Machines shutting down at Tembec in Kapuskasing, Ontario in preparation for a strike
April 23rd, 2012 | Posted in Labour Negotiations | 13 comments ยป
There are mixed reports coming out of Kapuskasing, Ontario this afternoon. There are been reports the workers at Tembec have been locked out, but the local media is saying there is no lock out at this time.
2 of 5 unions rejected Tembec’s latest contract offer over the weekend.
One report indicates that the machines are being shut down today, and that employees were sent home at noon due to concern that the stressful atmosphere in the mill could lead to unsafe work conditions.
A strike could occur as soon as 9pm tomorrow (Tuesday).
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I hear the CEP locals rejected and IBEW accepted the same piece of crap by a whopping 89%???? Not sure whats up there.
Maybe they weren’t kept in the dark by their executives and International or National executives about what would happen about the terms of the contract and what the consequences would be if the final offer wasn’t taken
The 2 locals that rejected was to a tune of 51 and 58 percent. that’s not very much! Trust me when i say they will accept. They have no choice. The vast majority of the work force here is close to retirement and of those a high percentage have no education or skills. They would be absolute fools to not realize that even with a cut it is by far a way better deal then they will find elsewhere..if they could even find work at all!!! The company has them by the balls and they have to know that on both sides!
This is a carbon copy to what happened in shut down at Pine Falls. The same high retirement percentage, lack of education and skills in the work force.
The people that wanted to work, found new jobs and all the trades people had no problem finding new jobs, some found better jobs than they had at Trimback.
I found a job that pays $16 per hour, with no shift work and none of Trimbacks bulls#$t. This is about the same wage I would be making if we would have accepted Trimbacks contract. I’m so happy I don’t have to deal with all the CLOWNS at Trimback any more.
My suggestion is to take a resume writing course and start looking for that new career, it’s not the end.
this is not a carbon copy. The concessions being asked of the employees is a fraction of what was being demanded of pine falls.
i like the rationale for everyone being old and uneducated, kinda makes sense but i thought IBEW represented highly sought after high paid electricians who had didnt barely accept or reject. They seem to trip over themselves to accept crap by a whopping 89%.
I just want to clarify the real situation.
At first the company was asking us to lose at lot of what we had and even a 5% cut in our wages for 5 years. And so it sure was ground to have a strike vote, and a strike vote they sure got.
Then the company re-tracked almost every negative re-quest.
They are willing to give us back all we could have lost ect..
The real problem is what the Union failed to do. They failed to tell the whole truth to the employee’s. They kept them blind and so they only talked about a few negative offer which as no reasoning grounds to go on strike for.
So the real problem is that people voted and if everyone would have known the last company offer, most of the ones who voted to strike would have probably not done so.
They were kept blind.
A lot of people don’t understand contract language. The Unions failed to go around and informed us of the company last offer.
I am not saying that the company as a perfect offer but this as to do with family and friend who live in this town.
We need to go back to vote and everyone is entitle to know all the truth and then they can decide for themselves if there is real grounds to go on strike.
Why would your union executive do that??? Why would they be allowed to remain in that position?? They are all members of this town..they all depend on spruce falls for their livelyhood!! Why would they lie? what was the benefit? what did they lie about? what did they withhold?
I don’t understand why there is still a union anymore in the first place.
The CEP locals are directed from their National headquarters if you don’t tow the line you are not in good standing so the problems can begin.Tembec is the fly in the ointment for the CEP as we have voted in favour of concessions to keep our jobs which puts more pressure on their other mill locals to accept concessions. If Tembec isn’t part of the picture they only have deal with the big player and they may have a stonger bargaining position. This is the second time that the CEP position of no concession bargaining has tried to close Tembec Kapuskasing down.
Big business and big unions can have agendas that are not in favour of their members or employees
Not sure how you guys conduct votes in Kap but every union vote i’ve ever seen the members get a copy of the deal and so not sure how there’s all kinds of secrets out there that only ibew knows about. i heard today kap never ever got the pattern cause they have never stood up to tembec even when times were good so i guess not a big surpise only two groups voted no. I’d lowball you to if i was the company cause they dont have any respect for you there obviously and ibew has no one to blame but themselves.
Everybody at all these mills Kap or any of the Abitibi mills that caved in all blamed the national.There comes a time to look in the mirror because they all knew they were bending over and selling their souls.Stand up and say WE CAVED IN and don’t blame anyone else.
@Truth… Couldn’t have explained what the situation is better myself! Excellent clarification.
The IBEW and USW locals voted for the contract as it was as good as it as going to get. It was the CEP locals that voted against the contract. The new contract had been handed out to all the locals by Friday It was obvious at the meeting that the CEP locals had not looked at the document as they could not answer the questions asked about and did not take a look at the clarifications provided at that time by the company. I believe that the IBEW members are not totally happy with the contract but considering the alternatives chose to ratify the contract