WORKING CONDITIONS IN NURSING UNDER REVIEW
Winnipeg — Nurses in Manitoba will have their working conditions examined by a government appointed task force. Health Minister Dave Chomiak has established a three-member task force with a focus on identifying factors leading to job dissatisfaction and causes of job-related and personal stress for nurses. By the end of the year, the members will also develop proposals to address concerns and oversee the development and implemention of pilot projects. The task force will consist of the vice-president of programs and services for the Marquette Regional Health Authority, a member of the Manitoba Nurses Union and a retired nurse.
LABOUR TACKLES McDONALD’S — AGAIN
Montreal — The Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU) is making a bid to unionize workers at a Montreal franchise of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd. The CNTU has filed a request for certification with the Quebec labour department to represent some 40 employees at the McDonald’s franchise on Peel Street in downtown Montreal. The recent attempt is the third time in as many years that unions have tried to organize workers at Montreal-area affiliates of McDonald’s Corp., the world’s biggest fast food chain. The Quebec Federation of Labour and its affiliated Teamsters union made two unsuccessful bids to unionize workers at two other Montreal-area McDonald’s franchises in 1998. That same year, two British Columbia teenagers led the unionization of a franchise in Squamish, north of Vancouver, making it the first McDonald’s in North America to have a union.
STEEL WORKER DEAL LEAVES OTHERS JEALOUS
Hamilton — Steel workers at Stelco Inc.’s Lake Erie Steel Co. plant in Nanticoke, south of Hamilton, ratified a deal that will see their average wage increase by 3.3 per cent in each of the next four years, leaving their counterparts at other plants and in the industry behind the pace. For the 1,000 members of United Steel Workers of America, Local 8782, the deal means the average pay will top $60,000 within four years. The deal also includes supplements, special allowances and inclusion in the company’s profit sharing plan, plus a 35-per-cent hike in monthly pension rates. The deal comes at a time when workers at Stelco’s Stelwire plant in Hamilton continue to walk the picket lines. And workers at the company’s Hilton Works plant, also in Hamilton, are crying foul after having swallowed wage freezes and making concessions in a deal negotiated earlier in the ’90s.
WILDCAT STRIKE HITS GM
Oshawa, Ont. — A wildcat strike at a General Motors car-assembly plant in Oshawa shut down production and later spread to another plant after a union-committee representative at GM’s No.2 plant was given a three-day suspension following a disagreement with a supervisor. The brief stoppage was not sanctioned by Canadian Auto Workers Officials. GM officials said the strike effected the production of 2,000 cars. Local GM and CAW officials are negotiating to try to address some of the issues that led to the wildcat strike. This is the second wildcat stoppage in less than a year by rank and file members of Local 222 in Oshawa. About 250 workers walked out causing a seven-hour shutdown of the assembly line last fall after the union had reached a tentative contract settlement with GM.
LABOUR STRIFE AMONG B.C. PARAMEDICS
Vancouver — The Canadian Union of Public Employees, representing ambulance paramedics in British Columbia, says workers will continue to operate on a work-to-rule basis and will refuse paperwork. Issues surrounding the contract dispute between the province’s 3,500 ambulance paramedics and the ambulance service include training, hours of work, workloads and on-call pay for part-time paramedics.
Winnipeg — Nurses in Manitoba will have their working conditions examined by a government appointed task force. Health Minister Dave Chomiak has established a three-member task force with a focus on identifying factors leading to job dissatisfaction and causes of job-related and personal stress for nurses. By the end of the year, the members will also develop proposals to address concerns and oversee the development and implemention of pilot projects. The task force will consist of the vice-president of programs and services for the Marquette Regional Health Authority, a member of the Manitoba Nurses Union and a retired nurse.
LABOUR TACKLES McDONALD’S — AGAIN
Montreal — The Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU) is making a bid to unionize workers at a Montreal franchise of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd. The CNTU has filed a request for certification with the Quebec labour department to represent some 40 employees at the McDonald’s franchise on Peel Street in downtown Montreal. The recent attempt is the third time in as many years that unions have tried to organize workers at Montreal-area affiliates of McDonald’s Corp., the world’s biggest fast food chain. The Quebec Federation of Labour and its affiliated Teamsters union made two unsuccessful bids to unionize workers at two other Montreal-area McDonald’s franchises in 1998. That same year, two British Columbia teenagers led the unionization of a franchise in Squamish, north of Vancouver, making it the first McDonald’s in North America to have a union.
STEEL WORKER DEAL LEAVES OTHERS JEALOUS
Hamilton — Steel workers at Stelco Inc.’s Lake Erie Steel Co. plant in Nanticoke, south of Hamilton, ratified a deal that will see their average wage increase by 3.3 per cent in each of the next four years, leaving their counterparts at other plants and in the industry behind the pace. For the 1,000 members of United Steel Workers of America, Local 8782, the deal means the average pay will top $60,000 within four years. The deal also includes supplements, special allowances and inclusion in the company’s profit sharing plan, plus a 35-per-cent hike in monthly pension rates. The deal comes at a time when workers at Stelco’s Stelwire plant in Hamilton continue to walk the picket lines. And workers at the company’s Hilton Works plant, also in Hamilton, are crying foul after having swallowed wage freezes and making concessions in a deal negotiated earlier in the ’90s.
WILDCAT STRIKE HITS GM
Oshawa, Ont. — A wildcat strike at a General Motors car-assembly plant in Oshawa shut down production and later spread to another plant after a union-committee representative at GM’s No.2 plant was given a three-day suspension following a disagreement with a supervisor. The brief stoppage was not sanctioned by Canadian Auto Workers Officials. GM officials said the strike effected the production of 2,000 cars. Local GM and CAW officials are negotiating to try to address some of the issues that led to the wildcat strike. This is the second wildcat stoppage in less than a year by rank and file members of Local 222 in Oshawa. About 250 workers walked out causing a seven-hour shutdown of the assembly line last fall after the union had reached a tentative contract settlement with GM.
LABOUR STRIFE AMONG B.C. PARAMEDICS
Vancouver — The Canadian Union of Public Employees, representing ambulance paramedics in British Columbia, says workers will continue to operate on a work-to-rule basis and will refuse paperwork. Issues surrounding the contract dispute between the province’s 3,500 ambulance paramedics and the ambulance service include training, hours of work, workloads and on-call pay for part-time paramedics.
