Thursday June 30, 2005
For Immediate Release
North Bay, ON – Continuous bargaining for a week past a strike deadline has produced a new three-year agreement for members of IAMAW Local Lodge 2412 employed at Boart Longyear.
The new agreement provides wage increases of three per cent in each year bringing the current average wage to $22 per hour. The agreement also contained improved shift premiums, major pension and benefits improvements as well as improved language on contracting out and seniority. The company also agreed to the formation of an apprenticeship training committee.
“We had a solid strike mandate from our membership,” said IAMAW Grand Lodge Representative Pat Murphy. The big issue was the company’s demand for introducing a continuous shift into the North Bay plant and the members said they would strike unless that demand was dropped. The members didn’t want a strike but they didn’t want this new shift either,” explained Murphy. “Their approach to resolve the problem was very professional. They gave their bargaining team a 15 day extension beyond the strike deadline to produce a deal and it paid off. A strike was avoided and the continuous shift demand was removed.”
The 125 members manufacture down-hole and wire-line equipment for the mining industry.
