February 17, 2010

Collective bargaining

Ontario electrical industry reaches agreement for labour peace

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Ontario electrical employers and employees have strongly supported a joint proposal that ensures the renewal of upcoming collective bargaining negotiations procedures without a work stoppage.

“The upcoming round of negotiations will take place during a very volatile economic situation and it was necessary to bring stability to the industry by having a protocol in place,” said Eryl Roberts, executive vice-president, Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario (ECAO).

“We are basically telling the owner-client community that we are going to be on the job and will look after our issues,” he said.

“They can look forward to another three-and-half years of labour stability from the unionized electrical industry.”

The joint proposal runs from 2010 to 2013 and talks to renew it started in the fall of 2009 between the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Construction Council (IBEW CCO) and ECAO.

John Pender, executive secretary treasurer, IBEW CCO, described IBEW member support for the proposal as “overwhelming” with over 80 per cent of them ratifying it. IBEW’s “one member- one vote” voting system on the proposal opened on Dec. 18, 2009 and ended Feb. 3, 2010.

Ten out of the 13 ECAO area associations supported the proposal and this vote reflects the fact that area ECAs felt most problems they had with the past joint proposal, particularly related to the post-negotiation wage adjustment formula, were addressed, said Roberts.

The bargaining agents for both the employer and employees have agreed to review the ICI wage settlement packages of eight comparison trades after they are reached. The Electrical Trade Joint Board (ETJB), a committee within the joint proposal which deals with policy and grievances, will compare the electrical settlement with the average settlement of the two highest comparison trades.

The comparison trades for this agreement are the UA Plumber/Fitters, UA Sprinkler Workers, Operating Engineers, Boilermakers, UA Refrigeration Workers, Sheet Metal Workers, Millwrights and Ironworkers. During the last renewal of the joint proposal there were 24 comparison trades.

“We looked at trades that are certified trades and those we have things in common with,” explained Pender.

Having a wider variety of comparison trades resulted in settlement anomalies affecting the electrical wage settlement during the last joint proposal renewal. The demolition sector settled for a $7 an hour increase which was then coupled with the sprinkler sector increase of $3.90, resulting in a $2.15 hourly electrical increase over their average settlement.

Industry insiders considered this increase a windfall for employees, but not for employers. This time, if the average settlement of these two highest comparison trades is higher than the electrical settlement, it will be adjusted up to a maximum of 50 cents.

“The 50 cent cap on any wage adjustment is a significant improvement over the open-ended process that we had in the past,” said Roberts.

Any wage adjustment will be applied one half on May 1, 2011 and the other on May 1, 2012 or as agreed by the ETJB.

“We looked at the settlement three years ago and we realize we did very well. That is why there is a smaller group of comparison trades now to average into our final equation,” added Pender.

Collective bargaining negotiations are set to begin March 8.

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