June 22, 2020

REGINA—Unifor Local 594 members have ratified a tentative agreement with Co-op Refinery, ending a six-month lockout of 730 workers by Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL).

“Our members and their bargaining committee held firm throughout a difficult, protracted and often bitter negotiation process,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “In the end we were successful in protecting their retirement security and in achieving the national wage pattern but this result could have been reached far earlier if the mediator recommendations had been enforced by Premier Scott Moe.”

The new collective agreement maintains the defined benefit pension plan and the company matched employee savings plan for existing workers. Wage improvements in the new collective agreement match the National Pattern.

“We didn’t seek this work stoppage. Now that it’s finally been resolved our members are looking forward to returning to their jobs and getting back to work,” said Unifor Local 594 President Kevin Bittman. “This was the first, and hopefully last, work stoppage in our local’s 78 years of faithfully providing the Co-op Refinery with our dedicated labour. It will be hard going back into the workplace for some of us, but we will do it with our heads held high because we stood in solidarity for one another. This has been the toughest period in our history, but we will be stronger because of it.”

Unifor Local President Kevin Bittman will hold a media availability at 4 p.m. outside the union hall at 200 Hodsman Road, Regina.

June 19, 2020

TORONTO – Unifor welcomes the decision by the Ontario government to cancel its proposal to eliminate all but three statutory holidays for retail workers.

“We are pleased that the Ford government has changed its mind on this issue. Retail workers have been a vital part of getting our communities through the pandemic, and have been working incredibly hard to keep food on our tables,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said.

“Coming just days after their pay was cut by major grocers, the possibility that they would lose their statutory holidays just added insult to injury.”

Dias spoke with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Labour Minister Monte McNaughton this morning, who confirmed Ontario would not go ahead with the proposal to eliminate all statutory holidays for retail workers except Christmas, Good Friday and Canada Day.

“This is obviously good news, but the pay cuts are still in place and shows that we must remain constantly vigilant to stand up for the rights of all workers,” Dias said.

Loblaw was the first to announce it would end the $2 premium paid to workers in its grocery stores, and was soon followed by other major retailers, including Metro and Sobeys.

Unifor is leading efforts to make fair pay permanent as the country slowly emerges from the pandemic. The Fair Pay Forever campaign calls for historic inequities in the sector to be corrected. Many workers are forced to take more than one part-time job to get by.

 

June 23, 2020

TORONTO—Unifor is calling on the federal government to strenuously oppose any reimposition of punitive tariffs on Canadian aluminum exports to the United States by President Donald Trump.

“I urge you, Prime Minister, to reject any concessionary demands the U.S. requests of Canada on this matter,” wrote Unifor National President Jerry Dias in a letter sent today to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “We must not allow these bullying tactics to succeed. I urge you to stand strong in the face of this misinformation campaign and reject any quotas that would disrupt the Canadian aluminum industry once again and lead to unnecessary layoffs.”

There are reports that the United States is planning to re-impose a 10% tariff on Canadian aluminum unless Canada accepts strict export quotas on primary aluminum. This follows a request from the American Primary Aluminum Association (APAA) to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary Wilbur Ross to repeal Canada’s exemption to the Section 232 tariffs that occurred one-year ago in May 2019.

Canadian aluminum was subject to national security tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration between May 2018 and May 2019 when Unifor launched a campaign against the unfair tariffs.

“Section 232 tariffs were bogus the first time and it’s nothing short of an outrage for the APAA or the Trump administration to pretend once again that Canadian aluminum is somehow a threat to U.S. national security,” said Dias. “We simply cannot allow the tantrums of small-scale American producers to threaten Canadian jobs and the communities that rely on them a second time.”

The APAA claims that primary aluminum exports from Canada have “surged” since the lifting of U.S. tariffs, which breaches an agreement struck between the parties. The “surge” claim is entirely arbitrary, and based on trade flows over a short period. The APAA’s claim also fails to account for headwinds facing the industry, including the economic downswing caused by COVID-19 along with a dramatic rise in non-Canadian foreign imports from places like China and Russia over the past decade.

The reported policy move comes even after the main U.S. industry group, The Aluminum Association, stated in a May 2020 letter to Lighthizer that “even if every U.S. aluminum smelter was operating at full capacity, aluminum manufacturers would still require a mix of domestic and imported primary aluminum as well as secondary production to meet the demands of U.S. manufacturers and consumers for aluminum products.”

“What the APAA neglects to mention is that the U.S. aluminum industry has a domestic capacity problem that is leading American manufacturers to look elsewhere for their aluminum,” wrote Dias.

Dias also warned Trudeau that strong reciprocal measures may be warranted and must be considered should the U.S. act against Canada’s aluminum sector.