Finning Members Vote
To
Accept a Three Year Deal
Bargaining Unit Employees of Finning have voted 64% in favour of a new
Three Year Collective Agreement. This contract comes after two months
of bargaining, and brings wage and benefit increases, as well as many other
improvements and modifications to Contract language. The vote count was
conducted by Mark Benoit, Reo Elkin,
and Don Palmer, and results are as below:
Eligible Voters 772
Votes Polled 686
In favour 437
Opposed 249
A full copy of the Memorandum of Agreement was circulated previously,
and is available upon request. Improvements to benefits shall take place
effective
June 1, 2006; wage increases are retroactive to April 15, 2006. Collective
Agreement language changes take effect immediately.
The Union will be working on making the changes to the contract, and
preparing
signing copies of the agreement. We would like to take this opportunity to
thank
the membership for their Rock Solid support of the bargaining committee
throughout
this process. As you know, there were a number of difficult issues for us to
resolve,
and the committee worked hard to impress upon the Company the solidarity of
the
membership. We urge you to call and commend your bargaining committee reps
for
the good job they did at the bargaining table on your behalf.
During the last week of bargaining, we were faced with the option of driving
forward
to get a fair deal for our members, or going the traditional route of
seeking a strike
mandate. We felt that there was a deal to be made, and that with Finning
still stinging
from the effects of last Fall’s Alberta strike, we could push for a
memorandum that
worked. At the end of the day, neither Finning nor the membership wanted a
repeat
of the Alberta experience. We pushed for their final position and we got it.
While the result of the vote is a clear majority, there are still a
significant number of
employees who feel that the contract does not provide all they expected.
Some of
the issues we heard were: concerns over the afternoon shift – change in
hours/premium
paid; Northern living/remote location allowances; concern over 12 hour shift
arrangements in some mining sites. Once again, thank you for your support
and patience
while we concluded this process. Please contact us (604-522-3991) if you
require any
further information.
Al Cyr
Stan Pickthall
Business Representative Directing
Business Representative
acyr@iam250.org
spickthall@iam250.org
April 20, 2006
Tentative Agreement Reached
Union Bargaining Committee Unanimously
Recommends Acceptance of Three Year Contract With Finning
The Union and the
Company reached a tentative agreement this week after bargaining for the
last two months.
The three-year deal makes a number of improvements to wages, benefits, and
language provisions.
Voting shall take place over the next two weeks, conducted by your
Bargaining Committee representatives;
all ballots must be returned no later than May 5th.
The highlights of the
agreement are outlined below, with the full Memorandum of Agreement to be
sent
as a separate document:
Ø
Wages – 4.5%, 4%, 4%
Ø
Travel Time – based upon the
employee’s hourly rate
Ø
Field rates – increase by 10
cents in each year.
Ø
Dual Ticket Premium – increase
to $1.00 per hour
Ø
Afternoon shift – premium
increased to $3.00 per hour, based upon 8 hours worked
Ø
Night Shift – premium increased
to $5.10 per hour, based upon 8 hours worked
Ø
Dental – Increase Crowns and
Bridges to 80%; new hires eligible after one year
Ø
Short Term Disability – 60% of
wages; no maximum
Ø
Long Term Disability - $500 per
week
Ø
Tool Allowance – Increase by
$50 in each year
Ø
Improved job posting language;
preference given to internal candidates
Ø
Increase severance for Branch
closure – 3 weeks per year of service to max 104 weeks
Ø
Apprentice living subsidy
increased to $400 per week
Ø
Renewal of Regional Parts
Distribution Centre (RPDC) commitment
Ø
Retention bank LOU cancelled;
increase regular banked time to 500 hours
Ø
New contracting out language
Your bargaining
committee has pushed hard with Finning, and we feel that this agreement is a
good
contract for our members. If you have any comments or questions, please
contact your regional
Bargaining Committee representative or the undersigned Business
Representatives. Voting schedules
are listed below.
Thanks for your
support; we look forward to meeting with you over the next two weeks. Stay
Solid!
On behalf of your
Bargaining Committee,
Al
Cyr Stan
Pickthall
Business
Representative Directing Business
Representative
acyr@iam250.org
spickthall@iam250.org
Tentative Voting Schedule
Kootenays: Larry
Lento
Castlegar
Tuesday, April 25th 7:00 AM
Cranbrook
Tuesday April 25th 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Sparwood
Wednesday April 26th All Day
Interior: Jim Lion
Revelstoke
Monday April 24th 12:00 noon
Vernon Monday April 24th
4:00 PM
Quesnel
Tuesday April 25th 4:00 PM
Wm. Lake
Wednesday April 25th 7:00 AM
Kamloops
Thursday April 26th 3:00 PM
CSC
TBA
Vancouver Island: Don
MacKenzie
Victoria Tuesday April 25th
4:00 PM
Nanaimo Wednesday April 26th 7:00
AM
Campbell River
Thursday April 27th 3:30 PM
Northern BC: Phil
Miles
Prince
George Friday April 28th All Day
Houston Monday April 24th
12:00 PM
Terrace Monday April 24th
4:00 PM
Mackenzie Wednesday April 26th 7:00
AM
Fort St.
John Wednesday April 26th 12:00 PM
Fort
Nelson Thursday April 27th 7:00 AM
Tumbler Ridge
Thursday April 27th 7:00 PM
Lower Mainland: Reo
Elkin
Power Systems 14
Wednesday April 26th 6:30 AM
Truck Shop 21
Wednesday April 26th 3:30 PM
Surrey
17a Wednesday April 26th 12:00 PM
Squamish
Thursday April 27th 7:30 AM
Port Kells Branches
Thursday April 27th 12:00 PM
If there is a change
to this schedule, the Regional Representative shall contact the branch
directly.
Absentee Ballots
shall be sent to Resident Mechanics; these ballots to be returned by mail to
the Union office. If you do not receive a ballot by Friday April 28th,
please contact your regional Bargaining Committee Representative. Ballots
must be returned no later than May 5th. Counting of ballots to
take place on May 8th.
Negotiations With
Finning
Continue With Language Issues
(April 10, 2006)
The Union bargaining
committee met with the Company to
resume negotiations. Two days of meetings
March 20 and 21,
and again April 3,4 and 5.
Several pages of
proposals from both sides of the table,
were presented and the committee has
had opportunity to
go through all of these in detail. This past week,
we
have been dealing with mostly non-monetary issues.
We spent much of one day
working out issues related to
hours of work provisions found in Article 5 of
the contract.
We have made some progress on many of these language issues,
and
continue to work out language on several of the more difficult
proposals.
The feedback we
received from our membership was that
employees were strongly in support of
a return to the
travel time provisions that were in place prior to the last
contract.
As your bargaining reps have advised the Company, the employees
made a concession on the issue of travel time for the duration of the
last
contract, but times are better, and B.C.’s economy has turned around;
so now
it is time to return to the status quo.
Another area that has
a high priority for our members is related to the
principles of job
security, and over the past month’s sessions, we have had
numerous
discussions related to severance pay, branch closure language,
contracting
out, and Technological Change. We are confident that we will make
improvements in many of these areas, and continue to press the Company on
this front.
Finning has not yet tabled any of their monetary proposals.
further meetings are
scheduled for
April 18th – 20th and May 1st – 3rd.
We will be pushing the Company to get to a deal during these meetings,
and
further updates will be posted.
Stay Solid! On behalf
of your Bargaining Committee,
Al
Cyr Stan Pickthall
Business
Representative Directing Business
Representative
acyr@iam250.org
spickthall@iam250.org
Finning Alberta - Back to the Table
(November 9, 2005) From Local 99 News Flash.
Today Finning called and agreed to meet again, it
took us a bit of time to get the day down when we start, it will be
Thursday. We have agreed to meet with a mediator again, albeit a different
one than before.
Our committee members from out of town will be
coming down to Edmonton and we will get together ahead of time. Please keep
the Solidarity up, and continue picketing. Keep the pressure on as well.
From the reports we are getting from all the towns, we have good morale on
the lines even during the cold and we are still getting quite a bit of
public support as well.
We will attempt to get a decent package. If this
is going to be "nothing changes from our last offer" we won’t be wasting a
lot of time paying a mediator for that. We should know in the first day if
we are getting anywhere.
Bob MacKinnon,
President/Directing Business Representative
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