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How Does a CLAC Contract Compare? At the end of the day, the main job of a union is to negotiate a collective agreement that guarantees good working conditions, fair rules for payment, raises, promotions, and a grievance procedure with teeth in case anything goes wrong. Check your Collective Agreement If you work in a CLAC shop, take a close look at your collective agreement. CLAC often puts clauses in their collective agreements that take power away from workers and give employers the upper hand. Contracting Out Often, CLAC collective agreements give the employer the right to hire workers outside of the union. The Employer will make every effort to do the work with its own forces, but it may contract out work where: Collective Agreement between Flint Pipeline Services Ltd. And CLAC Local 63 Some CLAC contracts allow union wages to drop as a result of the employer contracting out: In the event that an Employee's job becomes redundant or reclassified to a lower job grade and the Employee's rate of pay is reduced for any reason such as: Collective Agreement between OEM Remanufacturing Company Inc. and CLAC Local 56 No notice Layoffs Unionized workers understand that jobs don’t last forever. A real union would want to give its members as much notice as possible in the event of a layoff. Not CLAC. Some of their collective agreements allow the employer to lay off workers with minimal notice. The Employer will give the Employee and the Steward four (4) hours notice of lay-off. Four (4) hours pay may be given in lieu of notice. Collective Agreement between Ber-Mac Electrical Instrumentation and CLAC Local 63 Discipline and Union Representation Under some CLAC collective agreements, an employer does not necessarily need union representation presence when disciplining a worker. Without proper union representation at disciplinary meetings, management automatically has the upper hand. An employee may be discharged for cause and/or temporarily suspended as a disciplinary measure by the Employer. It is understood and agreed, however, that the Employer will, if possible, discuss with a Union Representative their intention to discharge or layoff the employee before the action takes place. Collective Agreement between Alberta Automatic Sprinklers and CLAC Local 63 CLAC versus a Real Union Comparing collective agreements between different employers is difficult. However, a workplace in Edmonton gives us the opportunity to directly compare a CLAC contract with the contract of a real union. Finning International is a Canadian-based distributor of heavy equipment. Part of its business involves "remanufacturing" used and worn parts for Caterpillar and other lines of construction equipment. The 250 workers at this Finning Component Rebuild Centre were members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers (IAM) Lodge 99. In the spring of 2005, Finning closed its Component Rebuild Centre, and contracted out the work to a new facility called OEM Remanufacturing Company Inc., built and financed with Finning money. At the Alberta Labour Relations Board hearing, the employer stated they shifted the work to avoid the Machinists having successor rights, which are legal protections to make sure employers can't get rid of a union by playing this kind of shell-game: "Finning and O.E.M. Reman says that their commercial arrangements do not engage the successorship or common employer provisions of the Code; this is at its root just an unobjectionable contracting out of Finning's work, nothing more. They forthrightly say that their transactions were structured under legal advice to achieve just that result." Alberta Labour Relations Board The work being done at Finning under the Machinists’ union and OEM under CLAC is essentially the same and looking at the two contracts allows workers to compare wages between CLAC and a real union. CLAC versus a Real Union - Wages Wages under the CLAC contract are lower for most jobs. In some cases, the new wages were 20 to 25 per cent lower than those in the Machinists’ agreement.
CLAC versus a Real Union - Promotions The new CLAC agreement says that seniority is not a factor – it’s up to the employer to decide who gets a promotion and who doesn’t. CLAC versus a Real Union - General Holidays The CLAC agreement gives employees 10 General Holidays per year. The Machinists’ agreement gave workers 12 days per year. If OEM workers want New Year's Day off, they can get it by agreeing to work on Remembrance Day. Happy New Year, CLAC members! CLAC versus a Real Union - Pensions In the Machinists’ contract, the employer contributed 5.75 per cent of an employee's salary toward the pension. The CLAC agreement dropped this rate to 3 per cent. CLAC versus a Real Union - Probationary Period The Machinists’ contract had a probationary period of 90 days for new hires. Under the CLAC agreement, the probationary period is six months - that's six months where an employee has little or no protection and can be fired without recourse. CLAC versus a Real Union - Job Security Under the CLAC agreement workers don't even have meaningful job security after they pass their probation period. The old Machinists’ contract said that layoff was done in reverse seniority within each job classification, so if you're the new guy, you're the first to go if the company lays people off. Laid-off employees had recall rights for 12 months and their benefits continued for the first four months after layoff. With the CLAC agreement, seniority is not considered when determining layoff order. You've been here 30 years and the guy beside you has only been here for a week? Tough luck. The contract also has no recall rights for laid-off workers. CLAC versus a Real Union - Promotions The Machinists’ contract included language to guarantee that decisions on who gets promoted is based on seniority, skill and ability. The new CLAC agreement says that seniority is not a factor – it’s up to the employer to decide who gets a promotion and who doesn’t. What did the workers get when Finning moved its operations to OEM and workers got stuck with a CLAC agreement? Lucky for them, there are things a CLAC member can do. |