Meeting Notice:
Lodge 456 is Returning from its Summer Recess.
The Next Meeting of the Lodge is Scheduled For:
Tuesday September 7 2010
At the Lodge office,
#17, 2750 Quadra Street.
at 7:30 p.m.
_____________________________
A Valued Member Takes a New Path
Long time member, Lodge Financial Secretary, and Trustee
Neil MacKenzie will take his leave of us on September 9 when he, and his wife
Gwen, relocate back to the mainland from where he moved to Victoria in 1970.
Neil came to this city for work, and spent several
years at Windsor Chain before following his destiny to the Dockyard where he
worked until his retirement.
Always active in Lodge 456, Neil gave freely of his time
and was a valued addition to our executive. Good Luck Neil and Gwen, we'll
miss you.
24/08/10
SKF Agreement includes Pension boost for Retirees!
Tuesday August 17, 2010
Toronto, ON – Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 901 have
ratified a new collective agreement with SKF Canada Limited that includes a
pension boost for retirees. “It’s just another example of how the union
looks after its members following their retirement,” explained IAMAW
District 78 Business Representative Paul Mitchell. “The bargaining committee
deserves all the credit because if there’s a pension benefit improvement for
current workers, the committee ensures retirees are not forgotten.”
>>MORE
24/08/10
Machinists Sign One-Year Agreement
at Nemato
Wednesday August 18, 2010
Whitby, ON – The members of IAMAW Local Lodge 901 have
agreed to a one year contract agreement with Nemato Composites Limited. “The
economy had a great deal of influence on this round of bargaining,” said
IAMAW District Lodge 78 Business Representative Paul Mitchell. “Considering
we were faced at one point with either a strike or a lockout, this is
definitely a compromise by both sides.”
>>MORE
24/08/10
Machinists sign One-Year
Agreement with PHCP!
Wednesday August 18, 2010
Toronto, On – Members of IAMAW Local Lodge 235 have
agreed to a one-year collective agreement with PHCP (Professional Hair Care
Products) Limited. “This agreement reflects the current state of the economy
in the hair products business,” explained IAMAW District Lodge 78 Business
Representative Paul Mitchell. The 45 members will receive a lump sum payment
of $500. The agreement also provides an extra statutory holiday and improved
contract language regarding layoffs. “The one notable improvement in this
agreement is that now the employer will cover the costs of the negotiating
committee during contract bargaining instead of the union,” said Mitchell.
>>MORE
24/08/10
Machinists in Kitchener Sign Up Patient
Transfer Workers
Medical Attendants who provide non-emergency patient
transfers at Ontario Patient Transfer’s (OPT) base in Kitchener, ON, are the
newest members of Local 1295 in Canada. The newest members bring the total
number of members at OPT to 182 at locations in Hamilton, Kitchener,
Winchester and Arnprior.
“These workers were looking for representation and a
champion for their concerns over province-wide regulation and
standardization of the industry,” said District 78 Organizer Ralph Martin.
The 60 Medical Attendants provide patient transfers between Waterloo Region
and Perth-Oxford Counties to the west and Wellington County to the east.
The IAM also represents patient transfer workers at Medi-Van
in Winnipeg, Ambutrans in Toronto and Voyageur Patient Transfer Services in
Sarnia.
28/7/10
Ontario Machinists Ratify First
Agreement with Voyageur
Members of Local 1295 in Sarnia, ON, who are employed
as Medical Attendants by Voyageur Patient Transfer Services are all smiles
after ratifying their first collective agreement.
“These people joined the Machinists for better
representation, wages and respect on the job and I think we delivered that
in this first collective agreement,” explained District 78 Organizer Ralph
Martin. “A premium for on-call work was a big issue for the members and
they’re very pleased with what we got for them.”
The three-year agreement provides for wage increases
of 9 percent in the first year, 5.5 percent in the second year and 6 percent
in the third year. Other agreement highlights include: $4/hour shift premium
for on-call work; bereavement leave language and increased vacation time.
“First agreements can be very tough to accomplish and
this was no exception,” said Martin. “Our bargaining team is to be
congratulated for its tenacity in not backing down on what were very
important issues to the membership.”
The 15 members provide non-emergency ambulatory
patient transfers in the Lambton County area. The IAMAW also represents
patient transfer workers at Ontario Patient Transfer in Hamilton,
Kitchener-Waterloo and Winchester, Ambutrans in Toronto and Medi-Van in
Winnipeg.
3/8/10
IAM Cites China Link in Gulf Equipment
Failure
The IAM faulted British Petroleum (BP) this week for
ordering the use of low-cost repair facilities in China to modify critical
safety equipment on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to The Observer, BP ordered the use of a
Chinese repair facility to overhaul the rig’s blow-out preventer, a device
that subsequently failed and led to the worst environmental disaster in U.S.
history.
“High-quality machining within extremely high tolerances
is what American Machinists take pride in doing on a daily basis,” said IAM
President Tom Buffenbarger. “News that British Petroleum sent the most
critical piece of its blow-out preventer to China for overhaul comes as no
surprise. Companies like BP consistently – and erroneously – equate cheaper
with better.
“American Machinists have the skills to take us to the bottom of the ocean
and the furthest reaches of space. But if company executives cannot tell the
difference between materials and workmanship that can withstand the enormous
pressures of the deep ocean and those that cannot, then they cannot be
trusted to protect the environment nor even their own firm’s survivability,”
said Buffenbarger. “Their negligence is unbelievable.”
So there you are...(Web Steward's Comment)
26/7/10
Machinists in North Bay Welcome Seymour
Workers
Workers at Seymour Windows & Doors Limited in North Bay,
ON, are the newest members of the IAM in Canada.
“These workers were looking for someone to represent
their concerns with their employer and they found a voice with the
Machinists,” said District 78 Organizer Scott Jackson. “This organizing
victory was made possible through the efforts of Ernie Giroux, of Local
Lodge 2412 in North Bay. He’s well known to these workers and they trust his
judgment regarding the quality of representation we provide to each member.”
The 52 newest members of Local 2412 manufacture windows
and doors for the home construction industry in Canada.
26/7/10
G20 in Toronto: The Irony
(Re-printed from the IAMAW Canada bulletin, The Dispatch)
If you look past the media images of vandalism and police in riot gear, what
actually came out the billion-dollar G20 summit meeting this weekend in
Toronto?
As the world economy struggles out of recession created by financial
deregulation and growing corporate power, Prime Minister Harper’s summit
“victories” were all negative.
Instead of common action to sustain a job-creating recovery, Harper got an
agreement for countries to commit to cut their budget deficits through
austerity measures – not for the corporations who caused the crisis - but,
as we are already seeing in Greece, Spain, and other countries, through cuts
to pensions and services to people. Not only that, but he was able to head
off demands for taxes on bankers and cuts in subsidies to the oil industry.
The Prime Minister is not noted for his sense of humour, but you would think
that even he could see the irony in spending a billion or two of our tax
dollars to defend the interests of his friends and supporters, and make sure
that the rest of us will keep paying.
29/06/10
Lodge Elects New
Trustee
Before adjourning for the summer,
LL456 elected a new trustee to replace a member who wished to step down
after many years of loyal and faithful service.
Brother Dave Penalea has taken up
the position and we welcome him to the executive.
08/06/10
Dispensing Fees
Since All of us, at some time or other, take
prescriptions to a pharmaceutical dispensary to have them filled, you must
know that they all charge a dispensing fee for the time it takes the
employee to either make up the compound, or count out the capsules from the
bottle.
Below is the list of charges in this locality in
descending order.
|
Average Dispensing Fee |
|
1. |
Shoppers Drug Mart |
$10.28 |
|
2. |
Pharmasave |
$9.75 |
|
3. |
Peoples |
$9.34 |
|
4. |
Canada Safeway |
$8.65 |
|
5. |
London Drugs |
$8.60 |
|
6. |
Overwaitea |
$8.42 |
|
7. |
Wal-Mart |
$8.07 |
|
8. |
Costco |
$4.45 |
27/5/10
Canada District
250 Wins Seniority Rights Ruling
In addition to organizing 45 new members at a pair of
newly-merged auto dealerships in British Columbia, District 250 also
succeeded in winning a seminal ruling on seniority rights from the British
Columbia Labour Relations Board.
The first organizing win followed an election among
workers in Nanaimo, BC, where a Pontiac dealer absorbed a Chevrolet
dealership. The election for the combined workforce drew support from an
overwhelming 87 percent for representation by the IAM.
Meanwhile, in Victoria, BC, three dealerships were merged
into a single entity. The new employees signed authorization cards but the
employer applied to the Labour Relations Board to have the Collective
Agreement modified to grant full seniority rights based on company service
not union membership.
A successful defense by District 250 led to a
precedent-setting ruling that confirms the special nature of working under a
collective agreement and prevented the dilution of seniority rights held by
IAM members.
13/05/10
Improved
Contract Ends Ontario Auto Dealer Lockout
After 119 days, the lockout of
Local 2332 members by three auto dealerships in Sault Ste. Marie, ON, is
finally over.
“It’s been a long and bitter struggle but we got most of what we were
after,” said IAM Business Representative Rob Thompson. “We got the standard
pension language in the body of the agreement which is what started this
whole fiasco and we now have a basic dental plan. I can’t say enough about
the solidarity of this group and what they went through. They were locked
out just before Christmas, withstood freezing temperatures on the picket
line, survived a Ministry of Labour vote which saw 12 of their number return
to work at Prouse Motors and they still held out for a better deal.
The 27 mechanics, paint shop workers, body men, parts department staff,
apprentices, general helpers and clerical staff employed at Superior Dodge
Chrysler and Highland Ford agreed to a four-year agreement that provides
wage increases, a basic dental plan and improved contract language. “One of
the areas that I am pleased with is that probationary members will have
benefits paid after 90 calendar days instead of five months,” said Thompson.
27/4/10
Hotel Discounts
for Union Members
The hotel Chateau Victoria offers
discounts to members of trade unions. If any members have guests staying in
the city and want to put them up in a hotel then click the link
here
09/02/10