To the membership,
We met with the Company today to confirm bargaining dates for this round of negotiations. Of the thirty-one days in August, the Company has provided their availability for only two of them. Your bargaining committee has made bargaining a priority and have made themselves available for both months, including evenings and weekends. This only leaves us sixteen days in September before the looming contract expiration deadline of midnight, September 30th. The recent release of the Q2 Teck unaudited report, shows once again the Company is achieving record profits, eclipsing all previous financial benchmarks. They have cut costs to the amount of over one billion dollars, while copper futures continue to soar into uncharted territory. Throughout the pandemic, we adapted, we struggled, and we made record profits for Teck, while management stayed at home. You do the math. You have confided in us with taking your ideas and concerns to the bargaining table. We do this knowing that we have your trust, support, and solidarity while we negotiate the best possible contract. Thank you for your continued support. Please keep safety to the forefront and stay informed with your local CAT team member. In solidarity, USW 7619 Bargaining Team Good Morning Members,
As Don Lindsay said “we will need 100 Highland Valley Copper’s to keep up with the demand”. With todays continued high copper prices, record profits and over a BILLION in cost savings, this couldn’t be more true. The copper market continues to surge forward, and the messaging around our future continues to burn bright. It also sets a strong tone at the bargaining table, and we have to send a strong message to the Company. It’s been a hard few years. More like almost a decade, as our pride and joy has been quickly and literally started to fall apart. The mill is in a state of disrepair that is beyond imagination, we have had to take over safety in many places of the mine, as it has become too regular to fall through floors, run from emergency to emergency and never have enough time or people to fix things properly. In conversation with the upper management, they don’t seem to care about what’s happening, as it seems the layers of deceit and years of not caring has finally caught up with us, but everyone still has to hide the errors and delays. This isn’t a shot at the floor. The frustration of employees is shared with most of the front line supervisors, as they can’t get the support to deal with their employees issues from the “White Hat Pajama Brigade”. It’s the middle and the top that we get direction from, if we get it. Remember, management believes “once the house is built, we only need a few people to maintain it.” But, we have become complacent. We have let them run this place down, and it’s nearly killed multiple co-workers in the process. We cannot accept “waiting for a fatality”. It’s going to be a co-worker, a brother or a sister that you have worked with for years, or even yourself. We have the right to work in a safe and healthy workplace, no one has the ability to take that away. That’s why “Red Tape Works.” We cannot continue to put equipment back into service that is derelict, in disrepair or unsafe, it’s our co-workers that will suffer. Red tag it, shut it down until it’s repaired, and use the right to refuse forms. We cannot walk away from those safety issues, it’s going to end up in catastrophe. So, as we enter into this round of bargaining, we need all of you to do your part. Do not accept safety deviances, do not accept dusty conditions, do not accept lack of water trucks, bad seats, busted suspension, no horn, broken lights…… all it will do is get you hurt or in trouble. Down any piece of equipment that has unresolved issues. If it’s been in the log book for weeks, it’s time to address it. If it’s been on the list for ever, it’s time to get it fixed. For those who can’t get a washroom break, and are still being forced to crap in a plastic bucket in a live electrical switch room or behind the track of a dozer, why? Why would you demean yourself to that level, so you can produce more profit for the company? We were forced to move this issue to an expedited arbitration to force the Company to install washrooms, after their 3rd stage grievance response. It stated the Company was looking to provide “higher quality products” instead of providing washrooms, and shovel washrooms were going to get installed on “an opportunistic basis”, which literally means “exploiting chances offered by immediate circumstances without reference to a general plan or moral principle.” It’s time to start to start questioning the Company’s "Moral Compass." We are going to the table on July 28th, and we need your support. It’s time to take back safety. Safety is Ours. Red Tape Works. In Solidarity, Your USW Local 7619 Bargaining Committee To the membership,
At long last, we have officially started our bargaining cycle. As of this morning, we have engaged with the Company to find dates and start the process, after months of hard work and planning. We have focused our proposal requests based on the input of ALL of our members surveys, trying to find creative ways to solve problems, or looking for increases for all the items listed. They are proposals, and not all our requests will find their way into the collective agreement, as we have a very good contract to start with. It’s one of many reasons why we do not share the proposals with the members, knowing that everyone has fairly elected their committee to represent them at the table. Things change, modify and eventually become language. It’s when we have a tentative agreement that we get to share those gains with all of you. Secondly, we wouldn’t want the Company getting copies either! We will start engaging with the CAT team members in your local area. They will be your main point of contact back to the bargaining team, including your bargaining rep. This is to ensure that rumors are kept to the minimum and important information is not getting lost in the process. Find them this week, as they will have a message from our team to all of you. We are excited. From the chatter we are hearing from the floor, everyone else is excited too. Contract time can be a lot of fun, can be stressful, can be entertaining and can be very busy, all at once. It’s the one time during the term of a contract that the CBA is open to solve problems and negotiate new terms, increase benefits and build language to limit the Companies right to manage. As Steve Hunt says, it’s our goal to take the bricks out of their castle, to build our own house of rights. We want that house to be as big as possible! This round, is also our time to take back. It’s our turn. Let’s make this count. Stay tuned to dates, as soon as we know, you will know as well! In Solidarity, USW 7619 Bargaining Committee |
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August 2021
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