Transportation and resources extraction agreements highlight this year’s expiries
Movement on the roads, skies and seaways of Canada could all be affected by labour relations this year. One of the most contentious negotiations could be between the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU). The current collective agreement expired March 31, just after legislation deeming the service essential was passed on March 30.
In Ottawa, the agreement between OC Transpo and its drivers also expired at the end of March. The union broke off talks with the city in February over scheduling conflicts left over from the last collective agreement. The ATU says it won’t resume negotiations until they are resolved through an arbitrator.
At Air Canada, the CAW opened negotiations with the airline in early February as the first of its five labour agreements covering 3,800 members — including pilots, flight attendants and maintenance crews — expired. Air Canada is in a stronger financial position during this round of negotiations and the Canadian Auto Workers is expected to push aggressively for better wages and benefits. Air Canada will also be negotiating new agreements with 22,000 other employees in various unions.
On land, bus drivers, mechanics and terminal employees at Greyhound Canada will be without a contract by the end of March. The two sides have started talks. On the water, the deal between the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and its workers also expires before April. Collective agreements at Canada Steamship Lines and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority expire later this year, at the end of May and December respectively.
In the GTA, the contract between Go Transit and 1,200 workers expires in June, as do agreements at Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway.
In the public service sector, several collective agreements between the Government of Canada and public servants expire in 2011. Negotiations are already underway with several unions.
The current collective agreement between the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency expires in December. Talks are underway, as they are with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The CFIA’s current deal with veterinarians expires in September.
Last October, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) reached early renewal agreements with the federal Treasury Board in three of five units, even though the contracts were not set to expire until June of this year.
Agreements are also expiring this September at several of the country’s cultural institutions, including the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the National Gallery of Canada and the National Film Board.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post are also negotiating a new collective agreement for letter carriers. The current deal expired in January. The union had requested conciliation and is now taking a strike vote across the country.
At a time when Canada’s nuclear industry is getting attention because of the radiation leaks in Japan, collective agreements between Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) and the unions representing its workers are set to expire in March and June.
On the manufacturing front, the agreement between Vale Inco and its Thompson, Man., employees expires, as do agreements between Rio Tinto, Cargill and Lear. In the primary industry sector, deals at Xstrata, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting and Highland Valley Copper all end this year.
In the wholesale and retail trade sector, current collective agreements expire at Finning, No Frills, Metro, Boeing, Bombardier, and Bridgestone/Firestone.
