee have spent the past several weeks preparing for a mediation arbitration hearing set for the last week of July with mediator arbitrator William Kaplan, which will finalize a Healthcare Collective agreement for our membership working in the Acute Care sector with Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) and IWK.
GODERICH – Unifor and Compass Minerals have agreed to return to the bargaining table on Thursday, July 12, 2018, at 9 a.m. Peaceful picketing at the Goderich Mine is occurring.
“Compass Minerals is committed to negotiating a collective agreement and getting our employees back to work with an agreement that focuses on the safety of our employees in the current operational environment,” said Anthony Sepich, Compass Minerals’ Senior Vice President, Salt.
With all the talk of demanding (as our government should) labour rights under NAFTA that are progressive and enforceable, it begs the question: what happened to demanding those rights when negotiating the new Trans-Pacific trade deal?
Canada capitulated in a rush to sign any trade deal.
It was a missed opportunity to create a new precedent for trade agreements. Not to put too fine of a point on it, but workers were sold out, proving that these trade deals have never been about raising the standards for workers, but creating profit for corporations.
AJAX—Workers represented by Unifor Local 1090 at Casino Ajax have voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action if a fair settlement cannot be reached.
“Unifor members are pivotal to the success of Casino Ajax,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “They deserve a fair contract and decent wages.”
VICTORIA - More media workers are losing their jobs in Canada’s growing newspaper industry crisis says Unifor after Glacier Media announced it is shutting down the pressroom of the Victoria Times Colonist.
“We are saddened that this iconic newspaper on Vancouver Island will no longer be printed by Unifor Local 2000 members,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
GODERICH – Despite Unifor’s repeated requests to resume negotiations to end an 11-week strike at the salt mine in Goderich, Compass Minerals refuses to negotiate fairly.
“The members and hundreds of supporters now bolstering the picket line have made it crystal clear that not a single scab is getting past,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The national union and all 315,000 members are behind them in solidarity.”
THUNDER BAY – Unifor National President Jerry Dias will join striking workers in a solidarity rally at the Port Arthur Health Centre in Thunder Bay, Ontario on Monday, July 9, 2018.
“These hard-working women have been on strike for nearly three months now,” said Dias. “We’re on the picket line to let the employer know this fight for workers’ rights will continue until fair wages and secure jobs are won.”
SUSSEX, NB—Unifor is calling on Vic Drilling CEO Laura Araneda to stop profiting from a strike at Compass Minerals by flying replacement workers to Ontario.
“Laura Araneda is siding with a large American mining firm against Canadian miners,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “She could help end a three-month strike tomorrow. But instead, she’s deliberately undermining families in a small town in Ontario.”
The Council of Unions Support bargaining team is pleased to provide this update to members on progress so far towards reaching a new collective agreement.
As you are aware the mediation – arbitration agreement between the four unions, (NSGEU, NSNU, CUPE and Unifor) and the Nova Scotia Health Authority and IWK Children’s hospital will resolve and conclude all collective agreements for the four bargaining units in Nursing, Health Care, Support Services, and Administrative Professionals by the end of 2018.
Over the past couple of weeks, Donald Trump has truly shown us the depth of his cruelty, at least I hope he has.
Trump’s administration has been separating children – including babies and toddlers – from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border on the flimsy excuse that the parents have committed a crime by trying to escape the violence at home and provide a better and safer life for their families.
Miners represented by Unifor, frustrated by the company’s continued use of replacement workers at the world’s largest salt mine, have blockaded access to the road used during shift change.
“Crossing a picket line is shameful behaviour that cannot be tolerated,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “No job is worth stealing food from another worker’s family.”
