July 5, 2013 at 2:30 PM
New Union
For those members who are not aware it was
announced on May 30th in Toronto that two great Canadian unions – the Canadian
Auto Workers (CAW) and the Communications, Energy and Paper Workers (CEP) – are
forming a new union with a modern, inclusive approach to serve members better
and participate more effectively in our workplaces and communities. The new
union, Unifor, will come into effect after the founding convention which will
take place over Labour Day weekend. Unifor will consist of more than 300,000
members, 800 locals and 3,000 bargaining units. It will be the largest private
sector union in Canada.
Bargaining
The CAW bargaining committee met again with the
employer on June 25, 26 and June 28th. These were the first negotiations since
June 5th. During one of these days three hours were dedicated to resolving what
the CAW deemed a serious incident that occurred on the floor during these
bargaining dates. The CAW believed the employer violated the collective
agreement, and as such, were willing to call off bargaining if no immediate
corrective action could take place. After further discussions the employer
concurred the situation could have been handled differently and provided a
resolution in which the union accepted and thus negotiations continued. Please
see attached letter of apology from the employer.
Even with this slight disruption (mentioned above)
the union is pleased to announce that negotiations are progressing very well. As
far as non-monetary items are concerned, there are only a small number of
articles not finalized but are tentatively agreed to in theory. Finalizing the
language on these items will allow the bargaining committee to move forward to
the monetary items.
This week the CAW and GTAA were scheduled to meet
July 3, 4 and 5th. During these three days the bargaining team was to be "locked
down" in a hotel conference room allowing bargaining to extend as late as
required and start up early in the morning. The reason behind this extended
bargaining session was that both sides were optimistic a new collective
agreement was in reach.
However, the union was informed by the employer
that they were not in a position to address our monetary proposals. As a result
the bargaining committee met with the employer July 3rd and 4th to finalize the
remaining articles ‘agreed to’ from the previous week. After much discussion,
the bargaining committee is proud to announce all non-monetary language has been
tentatively agreed to.
What's next?
The bargaining committee is awaiting information
from the employer when they are able to move forward with monetary items. It
should be noted that the CAW is ready to commence these negotiations with a
solid plan in place. In short all we need is a "dancing" partner. The bargaining
committee will advise the membership in a brief future bulletin when these dates
have been established.
Please be reminded should you encounter any rumors
please contact a bargaining committee representative to get the facts.
The current collective agreement expires July 31,
2013.
In solidarity,
Your GTAA Bargaining Committee:
Scott Bowers –
Bargaining Representative
Lana Delic-Bridger – Bargaining Representative
Tim Haxhiaj – Bargaining Representative
Antonios Kourteridis – Bargaining
Representative
Pauline Leloudas – Bargaining Representative
Ata Ugursoy –
Bargaining Chairperson
Ashley Watkins – CAW Local 2002 Executive Assistant
Jamie Ross – CAW Local 2002 President
Shane Wark – CAW National
Representative
CAW and GTAA tentatively finalize non-monetary proposals. Click here to view CAW-GTAA Bargaining Connect - Issue
9 (PDF)
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