Every vote matters

May 9th, 2013

Did you know that B.C.’s 2009 provincial election was decided by 3,500 votes? And that winners in 11 ridings were decided by about 500 votes or less?

Your vote counts and is important.

Go to the polls on Tuesday, May 14. Polls will be open between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Or advance polls are open in every riding through Saturday May 11.

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Member-to-member surveys due

April 15th, 2013

The member-to-member survey forms that have been distributed must be returned to the union office by May 1. They can be mailed, faxed, scanned or brought in in person.

Thanks to all who filled out the forms.

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New Union Project update

February 1st, 2013

The project to form a new Canadian union (building on the existing strengths of the CAW and the CEP) is off to a very busy start this New Year.

After all, the clock is ticking: The new union’s founding convention will be held August 30 to September 1 in Toronto – just in time for members to march under their new banner in the 2013 Labour Day parades that will occur across Canada.

But before delegates arrive at the convention (to approve the union’s constitution and plan of action, and elect its first leaders), a tremendous amount of work must be completed. To this end, leaders of the CAW and CEP have established six specialized Working Groups, to talk through the details of forming a new union, and develop recommendations on many of the specific issues.

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New union logo and name survey

January 31st, 2013

The Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) are working towards creating a new union, including developing a new name and logo.

Please take a moment to let us know your opinions and ideas and participate in the first part of this exciting process. This questionnaire is brought to you by the new union communications working group.

Ideas, concepts and suggestions generated from this questionnaire will be considered along with ideas and information gathered from communications and design experts, focus groups and other sources in order to finalize a new name and logo.

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CLC president blasts Harper for hypocrisy, lies on Bill C-377

December 19th, 2012

The President of the Canadian Labour Congress has sent a strongly-worded letter to the Prime Minister regarding legislation that will harass unions, invade the personal privacy of Canadians and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

“I write to you to express my disgust with the recent conduct of the government regarding Bill C-377,” Georgetti says in his letter to Stephen Harper.

Bill C-377, a Private Member’s Bill brought forward by Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, passed the House of Commons on December 12. It will now move to the Senate. The bill would force every labour organization in Canada to file detailed financial information annually on their spending, including what they pay out to private contractors for janitorial services and snow removal. The information would be posted publicly on a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.

The Canadian Bar Association says that Bill C-377 invades personal privacy, is likely unconstitutional and should be withdrawn. Canada’s federal Privacy Commissioner also expressed deep concern.

Georgetti says Bill C-377 was a Private Member’s Bill in name but in reality it was orchestrated by senior staff in the Prime Minister’s office. “To present this bill as serving a demonstrable need or policy objective lacks any credibility,” Georgetti says in his letter. “The premise of your government’s Bill C-377 is that tax deductibility creates a public interest, however, an amendment to include business organizations, whose members enjoy the same tax treatment as our members do, was voted down by all Conservative members. This confirms to us and any objective observers that this bill is nothing more than an attack on the four million hard-working Canadian union members.”

Georgetti accuses proponents of the bill of lying to Canadians in saying the cost to the CRA of monitoring compliance with the legislation would be negligible. “It is hypocritical in the extreme,” he says in his letter, “to proclaim fiscal conservatism and lean government, cutting front line public services like marine safety on both coasts for example, while committing tens of millions of dollars to create a wasteful bureaucracy that will serve no purpose other than to reward the Conservative Party’s political friends and punish groups that challenge your government’s policies.”

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada’s national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca Follow the CLC on Twitter @CanadianLabour

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Harper launches war on unions

December 13th, 2012

Stephen Harper’s class war against Canadian unions came out into the open Wednesday when the PM led the Conservative majority to pass the anti-labour bill C-377. Every one of the 147 votes for the law that singles out union finances for discriminatory treatment by the government was cast by a Conservative. Every opposition MP and five Conservative backbenchers mustered 135 votes against.

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Bill C-377 and the right’s stealth attack on union funding

December 2nd, 2012

The Conservative government’s latest salvo against labour unions is disguised as a plea for openness. In reality, it is something quite different.

The real target of Conservative MP Russ Hiebert’s private member’s bill is union financing.

To be precise, the target is the automatic check-off — also known as the Rand formula. Mandated by law in six provinces (including Ontario), it requires all employees in a bargaining unit that has democratically chosen a union to pay union dues.

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New union aims to reshape Canada

October 18th, 2012

We are one step closer to a bold new vision for Canada’s labour movement. But even more important, we are one step closer to the dream of a more equitable and fair Canada.
Delegates to the CEP convention this week in Québec City voted in favour of forming a new union with the CAW. The CAW voted in favour of the project in August.

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Watch live CEP convention

October 15th, 2012

From October 14 to 17, the Quebec City Convention Centre will be the site of four full days of debate and decision that will chart a course for the CEP union in the coming months and years. Watch live on rabbletv!

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PNG tentative agreement

July 20th, 2012

The following are the changes in the PNG tentative contract:

Common Items

Wages:
2010 — 0%
2011 — 0%
2012 — 0%
2013 — 1%

Work Bank — 1% increase effective Dec. 1, 2013

Part A — Former Guild

Security of Employment date: Amended to December 1, 2010

Tech change number: Amended to 434 as of Dec. 1, 2010

Article 20: Editorial Sun — Category 10 to read Reporter/Photographer, Columnist; Editorial Province — Category 7 to read Reporter/Photographer, Columnist

Article 21: Delete last sentence in 4) as follows: 4) Dual Work: Any employee who works in a higher classification shall receive at least the minimum in the higher classification for the time worked. There is no classification of reporter- photographer or District Advisor-truck driver.

New Letter of Agreement: RE: Reporter/Photographers — In consideration for the deletion of the second sentence of Article 21 4), the employer will not require reporting work from employees who previously held the classification of photographer. Nothing in this agreement limits the employer’s rights under Article 7 of the Collective Agreement. For the purposes of Article 7 4) l) the parties recognize the classifications of Reporter and Photographer as “comparable classifications”.

Current Letter of Agreement 15: Delete

New Letter of Agreement: RE: Editorial Classifications — The parties agree that a joint committee will be established for the purpose of rationalizing editorial classifications in the Schedule of Minima. The committee will begin meeting by September 15, 2012 and shall come up with a revised classification proposal by November 30, 2012. Upon mutual agreement the committee will have full authority to implement changes to the collective agreement.

Part B — Composing Room

Part B wound up as per April 30, 2012, agreement.

Part C — Electrical Department

Tech change number: Amended to 14 as of December 1, 2010

Vacation letter: Renewed.

Part D — Mechanical Department

Tech change number: Amended to 14 as of December 1, 2010

Vacation letter: Renewed.

Part E — Mailroom Department

Tech change number: Amended to 134 as of December 1, 2010

Part F — Pre Press Department

Tech change number: Amended to 13 as of December 1, 2010

Part G — Pressroom Department

Tech change number: Amended to 138 as of December 1, 2010

Apprentices: Suspend the operation of Article 14 and adjust manning table to remove the apprentice position. Any proposal to reintroduce apprentices would require the agreement of both parties.

Utility man: Delete one utility man per production night from the manning table.

Sick Replacement (Pressmen): Call-ins for sick will not be replaced to the level of staffing as the utility person. Additionally, further call-ins for sick will not be replaced to the level of two on Wednesday, two on Thursday, and two on Saturday. On Friday, call-ins for sick will not be replaced to the level of two when the manning is 1-13 and lower and call-ins for sick will not be replaced to the level of four when the manning is 1-14 and higher.

Article 16. Layoffs: Amend a) as follows  — a) The Company shall give the Union one (1) week’s notice of intention to reduce the regular staff. When a regular employee in the pressroom intends to leave the employ of the Company, he shall give one (1) week’s notice. The number of regulars employed shall not be less than 95% 100% of the average of the shifts worked as determined over the previous twelve (12) month period.

The number of regular situation holders employed of days for 2008 and subsequent years, shall not be less than 90% of the average of the day shifts worked as determined over the previous twelve (12) months.

Article 24. Vacations: Delete language as follows — l) The time of year that each employee shall take such vacations shall be determined and arranged by the General Foreman after consultation with the Chairman of the Chapel, in order that there shall be no interruption in the publication of the newspapers. The minimum journeymen allowed on vacation at any one time will be sixteen (16). , except Spring Break week, and all weeks from June 1st to the week ending the Labour Day weekend and Christmas week, the minimum will be nineteen (19).

p) Employees shall be entitled to schedule banked statutory holidays, early retirement days and one (1) day vacations in any week in which the minimum

number of employees allowed off on annual vacation pursuant to Article 24 (l) has not been exhausted. For the purposes of this section, the number of banked statutory holidays, early retirement days and one (1) day vacations combined with the scheduled annual vacation in a given week will not exceed sixty four (64) shifts per week, except Spring Break week, and all weeks from June 1st to the week ending Labour Day weekend and the Christmas week, the minimum will be seventy-six (76) shifts per week or sixteen (16) shifts per day. except Spring Break week and all weeks from June 1st to the week ending the Labour Day weekend and the Christmas week, the minimum will be nineteen (19) per day.

New Letter of Agreement: Transitional Agreement — As a result of the reduced manning requirement and in anticipation of expected attrition, the Employer, effective October 15, 2012, commits to offering a minimum of three shifts per week for all Substitute Pressmen on staff as of date of ratification for the duration of the collective agreement. Extra shifts will be used for training in paper handling or for other initiatives of the Employer.

Paperhandlers

Article 13c): Amend to reflect three paperhandlers when 14 or less reel stands are in production and four when greater than 14 reel stands are in production.

Article 13d): Delete.

Article 13f): Amend to reflect — It is agreed that the Company will offer an average of four (4) days employment to the individual paperhandlers on staff as of December 1, 2010. It is understood that the above is the basis for the number of paperhandlers employed on paperhandler duties and does not imply that a paperhandler must be directly employed on a press. All sections of this contract apply to such paperhandlers, except for Sections 11, 14 and 21.

Article 13  i): Delete and replace with — No less than two (2) paperhandlers will be hired for the day shift including when a prerun, flyer or insert is being produced.

Sick Replacement (Paperhandlers): The first call-in sickness will not be replaced on a four-person crew.

Coverage: The parties agree to meet and institute methods to train sufficient pressroom substitutes in paper handling for coverage purposes.

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