{"id":7964,"date":"2024-12-05T15:07:55","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T19:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=7964"},"modified":"2024-12-06T09:56:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T13:56:51","slug":"region-of-queens-workers-carry-strong-strike-mandate-as-talks-set-to-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/12\/05\/region-of-queens-workers-carry-strong-strike-mandate-as-talks-set-to-resume\/","title":{"rendered":"Region of Queens workers carry strong strike mandate as talks set to resume"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Unionized employees at the Region of Queens have voted to strike, if necessary. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

Engineering and public works employees with the Region of Queens have voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action.<\/span><\/p>\n

The workers are responsible for maintaining the region\u2019s streets, sidewalks, parks and other properties. They also work in waste and recycling facilities as well as water and sewage treatment plants.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 36 members of Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers voted on the region\u2019s settlement offer on Monday. Thirty-five of 36 members rejected it, voting in favour of strike action if needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

James Sponagle, the business manager of Local 1928, said the two sides are set to return to the bargaining table with a government-appointed conciliator next Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, the union has filed an unfair labour practice complaint with the Nova Scotia Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That concerns the region\u2019s definition of temporary employees. Sponagle says the employer has told those employees they must cross a picket line in the event of a work stoppage.<\/span><\/p>\n

The union says they are union members and cannot be forced to work during a strike or lockout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to take our union members and they\u2019ll force them to do bargaining unit work,” Sponagle said. <\/span><\/p>\n

“If they don\u2019t, they\u2019ll fire them, is what they\u2019ve been told.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sponagle said the union offered not to file its strike notice if the region also held off on its lockout notice until the unfair labour practice complaint is resolved.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the region rejected that proposal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sponagle said the region\u2019s last offer didn\u2019t satisfy union members\u2019 main concerns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The IBEW members are some of the lowest-paid municipal workers in Nova Scotia. They\u2019re seeking closer wage parity with other municipal employees in places like Shelburne and Bridgewater. And they want to protect overtime provisions for weekend work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Christian said this week that he\u2019s hopeful a deal can be reached. The mayor and councillors get updates on negotiations, but they are not directly involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly value the union members, the public works employees, they\u2019re really valuable members of the organization. We want to make sure there is a fair and good deal in place for these folks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The union\u2019s last collective agreement expired in March. In that deal, which was signed in 2020, employees received raises of two per cent a year. The next year, the region gave its non-unionized staff a four per cent raise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/queensstrikevotedec524.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engineering and public works employees with the Region of Queens have voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action. The workers are responsible for maintaining the region\u2019s streets, sidewalks, parks and other properties. They also work in waste and recycling facilities as well as water and sewage treatment plants. The 36 members of Local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[2078,2681,2580,2683,2676,2674,2680,2675,2678,2679,24,226,2684,987,2677,2035,2682],"class_list":["post-7964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-collective-bargaining","tag-conciliation","tag-contract-negotiations","tag-department-of-labour","tag-engineering-and-public-works","tag-international-brotherhood-of-electrical-workers","tag-james-sponagle","tag-local-1928","tag-lockout","tag-public-sector-workers","tag-region-of-queens","tag-scott-christian","tag-skills-and-immigration","tag-strike","tag-strike-mandate","tag-strike-vote","tag-unfair-labour-practice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7969,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7964\/revisions\/7969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}