Viterra has requested conciliation after the bargaining committee for Grain and General Services Union locals 1 and 2 rejected the company’s final offer in December.
The grain handler asked Feb. 9 for the federal labour minister to appoint a conciliator or mediator to help the two parties reach agreement. The minister has 15 calendar days to decide whether to do so.
If one is appointed, there is then a 60-day period during which the conciliator or mediator meets with the parties and reports to the minister.
A conciliator works with the parties but does not make recommendations, while a mediator can make recommendations, but they are not binding.
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Viterra did not return a request for comment.
GSU general secretary Hugh Wagner said the union offered to continue to meet, but the company said no.
The two had been bargaining since October. The contract expired Oct. 31.
Wagner said the biggest issue relates to terminal elevator workers and hours of work, including whether the employer can order a work schedule or if it is something the parties must agree on.
“There are issues associated with hours of work, what I would call on-call shifting, meaning that people are asked in too many instances simply to be available in the event the railway spots a train,” he said.
“They can’t make plans. They can’t go away. At the last minute, ‘no, it’s not coming until tomorrow.’ Then, they’ve got 24 hours to load it only to see it sit for three days.”
Wagner said the union believes Viterra has not been firm enough with the railways, and that disrupts workers’ rights to lives away from work.
He said the company also wants to eliminate worker adjustment benefits that have been in place for 30 years, which would be worth about $22,000 to a worker whose job has been eliminated.
Wagner said the two sides are not “football fields apart” when it comes to wages.
However, the union is concerned that Viterra wants to propose aggregate wage increases, meaning the payroll would rise by a set percentage but doesn’t guarantee individual employees that their wage would rise by a set amount.
The union wants certainty in the contract that everyone would get at least a 2.5 percent increase to help them deal with the rising cost of living.
Locals 1 and 2 include 400 workers, 75 of them in the Regina office and the rest in the country.
Wagner added that if there is no settlement after the 60-day conciliation period, each party has 21 days before the company could lock out the workers or the union could strike. If it gets to that point, the union would vote by secret ballot to determine its course of action.
(Some Western Producer employees belong to the GSU in a different local.)
