Union leaders at Tyson Foods in Brooks Alta., one of Canada’s largest packing plants, expect workers to be on the picket line shortly, now that the company has rejected a government-recommended contract.
Doug O’Halloran, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union 401, said workers will prepare to go on strike soon at Tyson’s Lakeside Packers.
“We’re probably going to be on strike some time between now and the foreseeable future,” said O’Halloran, who is waiting for a new offer from Tyson officials. “We don’t believe the employer is going to send us anything that is reasonable and they’ll probably just prolong the process.”
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Forty percent of Lakeside’s 2,300 employees attended meetings last week and voted 90 percent in favour of adopting the Dispute Inquiries Board contract recommendations.
“They thought it was a beginning and at least it got the union in there and they live to fight another day.”
In July, the union was less than 12 hours away from setting up a picket line when Alberta Human Resources and Employment minister Mike Cardinal appointed a one-person Disputes Inquiries Board to mediate a first contract between the company and the union. His report was released Sept. 15.
Workers voted last year to unionize, but the two sides have been unable to come to an agreement on a contract.
In a News release
news, Tyson said it will submit a “modified labour contract” that will include a larger wage increase than that proposed by the mediator, but it wouldn’t elaborate on the proposed package or the increase.
“We accept some of the mediator’s recommendations and are using them as a basis for our modified offer,” said Chris Borgren, manager at Lakeside.
“We’re making this proposal because some of the mediator’s other recommendations, covering such things as overtime, vacation pay and seniority, would result in unacceptable labour cost increases,” he said.
In his recommendation, the mediator suggested a salary range from $12 to $17.15 per hour, plus recommendations on overtime and benefits.
More than a year after workers originally voted to unionize, O’Halloran doesn’t know how strong their support is now to strike. To mount an effective strike against the company, the union needs at least 60 percent of the workers to respect the picket line by not reporting for work.
“We lost a lot of support back then because a lot of workers thought the union was weak by not defying the government.”
The union’s strike mandate expires in the middle of October. Both sides must give 72 hours notice before a strike or lockout can happen.
