Arthur Lacroix, SOEA president, says many of his colleagues at Schneider Foods
have either left the company or are actively seeking other employment.

25 November 2005

Company 'win' on contract
turns into major loss as white-collar workers flee for better jobs elsewhere

Schneider Office Employees' Association | TNG Canada Local 30009

A year long Wal-Mart style union-busting campaign that yielded a retrograde contract for white-collar workers at Schneider Foods in Kitchener is turning into a Pyrrhic victory for the food products company.

"They've got a deal, but it's resulted in a lot of frustration among the membership and the (union) executive," says Arthur Lacroix, president of the Schneider Office Employees' Association (SOEA).

It's also costing the company dearly as skilled, experienced workers are leaving in droves for jobs elsewhere. Lacroix says his department, information technology, has already lost seven from a staff of 22 "and most of those left are now actively looking for other jobs or counting the weeks to retirement."

The same is happening in other areas represented by the union, including administration, finance and clerical. The Guild Local's membership has dropped from 170 to 135, says Lacroix.

Only 40 per cent of the membership turned out to vote earlier this month on a slightly revised and incomplete final offer from the company. Despite the union bargaining committee's call for rejection of the deal, it squeaked through 32-30.

About half of those voting in favour "didn't like the deal," says Lacroix, but wanted a contract in place so that they would have guaranteed access to a grievance process to fight management attempts to transfer their jobs out of Kitchener. The contract expired Oct. 31, 2004, and both sides were in an "open" position as of March 7 after conciliation failed; without a contract, the company was free to withdraw the grievance provision of the expired contract.

Job security and severance packages topped the list of Guild members' concerns going into negotiations last fall. After being taken over by Maple Leaf Foods in early 2004, Schneider had transferred sales and marketing employees to Mississauga. About a third of IT staff have moved and most of those remaining are expected to be moved by next fall.

While management was willing to make a verbal offer on an "enhanced" severance package, it refused to put it in the contract specifically so that the union could not enforce it, says Lacroix.

The three-year agreement that runs to Nov. 3, 2007, contains several setbacks. The vacation maximum drops from seven weeks to five; people on pagers who provide technical and other after-hours support will no longer receive overtime pay; and the Local president's one day/week paid time for SOEA business must be paid by the membership.

One of the few positives, says Lacroix, is that any Maple Leaf employees who might be transferred to office and clerical positions at the Schneider operation in Kitchener will automatically become members of the SOEA.

It's a disappointing outcome for those members of the Local who engaged in a spirited campaign to pressure their employer to negotiate a fair agreement. Information pickets in the spring won broad public support and boosted worker morale, but the union was disheartened by the Ontario Labour Relations Board's failure to help the two sides reach a deal.

TNG Canada/CWA, which accused the company of bad-faith bargaining, agreed to refrain from filing charges if Schneider would engage in mediation. When mediation accomplished nothing, the OLRB indicated it was unlikely to proceed with a hearing on the charges, says Lacroix.

"We might have good labour laws, but what good are they if they aren't going to be enforced?" he wonders.

The TNG Canada complaint outlined four main areas of concern: lack of information to support bargaining; refusal to negotiate pay, pension and benefits; interference, including one-on-one meetings with members, to break union solidarity; and violation of a statutory freeze on benefit plan changes.

Meanwhile, Local executive elections next week will replace Marilyn Mackenzie as vice-president and Melody Plummer as treasurer.