Bell Craft Bargaining

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Click here for the full updates

In this round of negotiations, 3520 Unifor members are united by their 24 local unions in Ontario and 8 in Quebec.Bell Craft workers are working together to improve job security and respect at work. Bargaining updates are available from Locals, and will be posted here following internal distribution.

Campaign Update

Information Bulletin #5

1/8/2021 -Sisters and Brothers,

Negotiations with the Company continued this week via Zoom. The Union and the Company have finished exchanging proposals and completed negotiations of the non-monetary demands. Due to the provincial lockdown we will continue to meet via Zoom next week and begin monetary discussions. The Committee will keep you updated as the process unfolds.

In Solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee

 

Join Jerry Dias to demand action on long-term care

Members,

The ongoing crisis in Ontario long-term care has led to horrific conditions and the tragic deaths of more than 3,400 residents and at least 11 frontline long-term care workers from COVID-19.

As the cases continue to mount, Ontario Unifor members must raise our collective voices to push the provincial government to act.

Workers from all sectors are asked to support the thousands of Unifor frontline long-term care members and the vulnerable LTC residents that they care for.

You can make a difference this Friday by joining the online protest at 10 a.m., hosted by the Ontario Health Coalition.   

LTC residents account for nearly two-thirds of the province’s total COVID deaths and preventable loss of life is rapidly increasing. In recent days, the death toll has amounted to more than one resident every hour of every day.

Here’s how to join the action on Friday morning. Go to www.facebook.com/ontariohealth to watch and participate in online actions throughout the protest to help Save Our Seniors.

Unifor National President Jerry Dias will call for immediate government action during his live online address, scheduled for 10:09 a.m.

What:                Ontario Health Coalition Save Our Seniors Protest

When:               Friday, January 29, 2021 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Where:              www.facebook.com/ontariohealth

Share the message online using #carenotprofits and #SaveOurSeniors hashtags.

In solidarity,

Naureen Rizvi
Ontario Regional Director

Unifor’s Black History Month statement + Shareable

The History of Our Breath

During Black History Month, we celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians who, throughout history, have done so much to make Canada the culturally diverse, compassionate and prosperous nation it is today.

This Black History Month we want to speak to the importance of our breath.

Breathing is an exchange of the experience, knowledge and contributions of Black people. At the 2017 Ontario Regional Council, Bermuda Public Service Union Vice President Linda Bogle Mienzer delivered a powerful speech about allowing people to breathe in their full identity in order to live. We see globally that is contested for Black people. The epidemic of extreme police violence, most recently epitomized by George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police, proves that “I can’t breathe” is still an urgent rallying call for systemic change.  Breath is vital and it is essential for life.

Black History Month should not only be about struggle, is about the resilience of people, but it is also about the determination, the success and accomplishments of Black people.

Just like the millions of people who marched, declaring boldly, that Black Lives Matter, our goal is for Black members to feel comfortable in their diverse identities to breathe in all of our spaces, including at their workplaces, union events and activities.

We will celebrate Black history, Black present and Black future, not only during the month of February, but every day.

This year, Unifor reaffirms our commitment to listen, acknowledge, support, and make space for Black people in our locals, workplaces, communities. We have many Black leaders in our union and we are committed to supporting their success.

Unifor will be featuring Black Unifor members from across the country in short videos speaking to their “History of their breath” on our social media channels.

Please share those and this powerful message, the attached shareable and please support virtual Black history events and organizations in your community.

Happy Black History Month.

Download the shareable

Canada needs its airlines

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Canada is a big country. That is why, as a nation we are so heavily reliant on our airline industry with routes reaching every corner of the country. That is why there is so much at stake right now.

Think about it. Families today are spread across vast distances. Atlantic Canadians finding work in the oil patch. Western kids moving east for jobs in Toronto, Montreal or Ottawa. Older Canadians living out their dreams of retirement somewhere quieter.

Modern travel made it possible to do all that and still stay in touch with family. Before COVID-19 hit siblings separated by thousands of kilometres could remain close and grandparents could regularly visit their grandchildren. We could just hop on a plane – for some destinations, there seemed to be another flight every hour – and see our loved ones again.

The pandemic took that ease of travel away and showed us just how valuable it all was – and how precarious.

Without immediate help for the struggling airline industry, the disconnect brought on by lost flights and closed airline hubs could last for years – and in some places become permanent even as the rest of society begins to return to normal.

As I told the federal Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities this week, we cant let that happen.

COVID-19 struck the airline industry early and hard, and has not let up.

Right now, 45% of Unifors members in the airline sector are either laid-off, furloughed or have had their jobs eliminated. At Air Canada 60% are out of work. At Porter and Sunwing, all of our members are furloughed or inactive.

Workers have also lost their health insurance, and more are given notice each day. Others are being forced to take pay cuts to avoid layoffs – all while wondering if theyll even have a job to come back to.

It is a devastating blow for a sector that previously employed roughly 240,000 workers and contributed nearly $37 billion in Canada’s Gross Domestic Product. It’s a vital part of Canada’s trade in goods and services and a key linchpin in the tourism industry.

Airlines have drastically cut back on their routes, and even shuttered some locations – leaving entire communities with no flights at all, and diminishing hope that they will ever return.

Without government action now to save the industry, those fears are well-founded.

Any aid for the airline industry needs to put workers first. They have lost their work, or seen it severely cut back.

Pilots, for instance, must keep flying or risk losing their licenses. Any major restart of air travel, when it comes, could be hampered if workers – including pilots, air traffic controllers and mechanics – have not been able to keep up their hours to maintain their skills and qualifications.

Training and recertifying for pilots can take up to two years and is incredibly expensive, for instance.

Canadas delayed response, then, could prove to be even more costly down the road.  So far, this country has provided less than $2 billion. Among G7 countries, only Italy has provided less.

We can and must do better.

We cant just count on vaccines to be a cure-all for the economy – or the airline industry in particular. The economic impact of COVID-19 will continue long after we get this virus under control.

Airlines continue to suffer financially, just as they did after the 2008-09 financial crisis. It took the industry and its workers a decade to recover from that hit, and some workers continue to suffer.

The difference this time is that unlike in 2008-09, many of the airlines clients are itching to fly as soon as they can. Theres a pent-up yearning for travel, to see loved ones, or to just not have to take another staycation, and we will need a viable airline industry ready to meet that demand.

The federal government is considering even tougher travel restrictions as part of its pandemic response as the second wave resists all other efforts and new variants take hold. Any such move needs to be matched with help for those hurt by the measures – including those in the airline industry.

We need a robust conversation about the role rapid testing can play in making travel safer.

As a big country, we have come to rely on the airline industry to keep family and friends close, even as they live long distances apart – and once weve got this virus whipped, a lot of people are going to want to renew those connections.

First, however, we need to make sure the airlines survive to ensure they can do that.

Vigil held for COVID heroes

 

Unifor members from across Canada gathered online Thursday to honour workers who have died in the pandemic, including three from Unifor.

“Unifor’s members have been at the forefront of the struggle against the virus, especially our frontline heroes in healthcare, long-term care homes and thousands of essential workplaces,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said.

The Unifor members honoured on the vigil were group home worker Leonard Rodriques, Local 40, warehouse worker Derrick Crooks, Local 414, and personal support worker Sheila Yakovishin from Local 2458.

Local 40 President David Amow said Rodriques, who bought his own PPE at a dollar store, “always put clients first. Even up to his final days with us, he still put clients first.”

Local 414’s Gord Currie said Crooks loved to make videos of himself singing and dancing and was “full of laughs and loved to make people laugh.”

Local 2458 President Tullio DiPonti said Yakovishin was “known for her sense of humour and her fun-loving ways, she was also extremely caring and compassionate.”

Dias said Unifor will continue to honour these workers by fighting for improvements for all workers.

“The memories of these COVID heroes will never be forgotten and we will do everything as an organization in our power to honour them by making sure that employers do not sacrifice the health and safety of workers in the pursuit of profit,” Dias said.

Quebec Director Renaud Gagné said the pandemic has hit workers in the health care system hard.

“These people were mostly personal support workers who took care of our seniors. One morning they left for work to take care of our parents, our grandparents. They came back sick and unfortunately died. It’s tragic. It should never have happened,” he said

Unifor Secretary-Treasurer Lana Payne said the best way to honour those killed by COVID-19 is to never forget the lessons learned during the pandemic.

“We must never forget how quickly essential workers went from heroes to having their pandemic pay cut. We must never forget the travesty of long-term care. The carnage that has occurred there,” she said.

Dias listed three key demands to keep workers safe: paid sick days, the right to know about hazards in the workplace and to refuse unsafe work and the need for Pesonal Protective Equipment (PPE) for all workers.

Ontario Regional Director Naureen Rizvi outlined the need for paid sick leave, Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle outlined the right of workers to know and refuse, while Atlantic Regional Director Linda MacNeil discussed the urgent need for better access to PPE.

Members at the vigil stressed the need for action, including a paramedic who said he and his co-workers are not being provided with proper PPE.

“I am asking, please come help us because we are transporting COVID patients with the bare minimum of protection,” the member said.

Another stressed the need for workers to be able to refuse unsafe work.

“It costs lives and someone needs to be held accountable,” the member said.

An emotional night for all, one member also acknowledged his own privileged position, while recognizing the pain felt by so many and the need for action.

“I’m lucky, I’m still working. But there’s a lot of members who are hurting right now,” the member said.