New Deal for Some Highway Workers Sparks Optimism
By 250 News
The BCGEU workers at Argo Road Maintenance in the South Okanagan and the Thompson region, have ratified a new collective agreement. The workers have been on strike since the end of May and ratified the deal this week and are now back on the job.
The five year deal offers (among other things) annual salary increases and improvements to sick benefits.
BCGEU President George Heyman says there is hope this package will be the template for other settlements "If this collective agreement works for Argo, there is no reason to believe it can’t work for the other private highways contractors in parts of the province where our members are off the job and work continues to pile up."
About 650 workers are still off the job, some in a rotating strike action, in the Prince George, North and South Peace region,s The Lakes Region, Nicola, Vancouver Island, the southern Gulf Islands, Kootenay-Boundary and Howe Sond areas.
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Posted by: Chester on September 2 2007 9:48 PM
This was obviously a move intended to provoke a strike just as summer roadwork would get under way.
The result:
1. No roadwork has been done.
2. It's the end of the roadwork season.
3. The companies have been paid for all the roadwork that hasn't been done.
4. The companies have not had to pay wages for 4 months (a huge savings).
I wish I could get into a business where you get paid for work not done, and can get out of paying wages for 4 months. think of the money you could make.
I have a hard time getting paid in full for the work I HAVE done.
This was such a blatant ploy, I'm surprised so many people missed it.