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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 32/1998
Workers at three Canadian plants of pulp and paper multinational Fletcher Challenge have voted by a margin of 59.3 per cent to accept a new collective bargaining agreement. The workers are members of the ICEM-affiliated Communications, Energy and Paperworkers of Canada (CEP) and the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC). The vote ends their nine-month strike, the longest ever in British Columbia's forest products industry.
Some 2,100 workers walked off the job on July 14 last year, protesting over the New Zealand-based company's demands for increased flexible work practices and outsourcing. The strike successfully stopped production for the duration of the dispute, which cost the company millions of dollars and lost customers.
While the company won some of the flexibility it wanted in the settlement, the unions won a key demand that outsourcing be limited and union members get the work that is available.
Union members also will receive an 15.4 per cent pay boost over five years and a signing bonus. Fletcher said the settlement will clear the way for further investment and job creation in British Columbia.
The CEP and PPWC received support and solidarity from the ICEM, the Manufacturing and Construction Workers Union of New Zealand and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union of Australia. The New Zealand and Australian unions are both ICEM affiliates which also represent Fletcher Challenge workers. They had urged the company to settle the strike and were in the process of organising a solidarity tour of Canadian strikers when the settlement was reached.
"A majority have voted in favour of the agreement, but the vote sends a message to the company about the feelings of many members as this dispute ends," said CEP Vice President Brian Payne. "The company has a long road ahead of it to rebuild a relationship with its employees."
"This agreement will now be the pattern for the industry," added PPCW National President Garry Worth. "This agreement has benefits for both workers and the employers, and should be a positive factor for the industry in British Columbia."
Some 2,100 workers walked off the job on July 14 last year, protesting over the New Zealand-based company's demands for increased flexible work practices and outsourcing. The strike successfully stopped production for the duration of the dispute, which cost the company millions of dollars and lost customers.
While the company won some of the flexibility it wanted in the settlement, the unions won a key demand that outsourcing be limited and union members get the work that is available.
Union members also will receive an 15.4 per cent pay boost over five years and a signing bonus. Fletcher said the settlement will clear the way for further investment and job creation in British Columbia.
The CEP and PPWC received support and solidarity from the ICEM, the Manufacturing and Construction Workers Union of New Zealand and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union of Australia. The New Zealand and Australian unions are both ICEM affiliates which also represent Fletcher Challenge workers. They had urged the company to settle the strike and were in the process of organising a solidarity tour of Canadian strikers when the settlement was reached.
"A majority have voted in favour of the agreement, but the vote sends a message to the company about the feelings of many members as this dispute ends," said CEP Vice President Brian Payne. "The company has a long road ahead of it to rebuild a relationship with its employees."
"This agreement will now be the pattern for the industry," added PPCW National President Garry Worth. "This agreement has benefits for both workers and the employers, and should be a positive factor for the industry in British Columbia."