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Rather than focusing on reaching a settlement with Unifor, GreenShield Canada (GSC) has chosen a publicity campaign that is further inflaming the five-week dispute.
Unifor represents more than 600 members, mostly women, who work in the company’s Windsor and Toronto offices and have been on strike since March 1.
“The tone from GreenShield from the beginning is that the workers should be happy with what they have. And I have been clear that our union will not apologize for fighting over many decades for good jobs for this mostly female workforce,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
“These wages and benefits were not handed to us by a benevolent employer, they were obtained through collective bargaining.”
Members from Unifor locals 240 in Windsor and 673 in Toronto hit the picket lines after GSC refused to deal with key issues of job security and contracting out, as well as offer fair wage increases.
GSC claims that Unifor members are on strike strictly for monetary reasons which the union refutes. The fact is that Unifor members at GreenShield receive modest wage increases driven by a Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA) formula based on the rate of inflation.
COLA helps provide Unifor members with wages that are better protected from inflation and ensures GreenShield pays its fair share. The union has also ensured that wages at GreenShield follow the Pay Equity Act so that women workers receive equal pay for equal work.
“The company continues to talk about the fact that our members at 240 and 673 receive above market wages for the jobs they do,” said Payne. “We don’t apologize for that. It’s why workers have unions.”
Unifor’s focus, in its negotiations with GSC, has first and foremost been to fight for job security and outsourcing. This round of negotiations has been about the future.
GreenShield has been operating with significant staff shortages for the last two years and any customers who called its customer contact centre would know that there were and still are significant wait times prior to the strike. Management acknowledged this problem, and the roles were filled before bargaining.
Unifor maintains that the staff shortage is still a major concern and cannot be addressed through outsourcing. Many probationary employees were recently hired, so it’s unclear whether that amount will fill the gap.
GreenShield has also sought to systematically underpay its workers and undermine bargaining unit integrity through the acquisitions of new for-profit entities. For example, GSC acquired Benecaid, a Toronto-based employee health benefits and group insurance provider in 2020.
Although the work is virtually identical for both sets of workers, Benecaid workers receive wages that are nearly half as much as other GSC workers.
GreenShield’s reputation as a reputable not-for-profit that treats its workers well is currently at risk. Throughout all its business acquisitions, GreenShield has not been as transparent with the union as it should be.
“The union is committed to reaching a fair settlement despite GreenShield’s latest efforts to discredit its own workers by promoting the false notion that this strike is about wages,” said Paula Bastien Stedman, Unifor Unit Chair at Greenshield at Local 240.
Bastien Stedman said the members are concerned for their clients and the impact the dispute is having on them.
“We continue to bargain fairly in an effort to get a good collective agreement for our membership so we can get back to work and provide the high-service GreenShield plan members deserve,” she said.
GreenShield workers continue to stand strong on their picket lines. The strike affects a wide range of workers at the company, including adjudicators, call centre representatives, accounting staff, client administration and IT services.
