President’s
Report
October,
2005
Belated Thanksgiving greetings, everyone! The Union Executive met with the Company on October 4 to discuss some current issues and, as I wanted to report some of the details of that to you, my report is a week or so late this month.
Maintenance
Postings
As expected, these postings were up a almost before my last report hit the bulletin boards. We grieved the two Electrical Tradesperson I and the Building Maintenance I postings on the basis of the Trades: Helper hiring ratio as negotiated in the present contract. The company is sticking with their position that this practice has a starting point of Feb. 1, 2004, when the contract was renewed but we are of the opinion that it goes back four years from the date of any new posting. As well, one of the Electrical postings had an option for the Company to hire a Refrigeration Mechanic in one of the openings. What this would have allowed them to do is hire a Refrigeration Mechanic off the street as a Trades I and indenture him/her in the Electrical trade as a Helper II, thereby completely bypassing our seniority system. Not only would this have been totally wrong, it was an insult to all the Electricians in our plant who should have the option of being indentured in the Refrigeration trade. As part of the ongoing negotiations to resolve this grievance, the Company has backed down from exercising this option. In fact, we are very close to resolving all three of these grievances, and, though I can’t release details until this is 100% complete, I would expect that I will be able to by my next report.
Attendance
Management Program
We are still trying to get a written copy of the AMP, however the Company, at different levels, continues to make changes on the fly. The latest word is that it is being tweaked by HR at FCL in Saskatoon to be more consistent with the System-wide Program. With these constant changes, even supervisors, who are supposed to be the front-line administrators of the Program, don’t know exactly what is in the Program or how it works.
It is quite disturbing how some employees are being treated on this Program. Remember, if you are ever asked to an interview with your supervisor, you always have the right to Union representation, and in cases involving issues of attendance, the Union Executive strongly recommends that you exercise this right. People who have worked more overtime than they have been absent from their regular schedule are being harassed to the point of being threatened with termination. Some people who are ‘on the program’ have had pay withheld until they have brought a doctor’s note. In such a case, it is advisable to have your doctor fax the note to the Health Centre before the end of the pay period the sickness falls in. The right of the Company to withhold pay is still in dispute, but they continue to do it when they feel they should.
The bottom line with this program is that it is totally unnecessary. The absentee rate at the refinery is one that many similar-sized companies would envy and CCRL should be proud of its employees for being the responsible, honest workers that we are.
Construction
Section Benefits
This issue of Benefits for temporary employees is still being investigated by HR. Since the last report, it has also been found that temps may likely be eligible to enter the pension plan earlier than originally thought. We are still waiting for the Company’s response on this as well. In the meantime, continue to hang on to your drug receipts.
Asphalt
Tank Car
Loading
This was discussed at the Company-Union meeting on the 4th. One of the ‘Process Labourers’ is being moved to a temporary Fire & Safety position and another is being considered for one of the permanent Maintenance Relief Pool positions. The issue for them personally was that they were transferred from the Construction Section to tank car loading where they were not accumulating seniority of any kind and others in the Construction Section were beginning to pass them in seniority. An additional issue for the Union is the fact that this job is likely going to be around for a long time and ‘Temporary Process Labourer’ positions, which do not exist in our contract, are not the way to fill these duties. It was argued by us at the table that this should be done by tank car loaders, and the Company was receptive to this idea, so we might see a change here.
Vacation
Entitlement
The Company has given us a preliminary list of all employees who have any temporary service previous to being hired permanently. The list goes back to the early ‘80s and when the list is completed, there may be changes to some peoples’ vacation time and possibly their pension time and even seniority.
June
Shutdown
It’s the topic everyone has been avoiding, but it just won’t go away. The HDS Second Reactor Project will be going ahead next year and just a month after the ARDS Catalyst Changeout is over. Most of us are just recovering from the ACC when this second round of extra hours gets under way. We approached the Company with the idea of allowing a second banked week of holidays such as was negotiated for the Summer of Overtime in 2003 when the maintenance department worked many extra hours to help get the Section IV expansion up and running. With the likelihood of this turnaround going through the first week of July, our primetime holiday slots will be reduced by 30%. Asking for the option of using our own overtime hours to buy extra holidays to be used up until next year is not a lot to ask.
Pension
Changes
There was a lot of uproar a few weeks ago after the Company gave us the actuarial on the Pension Plan. Some of the rumours I heard were so outrageous I’m thankful to the Union person who taught me more than thirty years ago to ‘believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see’. The only change made to the plan was that instead of buying an annuity at retirement to pay your pension benefits, the payments will come out of the plan fund. This is not a problem as long as the company remains in business. At present this doesn’t look like a big deal as we are in an expansion and growth mode. But someday, we will likely see the end of oil as a major source of energy and this plant will shut down forever. I hope that day is a long way off, but who knows? In the meantime it will be up to us as a Union to make the changes to the contract that will ensure our pension is safe and that when this company does wind up, pensioners will not lose their income and vested members get what is owed to them.
Mail
This is to let all executive and shop stewards know that the mail system just inside the door of the south locker room has been resurrected. I will be using this as a distribution point for mail and items which stewards can post on their shop bulletin boards. Anyone who wants to distribute mail or articles of interest is welcome to use this mail system.
Survey
A survey will be going around to maintenance shops in the near future looking for your opinion on a four day work week. Let’s have a good response so we know just how deal with this issue when the time comes.
Going…
The training sessions reported last month to happen in October have been delayed, but we are still planning some classes for the near future. Our National Rep, Kate McKinley is organizing this for us and I would like as many interested people going to this as possible. Again, if you are interested in learning more about the Union and becoming more active, let your shop steward, Vice-President or myself know and we will be sure to get your name on the list for classes.
Going…
A lot of the executive will be absent from the plant in the next six weeks or so. The National Energy Bargaining Conference is being held in Vancouver at the end of October, the SFL annual convention is the following week in Saskatoon, and the CEP Western Regional conference is at the end of November in Victoria. The importance of sending people to these gatherings cannot be overstated. Education is an important part of any Union and meeting other like-minded people in the labour movement, exchanging ideas and practices can turn into a great tool.
Gone!
In Solidarity,
Rick McConnell