LIUNA members working as labourers, demolition workers and precast workers in the ICI sector are watching their calendars closely this week as important bargaining deadlines approach.
LIUNA precast workers will be voting on a new offer Wednesday (May 11) after rejecting a previous tentative deal.
LIUNA Ontario Provincial District Council general counsel Sean McFarling said he believes negotiators have addressed concerns raised by the Toronto local and they are recommending ratification.
Anthony Bombini, lead negotiator for Pre-Cast Employer Bargaining Agency, stated he will await the results of the vote after being told that the union is confident the revised deal will be supported.
Next up, demolition workers will be in a legal strike position on May 12 and members have authorized a strike to begin that day.
“However, we are willing to continue bargaining with the Ontario Association of Demolition Contractors (OADC) to reach a fair and reasonable monetary settlement before the strike deadline,” McFarling stated.
OADC executive director Margaret Taylor commented the association “continues to remain positive in hopes of a good settlement.”
Meanwhile the Labourers in ICI will continue on the job until at least May 19 or 20, with bargaining set to resume at that time. The members voted overwhelming to reject one proposed deal and the union is currently in a legal strike position, but the employers have agreed to pay wage increases retroactive to May 2, 2022 if the workers continue on the job.
“We are committed to negotiating a wage increase that is fair and reasonable,” stated McFarling.
Tony Fanelli of the labourers’ employer bargaining agency said the employers will continue to have dialogue to work out a deal in the coming weeks.
The Carpenters Employer Bargaining Agency (CEBA), however, released a statement indicating it is “disappointed to hear that the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario has elected to take their members out on strike” as of May 9.
“The CEBA values and respects the skilled tradespersons who make up the membership of the Carpenters’ and we worked diligently to avoid this outcome by directly and fairly negotiating with representatives of the union. These negotiations resulted in province-wide settlements that were agreed upon by all the Carpenters’ locals, who also recommended these settlements to their membership for ratification.”
The proposed deal was rejected by members last week after two weeks of ratification votes at locals across the province.
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