Tagged: Strike

Quebec Spring Mediation Rejected

Government Rejects Quebec Spring Mediation Author: Stephen Alexander – Rejecting the idea of mediation to resolve the dispute with students in Quebec, Finance Minister Raymond Bachand said the only solution to the Quebec Spring is an election.

The minister told the French daily Le Monde that “the only possible exit from the crisis is by way of an election.” Saying that “The state budget is not managed through mediators,” the minister rejected the idea of using mediation to bridge the gap with the Quebec Spring.

Blaming the students, the minister said, “They don’t want to negotiate. There will be a discussion when they’re ready to accept the principle of the tuition hike.”

Allegedly in the past, the minster has called students names, such as “radicals,” “Marxists” and “Communists.” Previously in the Quebec Spring, students dressed in black t-shirts walked into the law school and forcibly ejected students ready to go back to school.

Mediation Failure: Norway Oil Workers

Norway's Oil Workers Strike After Mediation Fails Author: Stephen Alexander - The oil output from Europe’s second largest crude and natural gas producer is drying up as oil workers from Norway go on strike. The strike is the result of mediation failure on pension and wages.

The division over pensions with labor unions and the Norwegian Oil Industry Association was not resolved as mediation talks went past midnight. A strike was called by workers afterwards.

The strike will soon close oil and gas output as production from Statoil ASA’s Oseberg and Heidrun fields and BP Plc’s Skarv development is halted, according to the industry association. Incidentally, seven hundred workers are being removed from production lines at Europe’s biggest methanol plant.

This oil workers’ strike is the first major one for the oil industry since 2004.

Mediation Request from Striking Students

Striking Students in Montreal Request a Mediator

Author: Stephen Alexander – Students from the College of General and Professional Education in Montreal, Quebec, requested the government begin the process of mediation in order to resolve the tuition fee dispute.

Currently, the response towards negotiations is cold, according to a press aide for Education Minister Michelle Courchesne. The aide, Kimberly Labar, said that the issue of grants to poor students has already been addressed.

President of the Federation etudiante collegiale du Quebec, Eliane Laberge, said that a using mediators “is the only means to end the strike.” She said that no one should be ashamed of the process.

She said that a team of three mediators would be beneficial to all the parties. They could help the negotiations and bring both sides of the dispute together. She recommended that the Quebec Bar or the Institut de Mediation et d’Arbitage du Quebec oversee the process.

As far as the strike is concerned, less than one hundred people attended.

Pilots Mediation May Conclude on June 15

ALPA - United Airlines-Continental Airlines in Mediation

Author: Stephen Alexander – Release from mediation is the hope for the United Airlines and Continental Airlines pilots, if by the deadline the parties do not reach an agreement.

The deadline was established by the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) negotiations. Once released from the National Mediation Board (NMB), the pilots will have the right to “self-help,” which includes the right to strike.

In protest of the slow negotiations, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) plan to gather at the site of the United Continental Holdings annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday. The pilots have been working under a 9-year old bankruptcy contract.

On May 11, 2012, ALPA President Capt. Lee Moak, requested that the NMB “assist the parties to bring about an agreement by proffering arbitration.” If the arbitration is not accepted by both parties, then the NMB would release the ALPA from the talks and allow the union to “self-help.”

Under “self-help,” then union would be allowed to take lawful action, including a strike, following a thirty-day cooling off period. The pilots are hot happy with the pace of the negotiations.

The two sides requested a mediator in December 2010, and efforts to mediate began in February 2011. The two sides have been mediating since that date.

Mediator Wanted in British Columbia

Mediator wanted in British Columbia, Canada

Author: Stephen Alexander – The largest public sector union in British Columbia (BC), Canada wants a mediator in the failed negotiations with the provincial government. The union also warns that a strike is imminent if the mediation fails.

President Darryl Walker of the BC Government Employees Union says the parties have large divide on the main issues. He hopes that a mediator can bridge the gap.

The government has tendered an contract with a three percent pay increase over two years. The employees union wants more than the government is offering, including a cost of living increase. It says its members have not had a pay increase in three years.

Mr Walker says that if mediation fails to reach a consensus, then a strike will occur. However, the union wants to stay at the negotiation table and purse all other options.

The union represents around 25,000 workers who voted eighty-two percent in favor of a job action last month. A strike would involve clerical workers, liquor store employees, and social workers to name a few professions involved with the union.

Mediation: Canadian Pacific Railway

Teamsters Canada and Canadian Pacific Railway

Author: Stephen Alexander – Teamsters Canada, the union who represents 4,800 engineers, conductors, and rail traffic controllers, reached an impasse in the mediation with Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd on May 27th, 2012..

Teamsters Canada said in a statement that the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is no longer involved in the negotiations. Moreover, no further negotiations are planned between Canadian Pacific Railway and the union.

According to Canadian Pacific Railway, the government mediator has withdrawn from the negotiations. The dispute now becomes a legislative issue in Canada, as thousands of Canadian Pacific Workers walked off their job on Tuesday night. Freight services across Canada have been halted, while commuter train services in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal still operate on Canadian Railway lines.

Canada’s largest trade and industry association, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, has asked the Canadian government to get involved in the labor conflict. Canadian manufactures and industries are losing up to C$50 million each day that the labor conflict remains unresolved.

Lisa Raitt, the Minister of Labor, said on Sunday that the government is “ready to act” on the labor issue, if the parties failed to reach an agreement. Given that the mediation is at an impasse, the “parliamentary process,” referred to by Minister Raitt on Sunday’s morning TV program, “Question Period,” is ready to begin.