Laval, April 13, 2010 – Weird things continued to occur in the municipality of Pontiac last weekend. Indeed, an agreement in principle was reached between the 20 or so municipal workers and the employer’s bargaining committee late Friday evening. This agreement was approved by the blue- and white-collar workers during a union meeting, but they received a bombshell during the evening on Sunday.

Indeed, Pontiac’s municipal council rejected the agreement even though it had been negotiated in the best interest of both parties. The employer’s bargaining committee was commissioned by the councillors and mayor of Pontiac, but the municipality’s elected officials did not appear to trust it. The council filed new proposals on Sunday which were ratified by a majority of the workers concerned.

“We were all—including the conciliator appointed to the case—taken aback by the weekend’s reversal,” points out Jean Chartrand, president of Teamsters Local Union 106. “We multiplied the concessions at the bargaining table to prevent a strike from disrupting municipal operations, but the municipal council almost screwed up the entire process.”

The union’s demands were nevertheless more than reasonable. The Teamsters Union also learned that the mayor and municipal councillors voted themselves generous salaries of $2250 and $750 per month respectively in 2006, which are since indexed on a yearly basis according to 75% of consumer price index. They have been much less generous with their workers.

“The disregard shown by the mayor and municipal councillors of Pontiac toward their blue- and white-collar workers is insulting,” adds Mr. Chartrand. “These workers have demonstrated levels of maturity and flexibility that demand respect, not disregard. Since the beginning, they bargained on the basis of the municipality’s interests.”

The parties had been negotiating the renewal of their collective agreement since December 2008. The bargaining process therefore took 17 long months. The strike set to start this morning has therefore been avoided and this last-minute agreement brings an end to the process.

The new collective agreement provides yearly wage increases of 2.1% over the six-year collective agreement whereas the non-monetary clauses remain basically unchanged.


The Teamsters Union represents 125,000 members in Canada in all trades. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with which Teamsters Canada is affiliated, has 1.4 million members in North America.


Information:
Stéphane Lacroix, Director of Communications, Teamsters Canada
514-609-5101