Union for Irving Shipbuilding workers suspends contract talks
Posted May 3, 2012 06:26:10 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Contract negotiations are reportedly on hold at the Irving shipyard as the union and employer try to draft a new collective agreement.
Union officials tell the Herald they will give the employer, Irving Shipbuilding, until Friday to consider their latest offer.
Karl Risser, president of Local 1 of the Canadian Auto Workers and Marine Workers Federation, says if no deal can be reached by the end of the week, the union will request a conciliator.
However, it appears a conciliator may have already been called.
Mary Keith, spokesperson for Irving, tells the Herald via email that negotiations will now be aided by a conciliation officer.
Risser says he was completely unaware that the employer had asked for a conciliator, but his offer will nevertheless remain on the table until Friday.
If conciliation does not resolve the dispute at that point, the union will begin a strike countdown.
The dispute comes six months after the shipyard was awarded a $25 billion contract to build a new fleet of navy vessels.
In December 2011, the workers’ collective agreement ran out and negotiations began to approve a new contract.
Risser says the union proposed a benefits package and competitive wages for workers, but has been unsatisfied with the employer’s counter-offers.
He says he hopes Irving will accept the union’s proposals, in order to lay the groundwork for more than 1,000 shipbuilders to begin construction in the coming years.
