Whitby Free Press, Wednesdayl October 30, 1996', Page'3 Striking Lofthouse workers upset with union By Mark Reesor Somo Lofthouse Brass emploYees are accusing thon, union and thefr unit chair of working against thefr bout interesta. Thirty-three Lofthouse employees, members of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 1090, went on striko Sunday (Oct. 20) at mid- P'itchair Jackie Gilkes says job security, contract- ing out and seniority rights are the main issues at the H 9Street plant. ehOave et to know any- boywhoys insecure about losing their job (at Lof- thouse)," says Sherry White, ono of at least eight employees who don't sup- port the strike and are refusing to picket. "You secure your own job, therefore... you've got nothing to worry about.» T'here' so few picketers, says White, "they have to b. out there 10 to 14 hours a day.» Contrctng out is not a concorn either, says shipper Owen Brash. "That's how our cornpany runs; our company 15 ani outsourced company... ail of1 our work- is outsourced frorn another company to US." -As for seniorit-y. it' s kili and ability» whfch doter- 1 mines who doos what job,. says White, adding the senior person gets their li choice ofjobs, as long as o they knowhow to do them. o Items from Whitby council agenda(s) Recommendation from the Planning and developmnent committee That a rezoning afpication by Cummins Engin. Comp~any lie., 131 Hopkins St., be approved. Cummins has been operating . as a truck/heavy equipment repair and retali parts sales business, and wants to be able seii trucks on the site. Recommendations from the operations committee That a biawbe brought forward to appoint Murray Gaie and Randy Kurelo as municipalbya enforce- ment officers. Carvlod That the proposai of Brock/Baywood Physiotherapy Centre, for the lease of space for a sports medicine and rehabilitation clinic in the iower lobby area of the Civic Recreation Complex on Rossland Road be t accepted, and that $12, 000 proposed for the. 1997 operating budget to unlertake wo rk to prepare for the ciinic be approvem. There weme oniy three bids for the five-year contract (to be renewed annauliy) that begins Jan. 1, 1997. Cariedb That a bylaw be brought forward to update the i Town's icensing regulations regarding the operation c of refreshment vehiciles. The recommendation cornes S after the Town's current bylaw was found to be t de! icient afler an application f or a rofreshment vehicie licence eariier this year was denieci because the a] vehicie, a converted sohool bus, was. not considered A appropriate for the intended use and location. Among n other provisions, the new licensing regulations recog- S nize four different types of vehicles - mobile can- Io teens (annuai tee $300), refreshment carts ($150), refreshment cycles ($75) and refreshment trucks t ($300). The Town now has nine mobile canteens, 10 d carts, seven cycles and eight trucks, to bring In P revenue ofl $7,125 annually. 80 Carried t That the Town of Whftby accept the quotation of Automat Services Ltd. of Pickenng for the suppiy and maintenance of vending machines at Luther ipond Memnonia Arena in Brooklin.- the Civic Reomeation ? Centre and the Port Whitby Marina, The operation o! thgenate apricaely $18,0ov se a 2-mo grthe vending services8,y0Auora s xpetedt perioci baseci on 1995 product sales. <Canrledý "If thereps somebody who knows the. job who han low seniority," says Ethel Larocque, another ernployee, "why are they going te send a higher seniority into anothor departmnent if they don't know the work? "Tho union wants to, go 1 b seo'rlzsays skil andability really te, corne into play." Rumour ha; it, says Larocque, that negotiations broke off because the com- p&any refusod te give Gilkes 3.5 h urs a day te conduct union business. "If that's where negotia- tions steppod, why are we goîng out on the picket lino orI or union office? ltes not; for us... "I askod everybody on that (negotiating) panel, where did it (tali) stop but nobody seelmed te know. I said 'well, it couldn't 1ave been that important o!an issue." Taike had been écheduled for the Thursday and Prn- day before the strike but broke off after CAW, rep C Gary âiliey was asked te beave aftor swoaring at 1 management, says a emnpoe Dan Rivers. f «e wanted te knows what the didn't agree on,» he adds, "(but) thopy c Aouidn't tell us... r "Vihen I asked Gary il.i-i ey what tepic they were n on, ho teid me it was none t Df my business.» c Resignado> FRMPAGE I ing) when I pîcked up paper and thore is was,", sai "I'm goin gt a k f should lokii The Fr Press for oui- agendas froi now on." Emrn, however, was noE overiy' concerned abou learnmng of Morton's resig nation mn this fashion, pro vided that ail directon found out the sanie way. "If I thought that othei board members were awarf and w. (Scott, Prout) weri not I wouid b. upset,» he saiâ. "I think if other board members knew and we didn't thon somethinga terrlfy wrong. But if he just calied the paper, ther thats aIl right.» (Morton's rosignation was announced in a press release on Oct. 18.) Tunney, meanwhie, teld The Free Press that the board's nominating commit- tee will ho putting forward its recommendations for chair, first vice-chair and second vice-chair at Lonight's meeting, As for -repiacig Moi-ton and former director Pearl agilt, who resigned iast rionth duo te heaith rea- ions, "the committee is ooking at it,» Tunney said. Tunney added that Moi- on infoirrod, her of uis lecision prior te making iL ublic because there were ome meetings that she had o attend in uis absence. Ulley not only refused i answer questions bt walked out of one meetinj siaysRives 1-eaaidour 33 membe: ship isn't big enough t oven worry about..: that w werIntim*ot ~enoug (an that h had lots c other, companios, knockin down the CAWs door t bocome unionized,» say White. Empioyees weren't infor med of the details of twg cornPany offers, she com plamai. Manaornent madi one TuRsay(Ot 22) anc the "union didn't get bacl te us 'tii 6:30 on Fnida) with a large number ol extra changes that they wanted,» says ohus *dtand CEO Bryant 'e responded t thm e~h union presented a cou tor-proposal Monday an4"we spent the morning Withlawyers reviewing tha4 proposal and aIl of our options, .hp, says, adding «we expect -te have an animer temorrow (Wednesz aý1"nsays nothing has beon proposed, by either aide, that changes job security, contracting out or seniority. Lofthouse wiii not sub- contra.ct work if it wouid 'esult in layoffs of bargain- in unit employees, ho otos, and wants managers ýowork only in "omergen- ite meet custemer need nd oniy when CAW mem- oers wero not wiiling and ivailabie to work.» "IlI be honest with you, I ised profanity on them,' rou're damn right I did,» tdmits Lilley, ai-ter ho says a li fl U l V1ra 1 t Q ., idU we a division of ee CIBC Wood Gwundy Securities mcé presents a free semîinar on .5t r *e Jonathan Wellumi, ,e e Portfolio Manager, AJC Ltd. e Rated Investment Executjve's fund manager of the year for 1995 and Financial Post's Pick for TOP Perfonning U. S. Equity Fund for 1996. DATE: Nov. 7th, 1996 For more information: Laurel Armstrong, Financial Consultant TIME: 7:30OPm (416) 594-8911 or LOCAION Culen ardnsGreg Phillips, Financial Consultant LOCATON: ulle Garens,(416) 59478613 Taunton- Rd., W'hitby (colîec ci s accepted) ~WOODI The Leading Indicator. Wood Gundy Private Client Investments iS a division of CIBC Wood Gunldy Securities ., .a subsidiaryof CIBC ýMem'ber.. IP plants including administ- ration -- are picketing. "You*ve got a aplit houe here an -tars ono of tho reasons this thing is ongo- ing.» Lofthouse has promised "things' te somo of tho people not Participating in the strike, Lilley saysi. "Statemients have been o hoe found out the Ministry it of Labour mediator had g, offered six days te negotiate an agreemont "but the com- Ir- pn din't any of it. ýO qe chdlone day, ro onlythroe days prior te thé ,h st9Lk... and they came in )f with botween 28 and 42 g items on the table, many of o which wero still concessions ,s on behalf of the CAW.» The company ýalso wan- -ted langug prohibiting 0 illega CAWacts such as -the takeover of a GM plant, liho adds. l he mediater asked te çtalk te management nego- ïtiaters privately but they f left afterwards instead of coming back te, tho table, hoe says, adding there's been no taika since. Lilley says hoe "took hier (Gilkes) ofirlher request for 3.5 hours a day te, conduct union business and main- tains "what's keeping this striketgoing is wages and benefits. Tii. union is asking for a SO-cent-an-hour raise - the company has offered 30 cents '- and five-cent im- provement per hour in pen- sion and shift premium benefits. Ulley accuses the Com- pan y of wanting te "gut» much of the health and safety provisions in the "gement and blames the dissident workers for caus- inft estriko. ~If this memborship was solid and it stuck toother, theres no doubt in my mind this company would have negoia~ a collective agreement.» He; says 13 or 14 of the 33 union members - Lof- thouse has -54 non-union if you get rid of the union, wo'll give you more money thon you)re getting now.» He also accuses the cern- pan y of. paying some ernployees te stayhm and not picket. yhm OUDI OUNELLING The Credt Coe'ue1hi- Servie of Durham Region proivides help t. thoseWho have INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT TFRETIREMENT PLANNING *TAX I ESTATE STRATEGIES ,oz