September 25, 2012 at 12:00 PM
The bargaining committees for the company and union met as scheduled to
participate in the Mediation Arbitration process that was previously agreed to
by the parties.
Arbitrator Tom Hodges assisted the parties in an attempt to find a mutually
agreeable resolution to this round of negotiations. The parties spent the day
attempting to resolve the three outstanding issues. The CAW bargaining committee
was clear that in order for us to reach a settlement that we would recommend to
our members for ratification, the company must remove the ten-hour shifts for
twenty members in Toronto, enhance the economic package and resolve the shift
issues for the heavy bases.
The employer’s position was that the issues in dispute were the subject of
negotiations and that there was a quid pro quo on how we reached the current
tentative agreement. The company’s position was clear that they abandoned
several of their issues in order to reach the current tentative agreement.
As the day progressed the company was clear that any changes to the current
agreement would have to be paid for with the loss of economic gains contained in
the tentative agreement including - but not limited to - a fourth year in the
agreement.
We as a committee were unanimous that we were not going to trade off our hard
fought gains. We however made numerous attempts to reach a settlement. However
we were not successful.
We did resolve the issue of the shifts in the heavy bases. The employer will
now implement the shift schedules at the heavy bases for the 2013, 2014 shift
bid as per the amended tentative agreement and discussions held today. This
means that there will not be eight-hour shifts for the life of the agreement,
unless mutually agreed to by the union and the company and the 4/5/5 is locked
in for two years.
Regarding the union’s proposal to enhance the economic package Arbitrator Tom
Hodges will address this issue in his award.
The ten hour shift issue in Toronto was the area where the employer was most
aggressive. This issue was not resolved by the parties, however due to the
timing and the extent of the issues involved the Arbitrator has issued an oral
award preventing the company from implementing the ten-hour shifts for the 2013
shift bid. The Arbitrator’s award will specify what provisions will be included
in the contract going forward regarding this issue.
We understand there is some debate among the membership on the merits of this
process. As a result of the efforts of your bargaining committee and through
discussions with the employer the Arbitrator has issued an oral award that the
tentative agreement as amended should be instituted and he will cover the
outstanding issues in his award. In essence there is now a severe limitation on
the potential adverse effects to be contained in the arbitrators ruling.
This communication is meant to inform you of the process and some of our
discussions. If you have further questions, please direct them to your local
bargaining committee member. We are in the process of planning meetings at every
base in order to clarify the amendments to the collective agreement we were
successful in negotiating on September 13 and 14. In addition, we will clarity
the amendments we were successful in achieving on September 24.