January 23, 2009 at 12:00 AM
On January 22, the Bargaining Committee, along with CAW Local and National Representatives, met with the Membership of District 333 to provide them with an update on current concerns. Those in attendance initiated interesting discussions and asked questions that helped to clarify issues.
Update on Collective Bargaining/CIRB Process
Meetings were scheduled at the CIRB in January in order to overview the process of consolidating the collective agreements (For more information see:
GTAA bargaining talks broken off - December 19, 2008). Due to unforeseen circumstances, the CIRB had to cancel the meetings which are now rescheduled for the week of May 18th.
Wages in 2009
A number of members asked about their wages in 2009. All aspects of the three collective agreements remain in effect. All wages and work rules for the former TBI, Local 0005 and newly included members bargaining units are frozen (legally referred to as a statutory freeze). Newly included members will continue to follow the remuneration process with respect to bonuses. The Local 0004 members will continue utilizing the language in their collective agreement.
Grievances
There are over 150 open grievances on file from PSAC, TBI, and CAW. In order to improve labour relations and expedite issues of importance to members, we are working with the company in order to agree on an expedited mediation/arbitration practice. The company has agreed to this process to address the current open grievances. It is our hope that the success of this process will lead to a long term agreement.
We would like to thank those members that took the time to attend and participate and encourage everyone to attend future membership meetings.
In Solidarity,
District 333 Bargaining Committee:
Jeff Hatt, Chairperson
Todd Browne
Mark DaSilva
Antonia Grabowski
Hafeez Hussain
Pauline Leloudas
Fred Romolo
Lars Sorensen
Joel Fournier, National Staff Representative
Ashley Watkins, Executive Assistant East