Negotiating a collective agreement is rarely easy.
Try negotiating a collective agreement for a newly merged company with two existing contracts, in a rapidly changing industry, during a period of tough economic times.
For Agricore and the Grain Services Union, it’s proving to be every bit as tough as it sounds.
“When bargaining began in January, everybody knew the process would be challenging and complex,” GSU negotiators told union members in a recent newsletter. “And it has been.”
Gordon Cummings, chief executive officer of Agricore, characterized the issues facing the two sides as “complex and sensitive.”
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And he said in an interview the lack of progress to date comes as no surprise: “It is a bit difficult, but things are proceeding as we thought they would.”
The two sides are trying to negotiate a contract to replace previous agreements between the GSU and Alberta Wheat Pool and Manitoba Pool Elevators. The two pools merged last year to form Agricore. The GSU represents about 850 elevator and agri-sales workers employed by the new company.
Talks are now continuing with the assistance of federally appointed conciliator Tom Hodges, who was appointed at the request of the union. The next round of meetings is slated for Sept. 8 to 10 in Calgary.
While neither side will dismiss the possibility of negotiating a new deal at those meetings, they acknowledge it’s unlikely.
“You always like to hope, but I wouldn’t pin my hopes on it,” said Cummings, adding the important thing is to end up with a good agreement, no matter how long it takes.
Union representative Lawrence Maier said it’s hard to be optimistic given how far apart the two sides are.
“All of the major issues are still outstanding and there is a long, long way to go on all of them, so it’s going to be a tough job,” he said in an interview from Regina.
Those major issues include wages, seniority provisions, job security, and layoff and recall procedures.
Strike vote possible
The union has scheduled a series of membership meetings beginning Sept. 20 in order to report on bargaining and to conduct a strike vote if an acceptable settlement is not achieved by Sept. 10, said the GSU letter to members.
Neither side can legally take job action until seven days after the minister of labor receives a report from the conciliator. There is no timetable on when such a report would have to be written.
The union has accused Agricore of attempting to shortchange employees in both provinces through a lower wage policy and by opposition to contract language that would be in the workers’ interests.
“These are not easy times and they certainly will not get any easier if we take inferior offers like the one Agricore has laid out,” says the union.
The GSU has asked for a four percent raise effective Aug. 1, 1999, along with signing bonuses of $1,640 in Manitoba and $960 in Alberta. The company has proposed freezing wages for about 40 percent of employees and linking pay to achievement of results.
Cummings said the company’s stance on wages and other financial issues reflect the realities of the farm and grain economy.
“With the situation we have now, where none of the grain companies are having great financial results and farmers are really hurting, it would be absolutely irresponsible of us to say we’re going to solve all this by throwing more money at it, rather than spending more time and working like heck to find reasonable solutions,” he said.
Maier said the union wants to base the new agreement largely on the old Manitoba Pool contract, while management is more inclined to adopt language from the Alberta Pool agreement.
“That’s a good deal of the problem,” he said, describing the old MPE contract as better for employees.
Some Western Producer staffers are members of the GSU.
