| Nov 1/99: Staff walk off the job October
Fact Sheet 1
Fact Sheet 2
Fact Sheet 3
Fact Sheet 4
Fact Sheet 5
Fact Sheet 6
Fact Sheet 7
Oct 12/99
Strike deadline
Oct 6/99
Oct 31st strike deadline set
Sep 17/99
A message from your bargaining team
Sept 2/99
Complete bargaining positions
Aug 17/99
Strike vote called for Sept. 13-16
Jul 30/99
It's crunch time
September
Issue Sheet 1
Issue Sheet 2
Issue Sheet 3
Issue Sheet 4
Contact Information |
Oct
12, 1999
Strike deadline: Oct. 31
Our bargaining team has set a strike deadline of midnight,
Oct. 31, which could put us on strike as early as Nov. 1.
In a press release Tuesday, we charged the
Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario with playing Russian Roulette with the
enforcement of the laws around licensed establishments and gambling.
Negotiations broke down Oct. 8, when the AGCO announced it would not move at all on six
key issues. The sticking points are:
- A refusal to consider layoff by seniority
- An insistence on short-term layoffs
- A refusal to write benefit plans into the collective
agreement, combined with an insistence on being able to change them without consulting
with the union, provided the "value" is unchanged.
- A demand to over-ride job posting language
- A refusal to institute a wage grid, combined with an
insistence that increases between a start rate and a "job rate" would be by
merit, not grievable, and not supported by job specification.
- Wage increases (the AGCO is stuck at 4.3 per cent over 3 ½
years)
The employer said Friday: "This will be our position
on these issues today, Nov. 1 and on and on and on, until you decide that our position
will apply." They offered two meeting dates in late November, provided we did not
strike, and on condition we accepted their position on these key issues. This left us with
very little choice.
We have asked for a "no board report" which will arrive on Thursday, giving
us the legal strike date of midnight, Oct. 31.
"We have been trying to negotiate a first agreement since the middle of
1998," said union negotiator Mike Rowett. "Despite narrowing the areas in
dispute to about 20, and despite the best efforts of a conciliation officer, we are unable
to bridge these substantial differences. Unfortunately we have no other way to move these
talks forward but to set a strike date," he said.
"We regret that we have to take this course, but the employer position left us
with no alternative."
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