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Community Living Dryden-Sioiux Lookout

Strike vote taken by Community Living Dryden-Sioux Lookout employees

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Contract talks between Unifor and Community Living Dryden-Sioux Lookout are scheduled to resume next week.

A conciliator will be involved.

The organization’s 120 employees have been working without a new contract since last August.

The two sides attempted to discuss an new agreement last fall, but talks broke down in November with wages the key stumbling point.

The union says the organizations is offering lump-sum payments in lieu of a general wage increase for some years.

“For anyone to be offered a zero with the kind of inflation we’ve experienced is absolutely unacceptable,” states Katrina Peterson, Unifor Local 324 President, in a release.

“Inflation has risen almost 19% over the last 5 years and as a result, Unifor has successfully negotiated fair wage increases with several healthcare and social services agencies across the region.”

“I would say this employer has been fair in the past, but seriously, you can’t say you care about your staff while watching their pay cheques get stretched thinner year after year and then offer them token wage increases and even wage freezes, ” adds Peterson.

Seniority and safety concerns related to forced overtime shifts are other key issues.

Employees voted this week 100% in favour of strike action to back contract demands.

Stephen Boon, Unifor’s Northern Area Director says they are still committed to working towards a negotiated settlement.

“Our memberships have expressed solid support for their bargaining committees, and we informed them we will continue to work to achieve fair deals in an attempt to minimize any disruptions to the people they are committed to serve,” says Boon.

He adds that if conciliation fails to produce an agreements, mediated talks are still possible.

“However, failing that, our memberships will begin preparations for potential strike action as early as next month,” states Boon.

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Provincial NDP, Unifor, Municipality of Ear Falls hosting rally amid Ear Falls Sawmill shutdown

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A rally is being held at the Ear Falls Municipal Office to support workers impacted by the shutdown at the Ear Falls Sawmill.

The event is running from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, and will be attended by NDP Deputy Leader Sol Mamakwa, members of Unifor’s provincial and local leadership, and members of the municipality.

The sawmill announced its plans for an indefinite closure on October 16.

Since the announcement, the NDP has collected hundreds of signatures through a petition from northern Ontario residents calling for action amid the closure.

Sol Mamakwa and the MPP for Mushkegowuk and James Bay, Guy Bourgouin have sent the petition and a letter to Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson and Ontario’s Associate Minister of Forestry and Forest Products, Kevin Holland, calling for action.

“Forestry is not just an industry in Northern Ontario; it is a way of life,” read the letter. “It sustains families, supports local economies, and provides the wood products essential to building Canadian homes.”

“The indefinite closure of the sawmills threatens not only the livelihoods of the people who worked there but the future of sustainable forestry in the region.”

The letter concluded by urging the province and federal government to take immediate action to reopen the Gogama and Ear Falls sawmills.

As of Friday, there is no new news on a potential reopening at the mill, and Unifor Local 324 is taking the situation week by week.

“We can just work with what we have today, but as far as progress with supporting the workers, both in the sawmill and the woodlands,” explained Unifor Local 324 President Katrina Peterson.

“We have been working closely with HR on site in Ear Falls, and we are putting things in place for EI support and other supports as well for the workers, so we have made progress there, and we’ve been pretty quick with getting in touch with the right people and getting those supports in place for our workers.”

“The goal of the rally is to raise awareness on the attack on Canadians Sawmills our worker, and quite frankly, the Canadian economy as a whole, so this is an avenue for us to call on all levels of government to step up and defend our forestry industry and our workers affected primarily by the Trump administration with the current economic and tariff war that we’re facing.”

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Workers At Patricia Gardens In Dryden Approve Contract

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Unifor says workers at the Patricia Gardens Supportive Housing facility in Dryden have come to a three year contract agreement.

Workers voted unanimously in favour of the new contract yesterday.

It includes an increase of 2.8 percent a year, a 12 cent increase in mileage to 57 cents a kilometer, an 8th week of vacation after 30 years and one extra sick day.

Katrina Peterson, President of Local 324 says, “despite ongoing provincial funding challenges, we are pleased to see that our health care members in Dryden have secured a solid agreement with a number of key improvements and wage increases at the upper end of the provincial range for the sector.

“We commend the work of the bargaining committee and appreciate the support of the Unifor membership at Patricia Gardens.”

The deal is retroactive to April 1st, 2022 and runs until March 31, 2025.

Some of the other terms of the agreement are:

  • $.25/hour increase in shift differentials
  • $75 increase in eye glass coverage
  • increased 4 hour call in pay
  • $50 increase in annual uniform/shoe allowance and uniform allowance
  • improved break, scheduling and sick time language.

(Unifor Local 324 Bargaining Commitee Left to Right: Unifor Local 324 President Katrina Peterson, Heath Rea and Unifor National Representative Stephen Boon)

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WestJet Workers In Vancouver, Calgary Reach Tentative Deal

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A tentative deal has been reached between unionized WestJet workers in Vancouver and Calgary and the company.

On Friday, the workers approved strike action if a new bargaining deal was not reached by Wednesday.

A release from Unifor said they are asking for improved wages and have not seen an increase in pay scale in over five years.

They say they are dealing with angry travellers whose flights were delayed or cancelled along with massive worker shortages.

Unifor Local 531 represents over 700 baggage service agents, customer service agents and guest service leads.

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Tentative Agreement Reached At VIA Rail

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A tentative deal has been reached between VIA Rail and the union representing 2,400 of its workers.

Unifor said the deal came late Monday just hours before the workers were prepared to walk off the job.

The initial strike deadline was for 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, but it was pushed back several times as negotiations continued.

“Fighting back against the concessions that VIA proposed wasn’t easy, but the resolve, commitment and solidarity of our VIA Rail members, helped the bargaining committees to push forward and achieve this tentative agreement,” lead negotiator Scott Doherty said in a news release.

Details of the new contract are not being released until the deal has been ratified by members. Once it has been approved, the three-year deal will be retroactive to January 1, 2022.

Martin Landry, president and CEO of VIA Rail, recognized the hard work of both sides during the negotiating process.

“As we look forward to ratification, these tentative agreements allow our teams to get back to doing what we do best: serving Canadians throughout the country,” Landry said in a news release.

Unifor represents maintenance workers, on-board service personnel, chefs, sales agents and customer service staff at VIA Rail.

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Unions Demand Care Home Reforms

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Three unions representing workers in Ontario’s long-term care homes are calling for reforms.

CUPE, Unifor and the Service Employees International Union are part of the Care not Profits campaign that hopes to generate public support for reforms.

They want money earned by for-profit companies to be reinvested to impact the care of residents in homes.

The unions say that in the past three months, three of the largest long-term care businesses combined paid shareholders over $58-million in dividends.

“We must learn from this crisis, and that starts with Doug Ford taking action to put people before profits,” says Jerry Dias, National President of Unifor.

CUPE Ontario’s Candace Rennick says for-profit care needs to end now, and the province should fully fund public homes.

“The crisis at the bedside has been ignored for far too long,” Rennick says. “The care conditions of residents and the working conditions of their caregivers are simply unforgivable.”

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Unions Demand Care Home Reforms

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Three unions representing workers in Ontario’s long-term care homes are calling for reforms.

CUPE, Unifor and the Service Employees International Union are part of the Care not Profits campaign that hopes to generate public support for reforms.

They want money earned by for-profit companies to be reinvested to impact the care of residents in homes.

The unions say that in the past three months, three of the largest long-term care businesses combined paid shareholders over $58-million in dividends.

“We must learn from this crisis, and that starts with Doug Ford taking action to put people before profits,” says Jerry Dias, National President of Unifor.

CUPE Ontario’s Candace Rennick says for-profit care needs to end now, and the province should fully fund public homes.

“The crisis at the bedside has been ignored for far too long,” Rennick says. “The care conditions of residents and the working conditions of their caregivers are simply unforgivable.”

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New Contract For Unifor Members At Patricia Gardens

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It’s unanimous as 100% of Unifor members at Patricia Gardens in Dryden have voted in favour of a new 3 year contract.

The deal provides 1.5% annual wage increases, 3 cents per kilometer increase in mileage pay, $25 increase in vision care, expanded paid emergency leave and improved contract language.

The new contract runs from April 1st 2019 to March 31st, 2022.

Local National Representative Stephen Boon says “Our members understand the provincial funding challenges facing the sector and as indicated by the unanimous vote result, they were satisfied with the improvements secured in this new 3 year contract.”

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Unifor Urges TTC To Buy Street Cars

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There’s a plea to the Toronto Transit Commission from one of Canada’s largest unions to start buying street cars, especially from Bombardier.

Unifor spoke to the TTC’s board yesterday, saying its 5-year plan not to buy any streetcars until 2022 is very concerning.

The TTC is being asked to act now and order 60 streetcars through Thunder Bay’s Bombardier plant, as well as another 40 cars as Toronto ridership numbers increase.

The regional plant is facing layoffs this month as a contract to make streetcars for the TTC is almost finished.

Local union president Dominic Pasqualino added Thunder Bay has very skilled workers, and if we lose them, they are gone for good.

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Unifor Supporting Hoshizaki House

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Unifor is once again supporting the Hoshizaki House in Dryden.

The union has made a $2,000 donation to the local Women’s Shelter.

In total, Unifor contributed $148,000 for 74 shelters across the country.

National President Jerry Dias says local shelters provide lifesaving assistance as front-line providers of crisis services to women and children who are living with domestic violence.

Dias adds their assistance is helpful but it can’t replace the type of systemic action that governments and employers can make to eradicate inequality, sexual harassment and violence.

Unifor Women’s Director Lisa Kelly says their members’ activism has resulted in several great breakthroughs but they still have a long way to go on gender equality.

Kelly adds they must highlight the impact on the Trans community, women with disabilities and Indigenous women.

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