Important information to our VIA Rail membership on contracting out ESC work
October 27, 2018
On Thursday, October 18, 2018, the leadership of Unifor National Council 4000, aided by Serge Dupont, Assistant to the Quebec Director, and Barry Kennedy, National Staff Representative, met with VIA Rail at their offices in Montreal to discuss the recently announced job cuts in the ESC.
I would like to begin by pointing out that contrary to what some members allege VIA managers told them, the Union had not had discussions with the Corporation over any specific job reductions at the ESC in Toronto or Montreal. The Corporation informally informed my office of their upcoming plans to contract out work presently performed by members at both the Toronto and Montreal ESCs. As they are contractually obligated to do, it was at that time they arranged a meeting with the Union pursuant to Appendix C of Agreement 1 to discuss their contracting out plans. This was the meeting we held on October 18th of which the respective Regional Representatives attended. Both Regional Reps were unaware of any specific details up until this time.
To our dissatisfaction, the employer conducted impromptu meetings with members to tell them of their plan to contract out work and, according to many members, that the Union was informed and agreed to these plans. We expressed our outrage and disappointment with this behaviour of VIA during this meeting. VIA agreed that the process had been poorly handled, and explained that the meetings were arranged at the last minute to address rumours that had been circulating in the workplaces. We have further informed the Corporation that we are not encouraged by a federal Crown corporation outsourcing Canadian jobs to an American company, and that the Union intends to open conversations with the Government of Canada as well as other federal Members of Parliament in an effort to limit these plans.
In our meeting on Thursday, we also discussed the way our work would look if these changes are implemented, and the methods we could use to mitigate any adverse impacts on our membership. We are at the early stages of these talks; however, more will be scheduled in the near future. Our goal in these meetings is to ensure that there is as little adverse impact as possible on our membership, and to ensure that as many members as possible can secure meaningful and permanent employment with the Corporation. We also discussed whether their proposals were in contravention of the contracting out provisions of Appendix C.
As of this time, no agreements have been reached and the Union continues to maintain all options available to us. In the coming weeks we will be holding meetings near your workplaces to answer any questions you may have as well as to solicit input from the membership on the way forward. We urge you to attend these meetings. It is more important than ever at times like this to show our solidarity and to this end, we will be developing an action plan to underline our commitment to our members. We will also provide additional information as it becomes available.
I would like to begin by pointing out that contrary to what some members allege VIA managers told them, the Union had not had discussions with the Corporation over any specific job reductions at the ESC in Toronto or Montreal. The Corporation informally informed my office of their upcoming plans to contract out work presently performed by members at both the Toronto and Montreal ESCs. As they are contractually obligated to do, it was at that time they arranged a meeting with the Union pursuant to Appendix C of Agreement 1 to discuss their contracting out plans. This was the meeting we held on October 18th of which the respective Regional Representatives attended. Both Regional Reps were unaware of any specific details up until this time.
To our dissatisfaction, the employer conducted impromptu meetings with members to tell them of their plan to contract out work and, according to many members, that the Union was informed and agreed to these plans. We expressed our outrage and disappointment with this behaviour of VIA during this meeting. VIA agreed that the process had been poorly handled, and explained that the meetings were arranged at the last minute to address rumours that had been circulating in the workplaces. We have further informed the Corporation that we are not encouraged by a federal Crown corporation outsourcing Canadian jobs to an American company, and that the Union intends to open conversations with the Government of Canada as well as other federal Members of Parliament in an effort to limit these plans.
In our meeting on Thursday, we also discussed the way our work would look if these changes are implemented, and the methods we could use to mitigate any adverse impacts on our membership. We are at the early stages of these talks; however, more will be scheduled in the near future. Our goal in these meetings is to ensure that there is as little adverse impact as possible on our membership, and to ensure that as many members as possible can secure meaningful and permanent employment with the Corporation. We also discussed whether their proposals were in contravention of the contracting out provisions of Appendix C.
As of this time, no agreements have been reached and the Union continues to maintain all options available to us. In the coming weeks we will be holding meetings near your workplaces to answer any questions you may have as well as to solicit input from the membership on the way forward. We urge you to attend these meetings. It is more important than ever at times like this to show our solidarity and to this end, we will be developing an action plan to underline our commitment to our members. We will also provide additional information as it becomes available.
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In solidarity,
Dave Kissack President, Unifor National Council 4000 On behalf of: Mario Laroche, Regional Representative, Agreement 1 Québec Andrew Stephen, Regional Representative, Agreement 1 Ontario Danny Andru, Secretary-Treasurer, Unifor Council 4000 Myriam Germain, Montreal Area Director, Unifor Québec Barry Kennedy, National Staff Representative, Unifor |
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