A war of words has broken out after workers at the Maple Leaf Edmonton plant voted 68 percent in favor of strike action.
Fax lines have been hot between company officials in Toronto, the union office in Edmonton and reporters across the province covering the escalating packing plant dispute after the Aug. 26 vote.
Even before the strike a written notice to workers from company president Michael McCain said a vote to strike would be a vote to close the Edmonton plant.
“But…Most Important!! You will be voting. To find out if Michael McCain is bluffing…I AM NOT! … I LIVE OR DIE ON MY WORD …I hope everyone voting realizes that.
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federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
“Today, you are voting for 1,000 jobs …1,000 jobs for the next 2 or 3 years … 1,000 people looking for another job … ALL AT THE SAME TIME!”
The company and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 312A union, representing the workers, must give 72 hours notice before a lockout or strike.
The day after the strike vote, Norm Courtney Maple Leaf’s vice-president for human resources, faxed a letter to union president Jack Westgeest saying the company won’t be coming back to the bargaining table
“We are not going to resume collective bargaining for a renewal of the agreement. Our position is well known and we have nothing more to add. The mediator’s report is as far as we will go,” he said.
That report recommended an 84-cents-an-hour raise over three years. The agreement will be offered by the company until Sept. 10.
Courtney continued: “Do not send us self-serving letters inviting us to bargain or attempting to put blame on the employer … We presume that now that you have a strike vote and negotiations are over, that you will finally declare yourself by accepting the mediator’s report or going on strike. We prefer that you accept the mediator’s report for all concerned but we don’t expect that element of leadership. As a consequence, we are preparing for a strike.”
He added, “Finally, do not bother to write to anyone other than myself. At one point senior officers of the company met with your union and took your calls. Anything productive from such contact has now been exhausted.”
Westgeest responded the following day in a letter to president Michael McCain saying the union had not decided when it would initiate strike action but would prefer to continue bargaining.
Westgeest continued: “You have alluded to the possibility of lockout action. Is it your intention to escalate this dispute rather than concentrate your efforts towards achieving a negotiated settlement and avoid strike/lockout action?”
In the meantime, the union’s national office will be holding a conference in Edmonton Sept. 4 to discuss Maple Leaf’s labor practices at all its company plants.
Other plants across the country have either voted to strike or will be taking strike votes soon.
Westgeest said he had nothing more to add that wasn’t already in the letters.
Maple Leaf officials forwarded copies of the faxes, but did not return calls for an interview.
