January 24, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Hargrove confident that CAW victory
in representational vote will bring benefits to GTAA employees
“I am pleased
the Labour Board agreed with the CAW, and employees at the GTAA will be voting
to choose their consolidated union. I have complete confidence that once GTAA
employees have a look at the CAW they will vote to join. When they do they will
experience the aggressive representation, excellent leadership and strong
collective agreement currently enjoyed by CAW members at the GTAA”, said Buzz
Hargrove – CAW National President.
Today the
Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) agreed with the CAW on issues
important to GTAA employees:
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GTAA
employees in CAW Local 2002 and PSAC Locals 4 & 5 will be consolidated into
one unified bargaining structure. The CAW commits that the
consolidated Bargaining Committee will have strong representation from both
operational (blue collar) and non-operational (white collar) employees.
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There
should be a representational vote between the CAW and PSAC. The CAW has
a vast amount of experience with mergers in the air transportation
industry. After a successful representational vote the CAW’s experience
with consolidations will help to unify the membership to win gains in
collective bargaining.
It is important
to note that the other parties did not feel a democratic vote was warranted and
opposed your right to vote at all steps along the way. To date, the CAW has
been right on all three major issues before the Labour Board: a sale of business
has occurred, one bargaining unit should be created and a representational vote
needs to happen.
On January 30,
2008 all parties will reconvene at the CIRB to establish the time lines and
conditions upon which the representational vote will be conducted.
Leslie Dias,
President of CAW Local 2002 stated, “I look forward to engaging employees at the
GTAA. We are a large Local union with significant resources to advance the
interests of our members. I am confident that when PSAC members experience our
organization they will see clear benefits in joining the CAW.”