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Refinery workers reach tentative agreement with Co-op

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June 18, 2020

REGINA—The bargaining committee of Unifor Local 594 has reached a tentative agreement with the employer at the Co-op Refinery, 197 days after Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) locked out 730 workers.

“There was always a path to a deal,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The provincially appointed mediators’ report provided a basis for a new contract, but this dispute was protracted thanks to interference from the Regina Police Service and the incompetence of Premier Scott Moe.”

In February, Moe appointed Vince Ready and Amana Rodgers to mediate a deal that was accepted by 98 per cent of the members yet rejected by FCL. Despite repeated calls from constituents, the Premier refused to step in and support the refinery workers.

“Wealthy corporations have been allowed to act with impunity for too long, exerting their power on workers in order to profit, while eroding wages, pensions, and benefits,” continued Dias. “Unifor members took a stand against this aggression, and Co-op locked them out in the cold. In this fight, we showed that Canada’s workers are united and will fight to defend good jobs, even when governments and police services choose to side with the rich.”

The tentative deal hopefully marks the conclusion of an historic labour dispute. After the aggressive arrest of 14 union members on a legal picket line on January 20, including National President Jerry Dias and Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle, hundreds of union members came to Regina from across the country to bolster the picket line, and workers around the world voiced their support.

“I am so proud of the solidarity, strength and courage of our membership,” said Kevin Bittman, Local 594 President. “They never wavered throughout this nasty dispute, and we will always be grateful for the support we received from our Unifor family and the entire labour movement. This was union-busting from an employer that has made billions off of our backs and together we fought and defended our collective agreement.”

Details about the tentative agreement will not be released until members of Local 594 hold a ratification vote. The union worked to ensure the “return to work” protocol protected members and local union leaders from retribution from Co-op.

“The tentative agreement would have been signed weeks ago but Co-op showed their true colours by punitively continuing the lockout, now they will have to try and build back a dedicated and committed workforce that will not forget the disrespect they felt from this profitable employer,” said Scott Doherty, head negotiator and Executive Assistant to Unifor’s National President.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

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Court victory in Manitoba could spell end for Ontario’s Bill 124

June 12, 2020 – 12:00 AM

TORONTO – Ontario workers who had their bargaining rights attacked by Ford’s wage restraint law, find hope and vindication as similar legislation was struck down by the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench.

“Ford’s attack on Ontario public sector workers’ bargaining rights, including thousands on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, is a common tactic by conservative politicians, but that does not make it right,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Ford should repeal 124 and give Ontario workers the respect they deserve, because his law will be struck down just like Pallister’s.”

Earlier this week, a Manitoba judge ruled that the so-called Public Services Sustainability Act violates the right to collective bargaining protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In Ontario, Unifor is engaged in a similar court challenge against the legislation in Ontario, along with many other unions representing workers across the broader public sector.

“We said it in 2019, that this law would not stand up in court. After this week’s ruling that confidence has grown, Ford cannot continue to pay lip service to public sector workers while stifling their rights,” said Naureen Rizvi, Unifor Ontario Regional Director.

Ford’s wage restraint bill has forced a one per cent wage cap across the public sector in Ontario, including unionized and non-unionized workers, for any currently expired or expiring collective agreements over the next three years.

This applies to the public service, as well as hospitals, Ornge, some long-term care homes, boards, commissions, agencies, school boards, universities and colleges, and children’s aid societies. Police and firefighters, excluded from the legislation, received wage increases of two per cent or more.

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End the Discriminatory Blood Ban panel

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June 25, 2020 –

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Unifor is proud to partner with the Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson (CESAR) on an online opportunity for learning, engagement, and activism for LGBT+ students and community members.

Tune into an equity-focused educational panel bringing together LGBT+ community members, activists, academics, healthcare workers, human rights advocates, and students.

Our hope is to provide historical background and a better understanding on this issue in the context of the current pandemic and to join together as a united voice calling for an end to Canada Blood Service’s discriminatory practice of rejecting blood donations from men and transgender people who have had sex with men and transgender people within the last 3 months.

Watch the event live here: facebook.com/ryecesar/live

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W Hotel Toronto delay will not affect unionized jobs

 

June 17, 2020

TORONTO – This week’s announcement that Marriott International will delay plans to complete renovations and re-open its Yorkville location as a W Hotel citing the COVID-19 pandemic will not affect unionized jobs, Unifor has ascertained.

“As the worst effects of the pandemic may be behind us and workplaces begin to re-open, the last thing we want is for workers to find they have no job to come back to,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “We knew this renovation would be lengthy and were sure to protect our members’ job security in the event of delays, changes, or, as it turns out, emergencies that would halt the project.”

In July of last year, Marriott announced it would undertake a $40 million redevelopment project that will transform its current Marriott property located in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood in to the first W Hotel in Canada. The development plans involve a significant upgrade to the property, particularly in its food and beverage services and a near-doubling of unionized hotel jobs at the site.

Marriott International, Inc.’s announcement to delay the re-opening of the hotel property adds to the difficulties workers in the hospitality industry have already faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  However, Unifor’s collective agreement provisions put in place last year provide essential protections for hospitality workers including:

  • guarantees that the employer could not convert the property to condominiums;
  • prevention of any subcontracting of union members’ work;
  • elimination of incentives to refuse housekeeping service with harmful programs such as the ‘Green Choice;’
  • protections of workers’ fundamental rights to return to their jobs after lengthy renovations.

“The bottom line is that no matter how long it takes to complete the W Hotel’s renovations, existing workers are guaranteed the right to return to their old job or a comparable job, without having to reapply,” said Dias.

As hospitality workers continue to face some of the most devastating layoffs across the country, Unifor continues to engage with all levels of government to advocate for necessary supports to workers affected by the pandemic including expanding direct financial assistance programs as well as providing pharmacare for all.

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Grocers wrong to cut pandemic pay

Unifor opposes the decision by Canada’s leading grocery chains to end pandemic pay for their workers at retail outlets across Canada.

“The pandemic is not over. The danger has not passed. These workers are no less at risk and are no less essential today than they were yesterday. There is no justification for ending pandemic pay now, or ever,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said.

“Retail workers have always been essential, and they have always deserved much better. The fact is, the pandemic did not make these workers essential and did not create the inequities in retail, it simply exposed them.”

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

In an open letter to Sarah Davis, the President of Loblaw Companies Limited, Dias told the company the pay premium must stay permanently to show a commitment to employees during the pandemic and to rectify decades of repressed wages.

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.

Unifor is holding a Fair Pay Forever virtual rally on Friday at 1pm EST, accessible through the Unifor Canada Facebook Page. Dias will be among the speakers.

Unifor is also supporting an initiative by Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith to summon the heads of Canada’s largest grocery chains to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry why they are cutting their workers’ pay.

“We have seen in long term care how dangerous it is for these essential workers to be bouncing between jobs. It’s no different in retail,” Dias said.

“We have a chance to fix this. We can’t let this opportunity pass.”

Dias pointed out that grocery stores, which have consistently opposed efforts to raise the minimum wage and instead moved more and more to part-time work, rightly continue to limit customers in its stores and enforce social distancing inside.

“Loblaw and the rest know the risk is not over. It’s just trying to boost profits on the backs of its most vulnerable workers, and that’s just wrong,” Dias said.

“Unifor is putting all retail employers on notice – the return to normal for these workers is not happening, because normal was not good enough.”

Unifor is currently in negotiations with Loblaw-owned Dominion Stores in Newfoundland and Labrador, attempting to reverse a 2019 company decision to eliminate one in five full-time supermarket jobs.