Hamlet Scuttles Deal Over $30.40 Per Day
TO: ALL PSAC/NEU MEMBERS AT THE HAMLET OF TALOYOAK
As you know, negotiations to renew our Collective Agreement with the Hamlet took place in the community last week. The parties did make progress and were moving toward a deal. Unfortunately, your Employer scuttled the deal over $30.40 per day and hours of work for water and sewage truck drivers and swampers.
On Thursday, July 31, with most elements of the new contract tentatively agreed to, your Union Bargaining Team met at 8 AM with the W/S crews and presented them with the three potential work schedules created by the Employer, all of which would have them working 10-hour days.
One of the schedules was for 7 days on and 7 days off, similar to the current work schedule but with longer hours per day. The other two proposed schedules involved complicated rotating shifts.
The W/S crews agreed to work 10 hours per day and voted unanimously in favour of the 7-day schedule.
Your Bargaining Team went back to the Hamlet office to meet with the Employer for 9 AM and inform them of the decision.
On arriving at the office, your Bargaining Team was shocked to learn that despite the consultation with the workers – which the Employer knew was taking place – your SAO and his lawyer from Edmonton had unilaterally decided that the W/S crews would work a rotating shift of 4 days on and 4 days off, averaged over 8 weeks. They REFUSED further discussion on the issue despite the vote of the W/S workers
Your Bargaining Team feels it was dishonourable of your SAO and his lawyer to offer consultation with the workers and then refuse to consider their wishes and their vote.
The schedule your SAO wants to unilaterally impose means that the drivers and swampers would have to:
- work a 10-hour shift starting at 7 AM daily and ending at 6 PM
- work different days every week over a period of 8 weeks
- have only 3 weekends off every 2 months
- work a confusing schedule of some 30-hour weeks and some 40-hour weeks to average 35 hours a week over 8 weeks – meaning weekly pay would be affected
Despite the willingness of the drivers and swampers to accommodate the Hamlet by working 10-hour days, your Employer decided unilaterally on the rotating shift the W/S crews had just unanimously rejected because they felt it was too complicated and would cause them to miss work.
Your Union Bargaining Team then waited in the Hamlet office for almost three full hours for the SAO and his lawyer to come to the table.
Although all the parties knew that both negotiators were scheduled to leave Talurjuaq on the 1:30 PM flight, your SAO and his lawyer were very disrespectful. They did not show up to the bargaining table until 11:50 AM. At that time, they presented us with a so-called final offer they wanted to force us to recommend to you.
Besides the W/S hours of work, the Employer proposals contained a new concession – taking away the right of the W/S drivers and swampers to the shift premium they are entitled to for working earlier than 8 AM and later than 5 PM.
The shift premium is a small amount of money paid to anyone working outside the core hours of 8 AM to 5 PM. According to the small increase to the premium negotiated at the table, it would mean an additional $3.80 per day for each crew member working the 10–hour day – a small price to pay for the Employer benefitting from putting people on a 10-hour shift – and costing the Hamlet only $30.40 a day for four crews of two workers each.
This is pathetic. It is not only an insult to the W/S crews but an insult to all Union members, because once the Employer starts attacking rights that currently exist in the Collective Agreement, it will not limit those attacks only to the W/S crews.
Your Bargaining Team is now evaluating the options available to us. We want to get to a fair deal for all Hamlet employees. We will be in contact. Please stay tuned for further developments.