Ian Stewart photos

ABOVE: Art Lacroix, left, president of the Schneider Office Employees' Association, and Kurt Frey were among the Information Systems and Information Technology employees who refused to return to work Wednesday.

ON INDEX PAGE: Gerry Wiltse's 'Honk for a fair deal' sign prompted noisy votes of support from drivers and even the occasional blip from a police car siren.

10 March 2005

Office workers refuse to cave to company dictates

IT staff off work, on picket lines; other members work to rule
in bid to force employer back to bargaining table

Schneider Officer Employees' Association | TNG Canada Local 30009

Despite a rush-hour cacaphony of horn-honking support for picketing Schneider Foods workers and escalating job actions, the company continues to refuse to negotiate a new contract.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board, which last week received a bad-faith bargaining complaint filed by TNG Canada/CWA, has called a meeting of the two parties for March 14.

Bryan Martin wore his defiance Wednesday and was ordered off work for violating a company dress code.

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Arnold Amber, Director of TNG Canada, says he hopes the Board can convince the company to negotiate with the 170-member Schneider Office Employees' Association, whose contract expired on Oct. 31. If not, the OLRB will have to conduct hearings into the union's charges that the company is breaking Ontario law by refusing to bargain a new collective agreement.

On Wednesday morning, a majority of workers in the Information Systems and Information Technology departments were sent home for violating the company's dress code by wearing "cobra" T-shirts. SOEA president Art Lacroix says the 21 members immediately manned picket lines outside the head office and plant in Kitchener, Ont., and are refusing to return to work unless the company agrees to resume contract negotiations.

Meanwhile, other members in administrative, finance and clerical jobs, are working to rule as well as conducting information pickets morning, noon and night.

The SOEA job actions began in earnest Monday morning after both sides reached an "open position" — when the company can legally impose terms and conditions on its employees. Neither side so far is declaring a strike or lockout.

Lacroix says Schneider has been emulating Wal-Mart anti-union tactics to dictate wages, benefits and pensions and refusing to respect workers' rights.

Doug Dodds, CEO of Schneider Foods, who refused to respond to reporters' questions about the Guild's allegations of bad-faith bargaining, told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record last week that the company does not negotiate in public.

"Frankly," says Lacroix, "the problem is they don't negotiate in private either."

In other interviews, Dodds has told reporters that management is "always willing to meet and negotiate." Lacroix counters that management refused to negotiate even in front of the mediation officer.

Further, adds the SOEA president, Dodds claims the office workers don't want to accept what everyone else in the operation has. "We don't want what other non-union employees have," says Lacroix. "But we do want what union employees have — a contract that guarantees us certain rights and benefits and some level of security. We are entitled to negotiate such an agreement under Ontario law; all we want is a chance to do that."

Dodds reportedly has said Schneider Foods is disappointed its office workers filed a complaint with the OLRB. "We're disappointed that we were forced to," says Lacroix. "But we are confident the Board will find in our favour and order the company back to the table to negotiate in good faith."

Lacroix adds that Dodds is correct in saying that, in the last round of negotiations (that began in 2001 and lasted 18 months), the union filed an unfair labour practice complaint. "What he fails to mention," points out Lacroix, "is that the complaint was withdrawn only after the company changed several key positions and we reached an agreement."