|
31 October 2006
'Furious' press operators gird for second round of
talks with miserly employer
Halifax Typographical Union |
TNG Canada
Local 30130
Workers in the pressroom at The
Halifax ChronicleHerald will meet with management for round two of negotiations
starting next Tuesday. Having recently joined the Halifax
Typographical Union, the 16 members are looking forward
to getting down to business and bargaining a new contract
after the expiration of a 10-year deal on June 30.
“They’ve been through a 13-year wage freeze
covering two collective agreements and it’s high
time they started getting compensated properly," says
Local president Darren Pittman.
The company has proposed a six-year deal with no wage
offer as well as the deletion of many long-standing
clauses that would see the members give up some jurisdiction,
holiday pay, retirement incentives, and the entire
early-retirement package that has been in the contract
for decades. Management is also seeking to change the
work week, the scheduling process, vacation selection
and seniority rights.
The company even proposed the workers give up their
early-retirement package in exchange for the company
pension that they and the rest of the company already
have.
“I couldn’t believe my ears,” says
Pittman of the verbal offer made during negotiations. “It
shows us the company is not taking these guys seriously
and is not one little bit interested in reaching a
deal.”
For their part, the press operators
are extremely angry over the company’s proposals. They’ve
endured a long wage freeze and have had to deal with
the installation of new offset presses that replaced
the outdated letterset presses several years ago. Add
in an increased workload and a staffing shortage and
they feel the company has shown a complete lack of
respect for them at the bargaining table.
“I don’t blame them,” says Pittman. “You
have a group of employees who have worked very hard
to learn to operate the new presses and, by management’s
own admission, have done a fantastic job. Then we get
to the table and the company treats them like this.
It’s insulting and the guys have every right
to be furious.”
Four days of bargaining are scheduled in November
with many issues still outstanding, including wages,
early retirement and jurisdiction. |