GANDER - Union members from across Atlantic Canada showed solidarity with Local 597 members at D-J Composites today to mark the 597th day of a shameful lock out.
“The workers of D-J Composites have shown remarkable strength and resolve in the 19 months since they were locked out by their employer,” said FFAW-Unifor President Keith Sullivan at the rally. “This situation has exposed the complete inadequacy of our province’s labour laws when it comes to protecting the rights of workers when employers decide to trample on those rights.”
THUNDER BAY - After 121 days on a picket line, 65 workers at the Port Arthur Health Centre are taking a stand against an employer who refuses to negotiate. “The doctors who own this Centre have repeatedly refused to return to negotiations for more than four months now. Enough is enough,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “We gave plenty of notice that if they did not come back to bargaining, we would shut the clinic down, unfortunately that means disrupting service to patients.”
GANDER - Members of Unifor Local 597 will mark the 597th day since their American-based employer locked them out, with a community barbecue in Gander.
“If this province had stronger labour laws, D-J Composites would never get away with its shameful union busting and would have to instead negotiate fairly,” said Lana Payne, Atlantic Regional Director.
Just days before Christmas in 2016, Kansas State based company, D-J Composites, locked-out 31 workers at the aerospace manufacturing facility in Gander.
THUNDER BAY – The wealthy doctors who own the Port Arthur Health Centre have once again refused to return to the bargaining table while 65 workers are about to spend an 18th week on a picket line.
ANTIGONISH N.S. – The bargaining committee for Unifor Local 2107 has reached a tentative agreement with East Coast Credit Union, averting a strike at three branches in Nova Scotia.
While the union and the employer were in a legal strike/lock-out position as of today, members will now vote on this tentative agreement, which is being recommended unanimously by the bargaining team lead by Unifor’s chief negotiator, Linda McNeil.
No details will be released until the tentative agreement is presented in detail to the members.
TORONTO – Unifor will respect the IATSE Local 58 picket line after staging, rigging and technical support workers were locked out at the Toronto Exhibition Place.
“It is shameful that workers of colour will be forced to either cross a picket line or miss out on an important cultural event,” said Christine Maclin, Unifor National Human Rights Director.
Unifor has cancelled its contingent in the 2018 Toronto Caribbean Festival Grand Parade.
THUNDER BAY – Health care workers at Port Arthur Health Centre, Unifor Local 229 members, will be asking to speak to municipal officials at a City Council meeting in Thunder Bay on Monday, July 30, 2018. "These 65 striking workers, all women, have been on the picket line for over 100 days now,” said Katha Fortier, Assistant to the National President. “It's time for the employer to get back to negotiations. All the union is asking for is fair, living wages, and an end to the years of ongoing contract employment.”
THE PAS—Members of Unifor Local 1403 have voted to ratify a new three-year collective agreement with the employer, Canadian Kraft Paper (CKP).
“Thanks to the hard work of Unifor members, the CKP mill is successful and critical to the economy of this region,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “CKP is a great example of how unions, employers, and government can work together to help rural economies thrive.”
TORONTO—Unifor members at Casino Ajax, Elements Casino Brantford, and Great Blue Heron Casino in Port Perry have ratified a new four-year collective agreement with Great Canadian Casinos.
“Unifor members are pivotal to the profitability of the gaming sector,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Casino workers have earned a share of the gains enjoyed by the employer.”
SUSSEX—A long and bitter miners’ strike in Ontario is settled, but questions still remain about the role of Laura Araneda’s company in prolonging the labour dispute, says Unifor.
“Laura Araneda made a tidy profit helping an American mining giant fight a small Ontario community, but she’s never been held to account,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “It’s never been disclosed how lucrative her scab contract was.”
TORONTO—The Unifor bargaining committee representing nearly 1,800 workers across five Ontario casinos has reached a tentative agreement with Great Canadian Casino.
“Unifor is a union for casino workers,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Our members are pivotal to the profitability of this sector and have earned a fair contract.”
ANTIGONISH– East Coast Credit Union is acting more like a big bank in the callous way it is treating its loyal workers at three branches in Nova Scotia, says Unifor.
“How can this employer call itself your friendly community credit union with its race-to-the-bottom tactics against a mostly female workforce,” said Lana Payne, Atlantic Regional Director. “For years these workers took less pay in order to have a decent pension plan. It’s unacceptable that this employer has said it wants to eliminate it.”
TORONTO – Unifor National President Jerry Dias is available to comment on the U.S. Department of Commerce hearing on the Section 232 national security investigation of imports of automobiles and automotive parts.
GANDER – Unifor has won a landmark Employment Insurance (EI) victory for workers locked out since December 2016 by their employer, D-J Composites in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador.
“This is a significant victory for our members both financially and in raising their spirits,” said Lana Payne, Atlantic Regional Director.“Eighty-two weeks on a picket line is tough and demoralizing. We have consistently told our members that we will leave no stone unturned in representing them and their rights.”
July 16, 2018 GODERICH – Members of Unifor Local 16-O have voted to accept a collective agreement with Compass Minerals, putting an end to a 12-week strike at the salt mine. “These members stood up to an American employer that was using scabs to undermine their power. I am so proud of the incredible solidarity we have seen in Goderich to send a clear message that scabs will not be tolerated by our union,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
TORONTO - In what they're calling a major test of Doug Ford's true commitment to "the little guy," the presidents of OPSEU and Unifor are demanding that the new premier crack down on "bad boss" doctors.
"Some doctors are bad bosses and that hurts the entire community," said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "Look at what's happening in Owen Sound, where the doctors are attacking members of their community with high-priced Toronto lawyers, high-priced security, and low-blows on social media.
TORONTO – During a news conference on Monday, July 16, at 9:30 a.m., the Presidents of OPSEU and Unifor will jointly call on Premier Ford to ensure that fee increases he negotiates with Ontario doctors help improve the low pay and terrible working conditions faced by front-line workers in many community health clinics.
GODERICH – Unifor and Compass Minerals returned to the bargaining table today and progress was made.
Both sides have agreed to extend talks and will return to the negotiating table at 9 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, July 13, 2018, in the interests of negotiating a collective agreement that meets the needs of all parties.
GODERICH – Unifor and Compass Minerals have agreed to return to the bargaining table on Thursday, July 12, 2018, at 9 a.m. Peaceful picketing at the Goderich Mine is occurring.
“Compass Minerals is committed to negotiating a collective agreement and getting our employees back to work with an agreement that focuses on the safety of our employees in the current operational environment,” said Anthony Sepich, Compass Minerals’ Senior Vice President, Salt.
AJAX—Workers represented by Unifor Local 1090 at Casino Ajax have voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action if a fair settlement cannot be reached.
“Unifor members are pivotal to the success of Casino Ajax,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “They deserve a fair contract and decent wages.”
VICTORIA - More media workers are losing their jobs in Canada’s growing newspaper industry crisis says Unifor after Glacier Media announced it is shutting down the pressroom of the Victoria Times Colonist.
“We are saddened that this iconic newspaper on Vancouver Island will no longer be printed by Unifor Local 2000 members,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
GODERICH – Despite Unifor’s repeated requests to resume negotiations to end an 11-week strike at the salt mine in Goderich, Compass Minerals refuses to negotiate fairly.
“The members and hundreds of supporters now bolstering the picket line have made it crystal clear that not a single scab is getting past,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The national union and all 315,000 members are behind them in solidarity.”
THUNDER BAY – Unifor National President Jerry Dias will join striking workers in a solidarity rally at the Port Arthur Health Centre in Thunder Bay, Ontario on Monday, July 9, 2018.
“These hard-working women have been on strike for nearly three months now,” said Dias. “We’re on the picket line to let the employer know this fight for workers’ rights will continue until fair wages and secure jobs are won.”
SUSSEX, NB—Unifor is calling on Vic Drilling CEO Laura Araneda to stop profiting from a strike at Compass Minerals by flying replacement workers to Ontario.
“Laura Araneda is siding with a large American mining firm against Canadian miners,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “She could help end a three-month strike tomorrow. But instead, she’s deliberately undermining families in a small town in Ontario.”
