Evraz talks break down, strike is possible
After three days at the mediation table, negotiations have broken down and unionized workers at Evraz North America’s steel plant in Regina are ready to strike if need be.
“We broke bargaining off yesterday, and we’re letting the rest of the labour relations code go into play. There’s a 14-day coolingdown period that’s required by legislation, and after that we’re free to serve strike notice,” said Keith Turcotte, lead negotiator for the Steelworkers.
United Steelworkers Local 5890 in Regina and United Steelworkers Local 6673 in Calgary went into joint mediation talks with Evraz on Tuesday.
The talks lasted for three days, and Thursday the union walked out after the two sides couldn’t work through monetary concessions the company was seeking.
Contract negotiations began in May 2016, and the collective agreement expired in July 2016.
In May, members of USW Local 5890 voted more than 99.3 per cent in favour of strike action to back their contract demands.
At the time, Turcotte said the two sides had worked through non-monetary issues, but reached an impasse once discussions regarding money began.
When mediation talks started Tuesday, Turcotte said the union went in with the full intention of trying to find a collective agreement.
“The employer has had on the table for many months a long list of concessions. We started to work on the concessions, trying to get them off the table. And they left a few there that were just so distasteful that we couldn’t continue,” he said.
At issue are two monetary concessions the union says Evraz is looking at. First is the Steelworkers pension plan. Evraz wants to redesign the pension plan to provide reduced benefits for retired members. Second, Evraz has a wage proposal for new hires which would see future hires taking three years to reach the same salary as current employees.
“The employer’s banking on that the membership is not going to stand strong for people that aren’t working there. They’re wrong, because it affects everybody longterm,” Turcotte said.
The Steelworkers would like to see a three-per-cent wage increase for employees, while Evraz has proposed a one-per-cent increase in 2018 and another one-per-cent increase the following year.
Since bargaining negotiations are still ongoing, when reached by phone an Evraz spokesperson said the company has no comment.
During mediation talks this week, all communication between both sides was through the mediator. The Steelworkers invited Evraz to meet them face-to-face Wednesday, but Evraz declined, Turcotte said.
“It’s hard to bargain change in a collective agreement with people that aren’t in the room with you, because a big part of the process is gaining an understanding on languages and issues. Without that face-to-face interaction, it’s almost impossible to know what their intention is,” Turcotte said.
The Steelworkers are now waiting for the letter from the mediator stating he has excused himself.
Once received, there is a 14-day cooling-off period.
The Regina local can then give 48-hour strike notice, while Calgary has to give 72 hours due to legislation. Turcotte said if they do serve strike notice, they may set it up so both locals will go on strike at the same time.