{"id":7989,"date":"2024-12-10T17:44:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T21:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=7989"},"modified":"2024-12-10T17:44:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T21:44:06","slug":"contract-talks-stall-between-region-of-queens-ibew-as-strike-deadline-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/12\/10\/contract-talks-stall-between-region-of-queens-ibew-as-strike-deadline-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Contract talks stall between Region of Queens, IBEW as strike deadline looms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Heavy

Road work in Liverpool in June 2020. File photo by Ed Halverson<\/p><\/div>\n

Contract talks between the Region of Queens and its unionized public works employees are at a stalemate as either side could declare a work stoppage at midnight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents about 40 full-time and temporary employees in the region\u2019s engineering and public works department.<\/span><\/p>\n

They 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 two sides met with a conciliator on Monday, with the union submitting a new proposal. The region responded about five hours later, with very little movement from their last position, according to a union representative.<\/span><\/p>\n

Union members resoundingly rejected the region\u2019s settlement offer last Monday, with a 97 per cent vote in favour of strike action if needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt equated to very little to nothing,\u201d James Sponagle, business manager for Local 1928, said of the municipality’s revised offer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at an impasse right now and unless they change their position, the union\u2019s not going to concede. We\u2019ve already voted on what they presented. They haven\u2019t come back with anything substantive, so our position hasn\u2019t changed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As of midnight Tuesday, either side could declare a strike or lockout with 48 hours\u2019 notice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regional councillors got an update on negotiations on Tuesday in a closed-door session that lasted almost 90 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR afterward that the region doesn\u2019t want to lock out its employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, we have no intent to lock out the workers,” Christian said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain hopeful and we recognize that it\u2019s really challenging for people particularly with the holidays approaching to have this uncertainty. Also recognizing it’s really challenging also for the folks on the other side of the bargaining table, our managers, who are attempting to negotiate on behalf of Region of Queens Municipality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe hold out hope that there will be a resolution before too long. Our council remains committed to a good and fair deal for everybody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sponagle said the region has handcuffed the union\u2019s ability to back up its proposals with strike action. He says they\u2019ve threatened to fire the 14 temporary employees if they don\u2019t cross a picket line.<\/span><\/p>\n

The union has filed two unfair labour practice complaints over that threat. Sponagle says hearing dates should be set next week and he hopes for a hearing early in the new year.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said CAO Cody Joudry assured employees in a meeting last Friday they would not be fired. But Sponagle says he hasn\u2019t yet put that in writing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sponagle said it would be \u201creckless\u201d for him to call a strike as long as those temporary employees could be fired.<\/span><\/p>\n

Public works employees with the Region of Queens are some of the lowest-paid municipal workers in Nova Scotia, at a time when the municipality has complained that it can\u2019t fill job vacancies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some unionized jobs at the region pay less than $18 an hour. And Sponagle said that some Red Seal-certified technicians with the region make no more than $27 an hour.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Non-unionized technicians elsewhere with the same certification make as much as $40 an hour, while their unionized peers at Nova Scotia Power get paid about $50 an hour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not much incentive to work as a Red Seal technician at the Region of Queens,\u201d Sponagle said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian and Sponagle said both sides are trying to agree to wage grid adjustments to account for those discrepancies. But Sponagle said the region has offered increases of only 1.5 per cent a year after that.<\/span><\/p>\n

No new talks are scheduled. But Sponagle says the union is always willing to return to the bargaining table as long as the region improves their last offer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf they want to reach out to the union if they have an epiphany or if they have a change in their position, my phone\u2019s always on.\u201d<\/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\/queensnegotiationupdatedec1024.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contract talks between the Region of Queens and its unionized public works employees are at a stalemate as either side could declare a work stoppage at midnight. Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents about 40 full-time and temporary employees in the region\u2019s engineering and public works department. They are responsible for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[2078,2580,2480,2676,2698,2693,2674,2680,2696,1952,2697,411,2695,24,226,2694],"class_list":["post-7989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-collective-bargaining","tag-contract-negotiations","tag-engineering","tag-engineering-and-public-works","tag-ibew","tag-ibew-local-1928","tag-international-brotherhood-of-electrical-workers","tag-james-sponagle","tag-job-vacancies","tag-labour","tag-municipal-contracts","tag-public-works","tag-red-seal","tag-region-of-queens","tag-scott-christian","tag-wage-disparity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989","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=7989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7991,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions\/7991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}