ASP continues to stall bargaining

As many of you know, the existing Teamsters Collective Agreement does not expire until December 3, 2012.  However, the CAW and your elected bargaining committee are making every attempt to re-open the agreement to make much needed improvements for the membership.

The current agreement was arbitrarily imposed on the workers at ASP by the Teamsters, and gave no consideration to seniority, a bumping process, improvements in working conditions or benefits, overtime language or wage increases. This unsatisfactory representation led to the membership decertifying with the Teamsters and in January, 2011, voting overwhelmingly to join the CAW.

Since then, your bargaining committee has been working diligently to try to improve the collective agreement or have ASP agree to a new agreement. In February the bargaining committee met with ASP for two full days, having productive discussions around schedules, (both full and part time) and how to best staff the operation that best respects seniority. At the conclusion of the talks, the company seemed to agree that it was in everyone’s best interest to get a new collective agreement.

We agreed to meet again on March 5. This date was later changed to March 9. Less than 24 hours before the meeting, the company cancelled. In addition, although they had committed previously to letting the union know if they were prepared to move bargaining to arbitration, they have remained silent.

It would appear that they are trying to make a mockery of the bargaining process.

Management has taken full advantage of the current Teamster agreement which is silent on how to apply seniority and has no guarantee of hours for full time employees. The Labour Minister’s office is involved and has asked that ASP be available as soon as possible in order to address these issues.

The CAW has consistently involved the membership in these discussions for progress and we will continue to keep you informed. Your bargaining committee will not stop until they achieve an agreement that recognizes the dedication and hard work that members perform on behalf of ASP.