It took an all-night bargaining session and not everyone was pleased with the deal, but a strike has been avoided by office, clerical and technical workers at Falconbridge Ltd.
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A total of 80 per cent of the 210 members of Local 2020 of the United Steelworkers of America voted in favour of accepting a new three-year contract Sunday after a deal was reached following around-the-clock negotiations Friday and Saturday.
The union's bargaining committee unanimously recommended acceptance of the new deal.
The membership gathered Sunday afternoon to vote on the new contract.
The deal was reached only after both sides compromised on certain issues and the company backed down on the use of contractors on the job site, said union unit chair Myles Sullivan.
The union wasn't going to budge on the contracting out issue and the company finally realized this, said Sullivan.
Â?We maintained our contracting out language,Â? he said.
Â?We had to make tough decisions...we let the membership decide whether they wanted it or not and at the end of the day, they accepted it,Â? said Sullivan.
The new deal sees the membership receive a two per cent pay increase, along with a cost of living increase rolled into the first year, as well as a two per cent pay raise in the second year and cost of living increase in the third year.
Members also receive a $2,000 signing bonus.
The wage increases improve upon the offer the company presented last week, which called for a 2.5 per cent increase in the first year, 1.5 per cent increase in the second year and cost of living allowance in the third year.
Another contentious issue was overtime hours, with the company demanding members of Local 2020 only be able to accumulate just over 100 hours of overtime each year during the contract.
The compromise reached in the new deal allows the membership to work up to 160 hours of overtime each year and claim it as pensionable earnings.
Dale Coffin, spokesperson for Falconbridge, said the company is pleased a strike has been avoided and the workers will be back on the job this morning.
The deal the company offered was a good one and the membership obviously agreed, said Coffin.
OPSEU, college management start negotiations today
Meanwhile, over 5,000 college students in Sudbury are bracing for a possible strike if a deal isnÂ?t reached between management and OPSEU negotiators before midnight Wednesday.
About 208 faculty at Cambrian and 116 at Boreal will be waiting for word from their leadership and negotiators as negotiations overseen by a provincial mediator take place today and tomorrow.
Ontario college professors voted over a week ago about 75 per cent in favour of walking off the job if a deal isnÂ?t reached.
Â?What our bargaining team is telling us is the two sides arenÂ?t too far apart,Â? said OPSEU Local 655 president John Closs. Â?ItÂ?s a matter of will Â? Ultimately, it is up to the government to decide to support the college system.
Â?As a local, we are ready to strike (but) our commitment is to get a deal if at all possible.Â? The main sticking points in negotiations, which have been going on since before the previous contract expired Aug. 31, is workload and salaries.
Closs said both those issues boil down to one thing: quality of education.
A news release from Local 655 says Ontario spends $1,700 per student less on its colleges than the national average.
CambrianÂ?s full-time faculty compliment has shrunk from 380 10 years ago to 205, and they are teaching the same number of students: 4,300.
Â?We have made it clear we need movement in workload areas,Â? Closs said.
He said the college system has changed Â?dramaticallyÂ? since the workload clause was introduced to the collective agreement in 1984.
Â?We want the clause updated to reflect the current college system.Â?
Closs said professors need adequate preparation and marking time for classes that include electronic learning.
They also need an escalator clause for increased class sizes, and to be able to control the type of evaluation they use in their courses.
Fewer full-time professors, less per student funding and ever-increasing workloads for all instructors at the college is taking its toll on the quality of education students are receiving, said Closs.
