CLC Staff Call On Management to Negotiate In Good Faith
For Immediate Release — October 22nd, 2019
OTTAWA — Unionized staff of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) who have been on strike for more than a week continue to call on the Management of the CLC to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a a fair deal with the staff and their union (IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR).
Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR (the Canadian Union of Labour Representatives) represent the majority of staff at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) in offices across Canada. Unionized staff of the CLC have been on strike for more than week, after rejecting a “final offer” from the employer and giving a 92.5% strike mandate to their Bargaining Committee.
Remaining issues in dispute are the text of a workplace anti-harassment policy in which the employer is demanding concessions, pension issues and the desire by the striking staff to have modest inflationary wage improvements.
Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR who are on strike at the Canadian Labour Congress are fighting for recognition that:
- Every union member deserves to have fair language embedded within their Collective Agreement to appropriately enshrine the rights of complainants/survivors in cases in which they have been subjected to harassment in the workplace.
- Every union member deserves to have a fair pension plan, so they can retire with dignity.
- Every union member deserves fair wages, to keep up with the cost of living.
The Collective Agreement between the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and their unionized staff, represented by IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR, expired on July 1st 2017, and bargaining has been underway for more than two years, unsuccessfully, in an effort to obtain a fair negotiated collective agreement. Formal conciliation discussions began in late August, but were cut short when the employer tabled a “final offer”. Formal mediation between both parties took place on October 8th, but the parties were unable to resolve the outstanding issues.
For the past two weeks, the union has offered the employer (CLC Management) the opportunity to refer all outstanding issues in dispute to binding arbitration, allowing a neutral third-party arbitrator to hear arguments and issues presented by both sides and allowing the arbitrator to make a determination on each issue. That offer of binding arbitration was rejected by the employer in advance of the ongoing strike.
Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR began strike action at the Canadian Labour Congress in the early morning of Tuesday October 15th.
“This strike is a last resort after nearly two years of bargaining with our employer have been stalled out without an agreement, and the union’s offer of binding arbitration was rejected,” says Tony Tracy, President IAMAW Local Lodge 3111 CULR. “The irony is that the Canadian Labour Congress advocates for workers every day, and our members jobs when they are not on strike are to advocate on behalf of workers in various ways. The staff of the Canadian Labour Congress deserve to be treated with the same level of fairness and respect by their own employer. Our union is asking the employer, the Management of the Canadian Labour Congress, to return to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith towards a fair settlement to end this strike.”
The union has launched a petition / public letter to CLC President Hassan Yussuff and CLC Officers and Management, which can be found online at IAMAW3111.ca.
To learn more about the ongoing Canadian Labour Congress strike, please visit http://IAMAW3111.ca and/or the union’s social media accounts at http://Facebook.com/IAMAW3111 and http://twitter.com/IAMAW3111.
