The Town Hall Meeting with Jagmeet Singh here at the Steelworkers Hall was very well attended.  See video here.    https://youtu.be/zRupRezOKS4

From Your 2019 USW Bargaining Committee

Saturday, September-14-19                                                                                     Release #14

Good day Brothers and Sisters,

 Although you’re Bargaining Committee Unanimously recommend that the membership strike down the Company’s Final Offer, we understand the pressures that you have been under and accept your voice as our own, you’re bargaining committee and Local Union Executive dedicate ourselves to standing with you 100% going forward and representing your best interests in the future. We would like to thank all of you who showed support, voiced your opinion, attended meetings, read release’s, questioned the circumstances, cast your ballots and informed yourselves.

 It is time to set our sights on the implementation of this new Contract and prepare for the next round of negotiations, remember with preparation and education we can achieve the best results for ourselves and our communities.

The Result of the Vote is that the membership has accepted Vale’s Final Offer.

Please contact the Union with any questions you may have about the bargaining process, and thanks for your ongoing support.

 In Solidarity, Your Bargaining Committee Warren, Scott, Matt, Keith, Dave and Todd.

From Your 2019 USW Bargaining Committee

Friday, September-13-19                                                                              Release #13

Good day Brothers and Sisters,             The Memo put out by Vale today has prompted several questions.

We discussed at the table the benefits that Vale was offering the membership, the most contentious of all concessions they brought was the co-pay component and post-retirement benefits for new hires. The co-pay means that our members will now have to pay part of their drug costs. As discussed at the meetings held at the Royal Canadian Legion on Thursday Sept 12. Vale wants to pass on the 163 million dollar liability to YOU and renege on that same 163 million dollar promise. We all know that this is a concession!  One, that we warned the company that we did not think our membership would accept no matter how much we attempted to reduce the out of pocket hit to our members.

Vale seems to continue to mislead the membership with their statements, there is no secret Vale came to the table seeking changes to our benefits, there is no secret that the Union Bargaining committee discussed benefits at the table including co-pay, generic drugs, over the counter etc. to identify how far and how deep Vale was attempting to take from you. We understand they are fearful that this offer will be turned down and that the Union will then request to continue negotiating a fair and reasonable contract that the parties can come to terms on while working under the current contract. At the end of the day, the Union has not agreed to the offer before you. That is why your Bargaining Committee has not recommended this offer to our membership. The “generous benefits” Vale is offering is a concession of what we currently have. It is important to understand that this is Vale’s final offer, not a mutually agreed and negotiated contract that you are voting on.

At no point did the union consider no post retirement benefits for new hires. It may not affect you now, but after time we will be sitting at the table bargaining and find more members that don’t have post-retirement benefits than those who do have them. Do you think they will fight for something that they don’t have? That we let the company take from them????

At this point in bargaining we have to make a choice to try get the best overall deal we can at the table. A deal that puts enough money in our member’s pockets to offset the cost of the concessions, the rising cost of living and inflation, increasing tax base due to the...

Le vendredi 13 septembre 2019 - 91 membres des Unités 207 et 213 de Calgary et d’Edmonton, en Alberta, ont reçu une lettre plus tôt cette semaine les informant du règlement d’un grief relatif à leur groupe de travail, et d’un paiement forfaitaire de 1 000 $ pour chaque membre.

Ce grief de principe avait été déposé par la Section locale 1944 en janvier 2018 relativement à la révision JEMS des équipes de résolution de commande (ORT), suite à la décision de Telus de ne pas reclassifier les emplois de Représentant du service à la clientèle V après avoir effectué une évaluation du travail.

Le grief devait être soumis à l’arbitrage plus tard ce mois-ci, mais la Section locale a travaillé de concert avec la Compagnie pour parvenir à une solution.

La Section locale est parvenue à une résolution pour les Représentant du service à la clientèle IV qui travaillaient dans les équipes ORT au moment du dépôt du grief, ou y travaillent encore aujourd’hui.

Tamara Marshall, Représentante de la Section locale pour la Colombie-Britannique, travaille sur ce grief depuis le début. Elle a déclaré :

« Nous prenons en compte de nombreux facteurs lorsque nous travaillons à la résolution d’un grief. Ces facteurs peuvent inclure, entre autres, la solidité de nos preuves, et s’il y a eu ou non des changements supplémentaires dans les tâches de travail depuis le premier dépôt du grief. »

La résolution conclue avec la Compagnie prend en compte les nombreux changements apportés aux tâches de travail ainsi qu’aux systèmes utilisés par les équipes ORT au cours des derniers mois.

« Ce règlement de 91 000 dollars est la preuve que nous accomplissons des progrès lorsque les membres de la base syndicale et la Section locale travaillent ensemble, parce qu’ensemble, nous sommes plus forts », a déclaré la Présidente par intérim Donna Hokiro.

Solidairement,

La Section locale 1944 du Syndicat des Métallos

September 13, 2019 - Earlier this week, 91 members in Units 207 and 213 from Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, received a letter advising them of a grievance resolution that applies to their work group, providing for a lump sum payout of $1,000 each.

This policy grievance was filed by Local 1944 in January 2018 over the JEMS review of the Order Resolution Team (ORT), following Telus’ decision not to reclassify the jobs to Client Care Representative V after performing an evaluation of the job.

The grievance was scheduled to go to arbitration later this month, but the Local Union worked with the Company towards a resolution.

The Local Union has reached a resolution for Client Representative IVs who worked in ORT at the time of filing and still do today.

Tamara Marshall, Local Union Representative for British Columbia, who has been working on this grievance from the beginning, says:

“We look at many factors when we work to resolve grievances. Those factors may include the strength of our evidence, and whether or not there has been additional changes to the work since the grievance was first filed, amongst other things.”

The resolve that was reached with the Company takes into account the many changes that were made to the work performed and to the systems used in ORT over the past months.

“This $91,000 settlement is proof that when the members on the shop floor and the Union work together, lives are made better because together we are stronger,” said Acting President Donna Hokiro.

In Solidarity,

USW Local 1944