Author Archives: Robert Aultman

HELLO AGAIN!

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It’s been awhile since I have updated this site and for that I apologize. I will do my best to keep the site updated with current and relevant information. If anyone has suggestions/ideas on how to improve the site let me know. Please keep in mind this is a Union oriented site, so any content of a personal nature will not be posted.

Thank you

Terry

North Bay Labour Council H&S Awards

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Annual Health and Safety Awards Banquet
Members of the North Bay and District Labour Council. Left to Right. Rejean Amyot, Jared Hunt, Pauline Teal, Tammy Martel, Ian Mizzi, Henri Giroux, Dave Vadnais. Not picture: Amanda Farrow-Giroux, Andy Mitchell, Rick Belisle.
Congratulations to Brent Lavigne CUPE 122 for winning the Prevent Link WSIB Award.
Congratulations to Jim Aldridge OPSEU 635 for winning the WHSC Award. Jim has dedication much of his career to Health and Safety in his workplace.
Henri Giroux, President of the NBDLC, was the honoured recipient of our first annual Community Activism Award. Henri has dedicated years of service to helping people in the North Bay and area.
Nipissing University and proud NUFA member, Dr. Kristen Ferguson was an amazing guest speaker. Dr. Ferguson shared her academic story about researching the stress demands of public education teaching. She is part of a $1.4 million multi-sector study, with particular focus on work place mental health relating to leaves of absence and return to work programs.
Unifor Rally in North Bay
Regional and local Unifor members and supporters rallied outside of MPP Fedeli’s office Friday December 7th. Local union members wanted MPP Fedeli to know that he’s making terrible decisions as the Nipissing representative, and that the focus of Unifor members will not change. Just because Bill 47 passed doesn’t mean unions have stopped the fight to help low wage workers. Andy Mitchell (Unifor 103 President) explained to local media that he and other Unifor negotiators plan to bargain for $15 and other low wage worker demands. Read the North Bay Nugget article here.
Strategy, Tools, Actions
Organizers Jared Hunt, Shawn Moreton, Catherine Murten Stoehr, and Lena Ross hosted a fabulous panel discussion November 29th. Over 50 people attended to listen to Erin Reyce, Candace Ghent, and Erika Lougheed (pictured below, left to right, with organizer MC Lena Ross) speak about the ups and downs of organizing for equity and social change. Although not an easy topic to frame, these amazing humans spoke to importance of working together to bring about positive change. After the panel discussion the group divided into three highly constrictive workshops: Writing for Change, Creating Online Content, and Organizing for Turnout. Pictures by Shawn Moreton.
Family and Friends Board Games Day
December 15th at OPSEU Hall, 2:30-5PM. Save the date, friends! Some Labour Council organizers want to host a Saturday afternoon board games get-together. Why not finish off the 2018 Labour year with friendly games like Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Euchre, Wizard, or any other fun game you really enjoy playing. Anyone is welcome–members, friends, neighbours. Snacks, tea, coffee, pop will be provided. See you there!
Visit ActivismNB  
Want to keep up-to-date with activism related action? Visit ActivismNB.ca for the deets. A local organizer created an awesome website to inform people about important events like rallies, town halls, panels, etc… Find ActivismNB on Facebook here.
The Workers Health and Safety Centre
Looking for information about amazing certified health and safety training? Look no further, the WHSC is a leading training agency in meeting and exceeding work place safety requirements. Employers across the province recognize WHSC as excellent value for top notch classroom-based training. WHSC is union supported and relies on the expertise of union and locally-based trainers.

A sad day for Canadian Aerospace

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A sad day for Canadian Aerospace

A sad day for Canadian Aerospace

   

Bombardier announces 2,500 layoffs in Québec

Montréal, QC – “This comes as a complete shock and surprise to the IAM, we had no prior knowledge of this action,” said IAM Canadian General Vice President Stan Pickthall regarding Bombardier announcement today of 5,000 layoffs worldwide including 2,500 in Québec.

“The biggest frustration is that once again Bombardier has announced major cuts just before Christmas with very few details,” explained IAM Québec Coordinator David Chartrand. “Just who is impacted by these layoffs, we have almost 20,000 people in Québec working for Bombardier and that’s 20,000 people with question marks in their mind. This is unfortunate and distressing. This is not the way to improve relations between employer and employee.”

The layoffs are part of restructuring by Bombardier which includes selling their Q 400 Turboprop aircraft program, and its business aircraft flight and technical training unit to Montréal based CAE. Bombardier says the measures will result in $250 million in annual savings.

With little in the way of exact details regarding the layoffs, IAM members can take solace in a reciprocal agreement between Bombardier and C-Series/Airbus consortium. “The IAM had great foresight in negotiating this agreement which permits our members with bargaining rights to transfer their employment between Bombardier and Airbus where we represent the workers,” explained IAM Canadian General Vice President Stan Pickthall. “While this announcement comes as a complete surprise, this agreement provides our members with better protection than others impacted by the layoffs.”

“The move is mystifying because Bombardier is hiring in some programs and the aerospace industry is suffering a lack of manpower,” explained Chartrand. With forecasts of 30,000 jobs needed in the next seven years in the aerospace industry Chartrand is not too worried but he has questions. “Where is Bombardier going with their commercial program? They seem to be getting rid of their commercial series. Given the massive subsidies Bombardier gets from the provincial and federal governments, certain guarantees to maintain jobs for a certain number of years should have been included.”

It is not known what impact this announcement will have on the next round of collective bargaining between the IAM and Bombardier which is slated to begin within a few weeks. “We will be pushing hard on the Union’s agenda and will be working with our members to preserve employment and build strong middle class careers in this sector,” said Pickthall.