It has been smooth sailing for Viterra since the company came into being in May 2007.
Whether it’s recording strong earnings, acquiring other companies or raising hundreds of millions of dollars in new equity, calm seas have been the norm.
However, storm clouds are starting to gather on the horizon, with the possibility of a strike by unionized employees this summer.
For the past several months the company has been engaged in negotiations with the Grain Services Union, which represents about 1,400 Viterra employees.
The talks have involved three separate bargaining units, representing at least 700 country operations and maintenance workers, 180 head office employees and 90 workers at former AgPro facilities in Alberta and Manitoba.
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All three units have been working without a contract for several months and the two sides have failed to reach agreement on key issues including wages, benefits, the use of performance reviews and hours of work for some employees.
None of the disputes has been resolved, even with the assistance of a federally appointed conciliator. Conciliation is scheduled to end June 10, although the two sides could agree to an extension.
If the disputes can’t be settled, the affected employees could be in a legal strike position as of July 2. The company would also be able to lock the employees out.
Neither side is predicting what will happen.
“Each bargaining group will decide its own course of action by secret ballot,” said Hugh Wagner, general secretary of the GSU. “But we could have one, two or three active disputes.”
He said job action could take a variety of forms, including refusing to work overtime or weekends, study sessions during work hours, rotating strikes or full withdrawal of service.
A Viterra spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement the company remains hopeful that a settlement will be reached through negotiations.
The statement also made it clear that the company intends to remain open for business no matter what happens.
“Should a labour disruption occur, we are prepared to operate our businesses,” the spokesperson said.
Wagner said he’s not surprised by that, and assumes the company has been preparing its managers to work at certain key elevators in the event of a full scale strike.
“I’ve seen nothing to indicate the company is planning to use replacement workers,” he added.
There are numerous issues in dispute in the three bargaining units, but Wagner said there are several common themes. (The company declined to comment on specific bargaining issues.)
- The company has proposed removing the group life insurance and benefits plans from the collective agreement and taking control itself. Wagner said GSU members aren’t happy about the prospects of the company being able to change their benefits plan unilaterally.
- The company wants to change the compensation structure so that any increase in pay, including negotiated rate hikes, would be dependent on an annual performance review. The union says employees need certainty about their pay levels and the proposed system is open to favouritism.
- The company wants to change the hours of work for head office employees and eliminate a monthly day off.
- The union has asked for a five percent annual increase for each of 2008 and 2009. It also wants some improvements to the benefits package, including pensions and vacations.
Wagner said he was disappointed by Viterra’s approach to labour relations compared with its predecessor company Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
“We had rough patches with the Pool but generally speaking they had a respect for labour agreements that had been bargained over the years and rarely asked for concessions,” he said.
The writer of this story is a member of a different bargaining unit of GSU.
