Locked-Out
ABI
Workers to Discuss
and Vote on Offer
Locked-out ABI smelter workers visit office of MNA Donald Martel,
March
1, 2019.
Locked-out ABI aluminum smelter workers in
Bécancour Quebec will vote on their employer's offer at a
general membership meeting on March 11. The cartel's offer
submitted
March 4 includes collective agreements for all three bargaining
units,
as well as a back-to-work protocol.
The union said it will present its analysis and
position on the offer during the general membership meeting.
Following
the bargaining committee's analysis, the President of United
Steelworkers Local 9700, which represents the locked-out workers,
confirmed that the offer is very similar to what was on the table
when
ABI broke off
negotiations in mid-February. A back-to-work protocol had not
been
discussed at that time.
 "In terms of the
content of
the collective agreements, it is basically consistent with the
state of
negotiations that our members were made aware of at the last
general
membership meeting on February 23. For the sake of transparency,
the
union executive has decided to have the employer's offer voted on
by
secret ballot," explained
Clément Masse.
The ABI cartel issued a March 4 press release,
which
many contend is meant to divert attention away from the important
issues that concern workers. ABI begins by highlighting the wage
increase estimated at 2.55 per cent per year on average. The
union has
long said that wages have not been the central issue but rather
the
cartel's insistence
on eliminating stable union jobs and replacing them with
precarious
contract work.
The ABI cartel's statement clouds the thorny
issue of
job security for present and future workers stating: "This offer
will
allow all currently locked-out employees to return to work. It
includes
work reorganization that respects seniority and does not foresee
any
layoffs. The proposed agreement will provide flexibility,
encompass
attrition through
an ongoing wave of retirement and improve productivity."
This formulation consistently used by the global
cartel
fails to present in a straightforward way the crucial issue of
what will happen to unionized jobs and the security and benefits
of
having a permanent position. The wave of retirements is very
strong at
ABI
and will become even stronger over the months and years to come,
as the
workforce
is going through a generational renewal. The cartel's admitted
use of
attrition as a means to achieve "flexibility" and "improve
productivity" opens the door to the elimination of unionized jobs
through retirement in favour of outsourcing jobs under much less
advantageous working conditions for all workers both unionized
and
non-unionized
contract workers and the community.
 As attrition
accelerates,
the cartel wants to reduce the total number of unionized workers
with
benefits within negotiated collective agreements to less than the
number of contracted workers with no, or fewer, benefits and
union rights. The precarious workers become the means to meet the
cartel's
aim of "flexibility" and "improved
productivity" to serve its private interests, not those of Quebec
working people and their communities. Attacking workers and their
rights and their claim on the value they produce in the name of
flexibility and productivity has become the irrational mania of
global
cartels and their billionaire owners. The cartels constantly
complain
of
"overproduction" within various sectors such as aluminum and
steel, yet
demand increased productivity from the working class to defeat
the
"overproduction" of the competition.
The domination of the global cartels over the
lives of
working people and any nation-building project worthy of the name
is
front and centre in these disputes. This savage lockout imposed
by the
Alcoa/Rio Tinto cartel on 1,030 ABI smelter workers for more than
a
year demonstrates the necessity for a new direction for the
economy and
nation-building project.
Workers' Forum congratulates ABI workers
for
the contribution they are making to the struggle in defence of
workers'
rights and the rights of all in the face of a difficult
situation. All
workers across Quebec and Canada are with you and wish you a very
fruitful general membership meeting to assess the situation.
This article was published in
Number 8 - March 7, 2019
Article Link:
Locked-Out
ABI
Workers to Discuss
and Vote on Offer
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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