本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛这是Toronto Star上的一篇文章，看来有了外部的压力，工会和雇主还是比较容易达成协议的。
Loblaws union sets superstore wage cuts
Wal-Mart threat spur to deal
Members given no chance to vote
ANN PERRY
WORKPLACE ISSUES REPORTER
The union representing thousands of workers at Loblaws stores in Ontario has agreed to wage and benefit concessions at new superstores in exchange for automatic recognition as Canada's largest grocery chain prepares to compete with Wal-Mart.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union held meetings across the province this week to notify members of the deal it signed with Loblaw Cos. Ltd. on July 11 after months of negotiations.
In Toronto on Thursday night, some members applauded leaders of their local for meeting head-on the threat of the non-unionized U.S. retailer. Its entry into the Canadian grocery market is widely seen as imminent. Others demanded to know why they had not been allowed to vote on the deal, which their local agreed to halfway through a contract that expires in 2006.
"To give away as much as we are is, to me, over the top. What is going to be done to democratize this union?" a member asked officials of UFCW Local 1000A, which represents 12,000 workers at 76 Loblaws stores across the province. "You've given away half the store and probably more in 2006."
In an interview this week, Local 1000A president Kevin Corporon said the deal makes the best of a difficult situation.
He said Loblaw told the union in December it planned to build all new stores under the Real Canadian Superstore banner, a move that would allow it to hire non-union staff.
But Loblaw wanted to attach its old brand name to the new superstore banner, which is a fixture in Western Canada but unknown in Ontario. That plan required the union's agreement because of successor rights, Corporon said. The company told the union it would negotiate only if union leaders agreed not to hold a membership vote, he said.
Without an agreement to recognize the union in the superstores, Corporon said, workers at conventional stores would have lost jobs as the company shifted operations to the new, low-wage format. So, the local's divisional officers voted to give leaders a mandate to reach a deal.
"That was a choice we wrestled with," Corporon said. "It's been a bitter pill to swallow for us and for the members, but we think, when we worked it through, it's really a win for the union to achieve what we did in light of the position we've been put in, and for the workers."
Loblaw did not return telephone calls.
Under the deal, top wages at the new superstores would range from $10 an hour for part-time general merchandise employees to slightly more than $20 an hour. Top wages at conventional stores range from $13.50 to more than $22 an hour.
Superstore employees would also have fewer benefits, work more Sunday shifts and get fewer weeks of vacation.
Among other concessions, the deal excludes from the union some positions that are unionized in conventional stores.
Employees at conventional stores and at stores that convert to the new superstore banner will continue to work under the current collective agreement, Corporon said. But in converted stores that meet certain size requirements, the lower part-time wage scale will apply to general merchandise departments, which the grocer has been expanding.
When the company closes a conventional store, displaced employees will be able to move to another Loblaws, take early retirement, accept a severance package or, if they choose to work at a superstore at the lower wage scale, take a lump-sum transfer payment.
"We've enhanced many options for our members that would not have otherwise been there if the employer and union had not been able to reach an agreement and the employer had simply opened these locations as a non-union Real Canadian Superstore," Corporon said.
One worker who was at the Toronto meeting said in an interview he was convinced Wal-Mart poses a threat and the superstore deal gives workers some options.
"We can't hang on to something that's sinking," said the 40-year Loblaws employee, who is considering taking an early retirement package.
But others said the deal proves the union and company are too cozy.
"What's the point in belonging to a union, if, when the company demands that employees are not to be given a voice, the union executive would agree to it?" Ben Blasdell, a bakery manager at a Loblaw's store in Collingwood, said in an interview this week.
"Where is the line between the union and the company?"
Loblaw has also asked locals representing workers at its Fortinos and Zehrs stores in Ontario to agree to concessions at the new superstores.
Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said he's worried such deals will drive down wages in the grocery industry.
Hargrove had not yet seen a copy of the UFCW agreement, but warned the danger of concessions is "the pressure from the companies to say we have to do the same thing." The CAW represented about 7,500 grocery workers in 2002.
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http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1058566210086更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
Loblaws union sets superstore wage cuts
Wal-Mart threat spur to deal
Members given no chance to vote
ANN PERRY
WORKPLACE ISSUES REPORTER
The union representing thousands of workers at Loblaws stores in Ontario has agreed to wage and benefit concessions at new superstores in exchange for automatic recognition as Canada's largest grocery chain prepares to compete with Wal-Mart.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union held meetings across the province this week to notify members of the deal it signed with Loblaw Cos. Ltd. on July 11 after months of negotiations.
In Toronto on Thursday night, some members applauded leaders of their local for meeting head-on the threat of the non-unionized U.S. retailer. Its entry into the Canadian grocery market is widely seen as imminent. Others demanded to know why they had not been allowed to vote on the deal, which their local agreed to halfway through a contract that expires in 2006.
"To give away as much as we are is, to me, over the top. What is going to be done to democratize this union?" a member asked officials of UFCW Local 1000A, which represents 12,000 workers at 76 Loblaws stores across the province. "You've given away half the store and probably more in 2006."
In an interview this week, Local 1000A president Kevin Corporon said the deal makes the best of a difficult situation.
He said Loblaw told the union in December it planned to build all new stores under the Real Canadian Superstore banner, a move that would allow it to hire non-union staff.
But Loblaw wanted to attach its old brand name to the new superstore banner, which is a fixture in Western Canada but unknown in Ontario. That plan required the union's agreement because of successor rights, Corporon said. The company told the union it would negotiate only if union leaders agreed not to hold a membership vote, he said.
Without an agreement to recognize the union in the superstores, Corporon said, workers at conventional stores would have lost jobs as the company shifted operations to the new, low-wage format. So, the local's divisional officers voted to give leaders a mandate to reach a deal.
"That was a choice we wrestled with," Corporon said. "It's been a bitter pill to swallow for us and for the members, but we think, when we worked it through, it's really a win for the union to achieve what we did in light of the position we've been put in, and for the workers."
Loblaw did not return telephone calls.
Under the deal, top wages at the new superstores would range from $10 an hour for part-time general merchandise employees to slightly more than $20 an hour. Top wages at conventional stores range from $13.50 to more than $22 an hour.
Superstore employees would also have fewer benefits, work more Sunday shifts and get fewer weeks of vacation.
Among other concessions, the deal excludes from the union some positions that are unionized in conventional stores.
Employees at conventional stores and at stores that convert to the new superstore banner will continue to work under the current collective agreement, Corporon said. But in converted stores that meet certain size requirements, the lower part-time wage scale will apply to general merchandise departments, which the grocer has been expanding.
When the company closes a conventional store, displaced employees will be able to move to another Loblaws, take early retirement, accept a severance package or, if they choose to work at a superstore at the lower wage scale, take a lump-sum transfer payment.
"We've enhanced many options for our members that would not have otherwise been there if the employer and union had not been able to reach an agreement and the employer had simply opened these locations as a non-union Real Canadian Superstore," Corporon said.
One worker who was at the Toronto meeting said in an interview he was convinced Wal-Mart poses a threat and the superstore deal gives workers some options.
"We can't hang on to something that's sinking," said the 40-year Loblaws employee, who is considering taking an early retirement package.
But others said the deal proves the union and company are too cozy.
"What's the point in belonging to a union, if, when the company demands that employees are not to be given a voice, the union executive would agree to it?" Ben Blasdell, a bakery manager at a Loblaw's store in Collingwood, said in an interview this week.
"Where is the line between the union and the company?"
Loblaw has also asked locals representing workers at its Fortinos and Zehrs stores in Ontario to agree to concessions at the new superstores.
Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said he's worried such deals will drive down wages in the grocery industry.
Hargrove had not yet seen a copy of the UFCW agreement, but warned the danger of concessions is "the pressure from the companies to say we have to do the same thing." The CAW represented about 7,500 grocery workers in 2002.
Copy from
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1058566210086更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net