Loomis Express agreement ratified • Managers, professionals vote to strike at MTS • Elevator strike ends • Transit workers strike in San Francisco
Loomis Express agreement ratified
TORONTO — Workers represented by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union have ratified a four-year deal with Loomis Express. The agreement includes improved rules governing severance payments in the event of layoff, plus provisions designed to protect workers if the company attempts to contract out work, the union said.
It also includes wage increases of 2.5 per cent in the fourth year, plus a $200 lump sum payment in the third year.
According to Bob Orr, assistant to CAW national president Ken Lewenza, the talks came against a backdrop of a major company restructuring, which caused workers to feel uncertain and insecure.
"The employer used this restructuring program as an opportunity to table major concessions, including wage cuts, that our bargaining committee simply could not accept," Orr said. "We bargained a no-concessions agreement with modest wage gains and other contract improvements. This is certainly a victory in challenging times."
The union represents 1,800 Loomis Express workers across Canada, including drivers that perform pick-up and delivery services, owner-operators, warehouse workers as well as customer service and clerical workers.
Managers, professionals vote to strike at MTS
WINNIPEG — In what the union calls an "unprecedented move," more than 1,000 managers, supervisors and professionals working at MTS, a communications company based in Winnipeg, have voted to authorize strike action.
Workers represented by the Telecommunications Employees Association of Manitoba – IFPTE Local 161 (TEAM) voted 82.8 per cent in favour of a strike. This is the first strike mandate in TEAM’s 40-year history, the union said.
It represents about one-third of the workforce at MTS. The earliest a strike can take place is July 16.
Elevator strike ends
TORONTO — A two-month strike that saw many elevators go out of service in Ontario is over. The National Elevator and Escalator Association (NEEA) said the International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC) has accepted its offer to end the elevator strike
Workers at residential buildings in some areas of the province were ordered back on June 15 by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB). That’s because the province’s Labour Relations Act requires any strikes affecting construction of new residential buildings, as well as repairs at existing residential buildings, to end on June 15, 2013, for the City of Toronto, the Regions of Halton, Peel, York, Durham and the County of Simcoe.. But now all workers will be returning and should be back on the job by July 10, according to NEEA.
NEEA said the deal will allow member companies — including KONE, Otis, Schindler and ThyssenKrupp Elevator — to "achieve greater control over their workforce, increase flexibility over costs for customers and includes a wage increase for the next three years that is consistent with what other trades have received."
Transit workers strike in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — Commuter rail workers went on strike on July 1 in the San Francisco area for the first time in more than 15 years, triggering gridlock on highways.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) serves about 400,000 riders daily. The strike by 2,400 BART workers came after acrimonious talks over wages and benefits broke down just hours before labour agreements expired. Both sides blamed the other for abandoning the talks.
