Ian Stewart photos

Members of the Schneider Office Employees' Association took to the sidewalks early this morning to stage an information picket. (From left) Chris Blackwell, Ardah MacVicar, Marilyn Mackenzie, Ivan Sider, Louise Rudland, Ron Lehmann, Pat Parker, Sharon Faulkner, Andy Slough and Nancy Dupuis were among the several dozen workers who hoisted signs.

BELOW: Gerry Wiltse and Kurt Frey sport their
"cobra" T-shirts at the office.

07 March 2005

Information picket rallies office workers against stonewalling employer

Schneider Foods management on notice
that job actions could escalate to strike

Schneider Officer Employees' Association | TNG Canada Local 30009

In the cold light of dawn today, Guild members began turning up the heat on an employer that has refused to bargain a new collective agreement.

Several dozen members of the Schneider Office Employees' Association (SOEA) conducted an information picket from 6 to 8:30 a.m. outside the consumer food producer's head office in Kitchener. As of 12:01 this morning, the two sides were in a strike/lockout position; the workers are expecting the company to repeat past practice and impose new conditions of employment.

If Schneider Foods management was counting on complacency from its white-collar staff, it figured wrong. About 50 of the Local's 170 members are expected to be on the picket lines during the lunch hour today. The CTV crew that covered this morning's job action was expecting to return to conduct more interviews and shoot more footage.

It's unlikely news reporters will overlook the fact that Schneider is using Wal-Mart union-busting tactics on his members, says Art Lacroix, president of the SOEA.

Those allegations were made in a news release issued last week by TNG Canada/CWA, which announced that it had filed a bad-faith bargaining complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board because the company has refused to negotiate a new collective agreement to replace the one that expired at the end of October.

The looming labour dispute was the line story on the front of the Kitchener Waterloo Record's Business section on Thursday. Doug Dodds, CEO of Schneider Foods, refused to comment on the Guild's allegations.

Lacroix says the company on Friday tried to discipline many of his members who defied a company dress code by wearing black T-shirts that prominently displayed the words "Fair Deal" on them. This morning, they showed up for work wearing T-shirts that sport a cobra and the words "We Will Strike If Provoked."

About 110 members of the SOEA, which includes administrative, finance, information technology and clerical workers, attended a meeting Saturday at which they confirmed their full support for the job actions, including a strike if necessary, says Lacroix. On Dec. 11, the members voted 63 per cent in favour of giving their bargaining team a strike mandate.

Job security and severance packages top the list of Guild members' concerns. Since being taken over by Maple Leaf Foods last spring, Schneider has transferred sales and marketing employees to Mississauga. IT staff are expected to be moved to an undisclosed location by June 2006.

(Left to right) Keith Warnock, Anish Ghosh, Bruce Tyler, Bryan Martin, Aaron Stewart, Susan Midgley, Rosalyn Gardiner, Jeff Steinman and Nancy Dupuis joined colleagues in an information picket this morning.
Sandy Russell (above, in light blue jacket) and Andy Slough (right) let their signs speak for them.