Dates Set to Commence Negotiations at Highland Valley Copper
Well, it's official! We have confirmed dates to commence bargaining with the Company August 23rd, 2016, in Kamloops. We will start with opening statements, and exchange proposals. It will take some time to review the Company's documents, but as soon as we get the next set of agreed upon dates to meet, we will let the membership know. Given the current economic climate and trends of increasing value we are optimistic that we can negotiate a fair and reasonable deal in a reasonable time frame. The Company is in a good position to negotiate a fair deal, with good profit margins from Highland Valley Copper last year. We have a lot to say at the table, as the Company has continued their trend of treating everyone (including management) poorly, and there is definitely areas in the Collective Agreement which need some tidying up. Wages, pensions, benefits will come later, as we will work through the non-monetary issues first, and work to resolve some of the current conflicts. As always, this round of bargaining relies heavily on everyone working together, being informed on the latest issues, and not relying on the Company to tell you what is going on. There is only one source of information, and it will be through our recently launched Text Alert System, through emails like this or through your CAT team member. We will do our best to ensure our CAT (Communication Action Team) are well up to date and readily available to answer questions, bring forth concerns, relay information and we encourage you to reach out to these individuals. To sign up for the Text Alert, text "safety" to 33733, to be kept up to date with the latest safety issues, bargaining updates and news from three major Teck mine sites. This includes Highland Valley Copper, Fording River and Elkview Operations. Knowledge is power, and communication is key. Regardless of your position, feelings or thoughts about the Union or the Company, we are all in this together now. Each one of us has an extremely important role to play, for it takes 100% to move us in the right direction. What happens next will affect every single person on site, from the shovel operator, to the janitors. This is a team, a family, a network of friends and co-workers that you have worked with for years or even decades. Your kids play soccer together, and you spend time drinking beer after work together. It's that relationship that makes us stronger than them, gives us the ability to stand up when we have to stand up and fight when we have to fight. There may be a day where we call all of you for your support, and we expect everyone to be ready for that call. In solidarity, Kyle Wolff President of United Steelworkers 7619 Representing Employees at Highland Valley Copper --------------------------------- Below is some of the Q2 results. --------------------------------- Teck has just released their unaudited 2nd quarter results for 2016 with the following key notes: Teck shares have risen 7.02% so far today representing and increase of $1.33, bringing share value to $20.27 and rising. Copper prices have been stable with steady increase and currently sitting at US$ 2.21 per pound and averaging US$ 2.14 per pound for the quarter (up 1.2% from previous quarter) Profit attributable to shareholders was $15 Million EBITDA (Earning Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization) was $468 Million Gross profit before depreciation and amortization was $536 Million Cash flow from operations was $339 million for the 2nd quarter Teck has extended the maturity of $1 Billion of their $1.2 Billion line of credit by 2 years from June 2017 to June 2019 Teck's liquidity sits at $5.4 billion inclusive of their $1.4 billion in cash and US$3.0 billion of undrawn committed credit. Teck has achieved and continues to receive significant reductions in costs with steel making coal costs reducing to US$59 per tonne from US$68 per tonne a year ago copper production costs reducing to US$1.34 per pound from US$1.49 per pound a year ago Operating costs at Highland Valley Copper have declined by $44 Million (28%) compared to the same quarter last year due to significant cost cutting measures Construction of the Fort Hills oil sands project has now surpassed 60% completion Teck has acquired the 2.5% minority interest stake at HVC for $33 Million giving them 100% interest in Highland Valley Copper Members of Locals : 7619 (Highland Valley Copper) 9346 (Elkview) 7884 (Fording) District 3 Staff USW National Instructor All working together towards building better contracts Sparwood, BC - July 2016 JULY 2016
Teck Locals Working Together as Bargaining Heats Up The word solidarity was given real meaning last week as United Steelworkers locals 7619, 9346 and 7884 came together for several days of meetings to coordinate bargaining amongst the Teck locals. The leadership and bargaining committees of the three locals met with staff from the District 3 and International Union offices in Sparwood, BC to share information, discuss bargaining and coordinate their efforts to ensure the best deal possible for USW members working for Teck. Whether it's at Highland Valley, Fording River or Elkview, Steelworkers are experiencing the same issues at work and share the same desire for a fair collective agreement that ensures that workers are sharing in the significant profits we create for Teck and protects the benefits that provide a good quality of life for ourselves and our families. From bargaining to violations of the collective agreement, and perhaps most significantly, incidents that pose risks to the health and safety of workers, all locals agreed to real-time information sharing that will ensure no matter where you work, you will have access to the same information. As bargaining proceeds, the locals also agreed to an unprecedented level of coordination that will build upon the strengths of all locals. Over the next weeks and months, your local's leadership will be communicating directly with you about actions that will demonstrate the unity and strength of our collective locals. We understand that the same power that comes from the willingness of each worker to stand together in our locals also extends beyond our locals. We all work for Teck and we are all Steelworkers. By working together, standing together and supporting each other, we will ensure that everyone of us have the opportunity to build the best possible life for themselves and their family. In Solidarity, Kyle Wolff, President Local 7619 JUNE 2016
To Our Membership, It’s been a very busy couple weeks, as the bargaining team that were elected have torn through the surveys, the CBA and the emails we have received, to put together this year’s bargaining plan. It was incredible to see almost half of the membership putting a survey in, with hundreds of sticker ideas, issues, and solutions. As expected, there were certain items in the survey that 99% of the membership all agreed were the top issues, and we have put them to the top of our agenda. This weekend, we are hosting our very first “Day of Steel”. This is a celebration of what we represent; families, friends, community, and overall solidarity. We have many events, games, and food planned, and expect to see anyone who can come, to show up and support our local Union. Bring your whole family! The bargaining team will be there all day, and we have just received a whole new shipment of Union Swag, so bring your pocket book. As always, everything you purchase is only 50% of the cost!! The Logan Lake WHY is also doing a 50/50 to support the local programs they offer. The event is on Saturday June 11th, in Logan Lake at the Rec Center, from 11 AM to 4PM, followed by “Batman Versus Superman” the movie at 4:30PM. Popcorn, candy, ice cream, hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and pop/water is provided, so bring your kids and get them amped up on sugar. Getting back to the surveys, the outpouring of support, and frustration, was apparent. The membership has given us a very strong mandate to protect three very important pieces of language. It was a dead heat between contracting out, wages and benefits. These items are so closely tied together, each one as important as the next, that it was almost impossible to separate them. Contracting out, as we all know, is the single biggest reason why most of us are employed at HVC today. If it was not for the sacrifice that our Brothers and Sisters took on in 89’, we would not have the strong workforce that we have today and be seen as the strongest Union in the Teck Chain. Wages, is easy. We have one of the best wages in the industry, especially for Kamloops, yet the Company still recorded a $449 million profit at HVC in 2015. As much as the “Power Hour” has taught us, the Company is not broke, but continues to ask us to do more with less, only to put more money in their pockets. $449 Million is not something to snivel at, and helped them purchase another 3.4 Billion dollar investment. Our cost of living continues to increase, and we have to keep up with those changes. Our communities and our families depend on those wages. We sat with Sunlife who explained how our medical and dental benefit package works. They talked a lot about what we have now, and how it all works. They explained that over time, they see a massive shift in the medical industry for the cost of medications, as designer drugs become more prevalent. The maximum lifetime won’t always be able to cover us as those costs go up, but they did give us some details on how to protect your lifetime max, mainly asking your doctor for generic drugs, which are 18% of the name brand drugs, but identical in every way. Of course, the top item on the surveys was our pension. It really is something else. Currently worth over 370 Million, it single handily gives every Unionized employee a future past HVC. We were at the retirement luncheon last week, and one thing is very common. Our retirees are happy, traveling, and more grateful than anyone else that we fought for and protected the pension. People understand how important it is to protect our pension, and to expand on, for it will be our future when we get to retire. In the next newsletter we are going to attach a chart, which shows the growth of the plan since the Copper Bonus was negotiated in 2003. Since then, we have gained almost 30$ on the Copper Bonus alone! As of right now, the pension plan is paying 104$ a month per year of service. This plan is one of the few remaining in Canada that are this strong. But I think the best piece of information is that it doesn’t cost the Company as much money to fund it as we first thought. Currently, it’s less than a million a month, when the Company makes around 1.3 Million a day in PROFIT. Over the next couple updates, we hope to bring out the history on how the Copper Bonus came about, talk about the 1999 hostages, the 1989 strike, the contracting out language, and the history of our local. It’s important to understand how those things came about, since many of the same follies the Company is making today is the reason why we bargained the language in the past. It is still regarded as one of the best CBA’s in industry, and is something to be proud of. Last words. There has been a lot of chatter about what is happening on the floor. Really simply, the Company is treating everyone like children. Actually, children are treated better. Could you imagine your school asking your children to piss test? How about telling them they are not allowed to bring up safety issues? What about religious beliefs, or medical accommodations? No one is allowed to think on their own, bring up safety issues, complain about bad roads, speak out of turn, or breathe without authority to do so. The worst part, they are doing it on purpose. It’s a slow undermining of employee’s wills, slowly chipping away at stewards, health and safety reps and chairs. This has to stop. Enough is enough. Every single employee has to stand up and fight back. Speak out against safety issues and don’t back down until they are resolved. Protect your reps, and back them when they take on your fights. Ask questions and don’t believe the rhetoric. Each one of us has as much responsibility to protect the Collective Language as myself, or any one of the executive. We are the Union, and we must act like one. In Solidarity, Kyle Wolff, President Local 7619 MARCH 2016 Brothers and Sisters! Well, we have officially started the road to bargaining for 2016. We had the full bargaining team at the Union Hall in Kamloops for the entire week, learning about our history, where our language came from, what the fights before us looked like, and what was happening at the other locals across the Teck Chain. Monday was an intro, and we talked about what bargaining was going to look like this year. Randy Gatzka, our staff rep for our area, was our guru, as he has been involved in previous bargaining here. Tuesday, Steve Hunt, district director of District 3, joined us, and we talked a lot about the history of our local. The 106 day strike in 1989, where the membership took the fight on to create the language in 3.07, where the Company was planning on contracting out all the HD mechanic work to Finning. On top of this, they had plans to contract out the Haul Truck work. If it wasn’t for the members who took that fight on, most, if not all of us, would not be employed at HVC today. We talked at length at the abuse the Company has put us under over the last couple of years, and how quickly they have forgotten who owns the language in the CBA. We talked about the 1999 layoff, where 18 employees were held hostage, and the Company demanded that the Local give up language in order to bring those employees back to work. Stretch Karsten joined us, and it was great to see two generations of activists! The stories of late night bargaining, antics on the floor, and the incredible solidarity that we have at HVC, were refreshing. Wednesday and Thursday, we built the 2016 bargaining questionnaire, which will be handed out at the gate Monday morning and Friday morning, as well as in the lunch rooms. We are in the midst of building our CAT (Communication Action Team) who will be the liaisons between the bargaining committee and everyone on the floor. If you would like to be a CAT rep for your area, please let us know. You will be responsible for getting information to, and from the floor, as well as being liaison when issues come up. Communication is key, and we expect to have regular and well informed updates as we progress. We also worked on building a list of items we need to look at during this round of bargaining, but we will not know what the membership wants until we see the surveys back. Make sure you let us know what you want, for silence will not get you anything. The deadline will be April 14th, and the committee is going to meet again on April 25th to 29th, to go through the information. The Company has not been easy on us over the last few years, and just recently, they have instituted even more unilateral changes. As of Wednesday of this week, they have eliminated any mutually agreed Stat Distribution agreements, went back to 14.05 (d), then created their own rules on how they think the language should read. Last week, Dave Adema sent out an email further restricting the Contracting Out Co-Chairs ability to attend contracting out meetings, similar to what they have done to the Grievance Chair. They have forced the Mill Electrical shifters to only have one person off on Vacation per AB and CD crew, even though their days off do not coincide. This all in only two weeks. We need to send a strong message to the management team at Highland Valley Copper as we lead into bargaining. We are a very strong local. We have a long history of fighting to the bitter end, and ensuring that not only did we keep what we had, but we improved on what we had. We are not going to give up one of the best pensions in Canada, so they can make even more profits while not ensuring we retire with dignity. We are not going to give up the best contracting out language in North America so they can bring in contractors to replace us. We will NOT bend, break, buckle or sway. This Company is not broke, and they have cut us deep to ensure their profits were over 200 million last year. 2016 may be a challenging year for production, but when the first or second quarter of 2017 rolls in, we will be producing 30% more copper than the end of this year. Remember, we are the ones that produce the goods for the Company. Without us, they do not make a penny. They tend to forget that without us, no wheels turn, no belts run, no mills spin and no copper leaves the property. Finally, we have created a separate email account for the 2016 bargaining year, for all employees to send any questions that they need answered. We would like to see you talk to a CAT team member, or a committee member first, but we know that is not always possible. We will ensure that your question gets to the right person, and gets answered as best as possible. That email address is [email protected]. The CAT team is still being built, but we hope to have the names up on the boards by late next week! There is an overall feel of excitement, as each one of us starts to fill out our role. Already, we have had great discussion on all kinds of topics, from all departments, and have started formulating game plans on how we are going to solve those problems. We have a very intelligent, dedicated and enthusiastic team, and we are all looking forward to bargaining this year. Stay strong, stay informed, stay active, and stay safe. United we bargain, divided we beg. In Solidarity, Kyle Wolff, President Local 7619 |
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