Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

Locked Out P.G. Motors Workers to Meet Tonight

By Elaine Macdonald

A meeting is set for this evening at 6p.m. at the Steelworkers-IWA building on Third Avenue for the locked out workers of P.G. Motors.

The lockout came as a surprise to Steelworkers negotiatior Rod Park "The company had tabled an offer, the membership overwhelmingly rejected that offer.  I had a meeting set for tonight to see what the membership felt was the main reason for rejection.  We thought we would be in negotiations soon, but the company decided to lock us out."  Park says he will go ahead with the meeting tonight to get a clear picture of the workers "wants."

Park says the lockout  caught everyione off guard, and he's not sure why it  happened, "Unless it was to send a message to the workers at Wood Wheaton who are voting  on a similar offer today".

Although Park  says he will wait till he hears the full details from the membership, he has heard grumblings that the biggest problem  is the company doesn't want to offer employees two consecutive days off.  "That was something the members had enjoyed for years, but gave up during '96 when times were tough, well, I've heard they really want it back" says Park.

Park points at  at Schultz GM-Pontiac-Buick  where employees enjoy two consecutive days off, so it can be done.  He says since Schultz is under the same ownership as Wood Wheaton,  the knowledge on how to make that kind of scheduling work is within  that corporation and could be shared. 
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