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BARGAINING UP-DATE Local 5890
Given the nature of the early bargaining and the short period of time available to prepare for the process, I want to provide the members of United Steelworkers Local 5890 an update from my perspective. First, I want to congratulate your elected representatives for their effort. There was an enormous amount of time dedicated to preparation over a three week period then seven consecutive very long days of negotiations. They debated each and every issue and at the conclusion of each debate their decisions were based on what was best for all of our members. I was especially proud of the priority the entire committee put on office and Technical issues. There was a lot of effort put into trying to drag the O&T pension out the sixties. I have been involved with the IPSCO negotiations in one form or another since 1992. Every one should know that even though we did not reach a collective agreement, the process was a good. The employers lead negotiator came to the process, left personalities at the door, bargained the issues and made decisions. We made good progress in language and were successful with many of our non-monetary issues. We then worked our way in to the monetary part of the process. We started high and the employer started low, fairly normal, we then began working our way to the middle, also very normal. We had a self- imposed deadline of noon on Wednesday, as some members of the employer committee were scheduled to be at the Board of Directors meeting. We were working Tuesday evening and about 9:30 or so we were advised by the company that they thought we could not get a deal and as far they were concerned it seemed to be over. To say the least we were surprised, we were considering what our next move might be. Unfortunately, at that point it was over. We packed our things and left. This should not be viewed as a failure, the fact is we were not prepared to race to the bottom and meet their proposal. Had they worked harder and a little longer we may have found a deal. Again, I want to thank the bargaining committees for their effort and dedication they put into the process on behalf of both Local 5890 and our Calgary Local, 6673. In Solidarity
Keith B Turcotte United Steelworkers Area Supervisor. |