CANADIAN LABOUR-MANITOBA:

TEMBEC LOCKOUT CONTINUES AS WORKERS REJECT OFFER:

The lockout of workers at the Tembec plant in Pine Falls Manitoba seems set to continue into the New Year as workers there have rejected an offer on the part of the company to change their status from "locked out" to "laid off" in return for concessions that would essentially give up all other rights that they are entitled to. Here is how the matter was reported by the Winnipeg Free Press.

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Union rejects layoff offer at Tembec's newsprint mill in Manitoba:
By: THE CANADIAN PRESS
PINE FALLS, Man. - Hundreds of locked-out workers at a Tembec forestry mill in Pine Falls, Man., rejected Wednesday a company proposal to change the terms of their severance and employment security.

During a meeting Tuesday with two conciliators from the Manitoba Department of Labour, Tembec had proposed changing the lockout to a layoff, an idea the union supported because it would allow its members to collect Employment Insurance.

However, the union said Tembec's offer was conditional on workers agreeing to defer severance pay and give up their employment security rights unless the operations were running at 100 per cent capacity.

"It is clear Tembec has no interest in ending this dispute because it tabled proposals it surely must have known would be rejected outright by their employees, our members," said United Steelworkers union area supervisor Wayne Skrypnyk.

In all, 280 workers have been on the picket line since September in a dispute over wage cuts, and their union has now applied for provincial arbitration.

The union said the company had been seeking wage and contract concessions that exceed 35 per cent.

Tembec announced earlier this month that it was putting the plant up for sale and was prepared to end the lockout, subject to an agreement on some local issues.

Before it locked out the workers, Tembec said it needed immediate and significant cuts in labour costs at the mill to keep it competitive.

Demand for newsprint has dropped across North America because of the recession and changes in newspapers affected by the migration of news and advertising to the Internet.

Tembec is one of Canada's largest forestry companies, with operations in Quebec and other parts of the country, and in France.

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Meanwhile the United Steel Workers have issued a press release which goes into more detail as to why the workers rejected the offer. It also mentions that the rejection was unanimous. To my knowledge no mass media outlet has picked up on this press release. Here it is from the Canadian Newswire.

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Tembec Denies Pine Falls Workers Severance, EI and Workplace Rights:
WINNIPEG, Dec. 23 /CNW/ - Locked-out members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 3 - 1375, at the Tembec Manitoba Newsprint operations in Powerview-Pine Falls, unanimously rejected a company proposal Tuesday to change the lockout to a layoff if workers agreed to defer severance pay and give up their employment security rights unless the operations were running at 100 per cent capacity.

USW negotiators and Tembec met Tuesday with two conciliators from the Manitoba Department of Labour to possibly end the lockout that began September 1, 2009. Two hundred and sixty USW members and 20 members of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union are on the picket line in rejection of wage and contract concessions that exceed 35 per cent.

"It is clear Tembec has no interest in ending this dispute because it tabled proposals it surely must have known would be rejected outright by their employees, our members," said USW area supervisor Wayne Skrypnyk.

The USW has applied to the provincial labour board for Interest Arbitration.

Despite imposing the lockout, earlier this month Tembec admitted to the Manitoba government and the unions that it intends to either sell the newsprint mill or close it down.

"If Tembec agreed to change its lockout to a layoff, our members would be able to collect Employment Insurance," said Skrypnyk. "This would have helped the workers and the community weather the economic storm that has hit the industry."

He added: "Tembec's denial of a workable agreement that would provide workers and their families access to Employment Insurance is heartless, especially at Christmas time."
The USW represents 250,000 workers in all sectors of the Canadian economy.
For further information: Wayne Skrypnyk, USW Area Coordinator, (204) 232-7335