Locked out South Bruce Peninsula unionized workers picketed outside the municipality’s town hall in Wiarton Tuesday morning.
Twenty-two workers in the parks, public works and landfill departments at the town have been locked out, without pay, since Sunday with the parties unable to agree on wages in contract talks.
The workers are members of the Service Employees International Union Local 2.
Negotiations have been ongoing since December 2021 for a new three-year agreement. Wages are the main sticking point in talks. The town offered a two per cent annual increase for three years. The union is looking for a 4.5 per cent annual wage hike.
SEIU representative Joe Hitchcock expressed disappointment the town is proposing a wage increase below inflation, which is effectively a cut in earning power for workers as they contend with rising prices.
The annual average increase in the Consumer Price Index in Canada for 2021 was 3.4 per cent. Inflation continues to run hot, with the annual CPI increase reported in February 2022 an increase of 5.7 per cent year-over-year — the highest increase the country has seen since 1991.
“It is unfortunate the people in charge are giving themselves over 10 per cent raises and then they are asking these guys to take one to two per cent when inflation is up four to seven per cent annually, and they are asking us to take these kinds of increases which just puts us behind every single year,” Hitchcock says. “As the dollar is the value in everything we buy, gas, groceries, everything we buy increases, we continue to get less and less and our dollar is worth less.”
“How is that fair?”
Hitchcock says the offer by the town not only is below inflation, but also leaves South Bruce Peninsula outside workers behind employees doing similar jobs in other nearby communities. A report by the Owen Sound Sun Times says the workers in South Bruce Peninsula earn between $26.01 and $26.64 per hour.
Adam Smyth, a SEIU Local 2 union steward, says the rate of pay they receive is nearly $2 an hour lower than what workers performing similar duties for Bruce County receive, and about $2.20 an hour lower than Georgian Bluffs.
Smyth adds they will be picketing as long as it takes as they are ready and willing to sit down and get back to negotiating.
“We continued to go to work right up until Friday and if you ask any of the guys, we were prepared to go to work yesterday and they didn’t tell us until Sunday afternoon, they called and said we were locked out,” says Smyth.
The town claims in a public notice dated March 31 it review current wages for similar unionized in three neighbouring municipalities and found it is paying “more than the ‘average wage rate’ among comparators, in three of five union wage categories.'” The notice did not include any specific details about which municipalities and rates of pay.
The union members have been in a legal strike position since March 14, when they voted unanimously to approve a strike mandate.
The town claims it decided to lock the workers out in order to avoid labour disruptions during the peak summer season. A public statement says it wants to resumes negotiations and resolve the disruption as soon as possible.
“The town’s objective is to negotiate a collective agreement that reflects the important role the town’s employees play in South Bruce Peninsula while at the same time remaining affordable for our taxpayers,” the notice explains.
Mayor Janice Jackson says, “many times, we have publicly boasted about our fantastic crew and we value them immensely. Regardless of our appreciation for our staff, we have a responsibility to our taxpayers and must remain fair and reasonable as we hammer out a three-year deal.”
The town says in a statement services that might be affected by the labour disruption include road maintenance (snowplowing, sanding, sidewalk snow removal, road grading,
pothole repairs, etc.), landfill operations, as well as parks and facility maintenance.
“A labour disruption will not impact curbside garbage and recycling collection, municipal water and wastewater treatment, or municipal firefighting response. Paramedic services are provided by Bruce County EMS, therefore ambulance service will not be affected, nor will policing as it is provided by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP),” a release from the Town of South Bruce Peninsula says.