News release
July 23, 2004
Strike disrupts
National Arts Centre operations in Ottawa
OTTAWA – Some
70 security, parking and maintenance workers at the National Arts
Centre in Ottawa are taking strike action today at 1:30 p.m. to
force their employer to negotiate a new collective agreement.
Last May, these
members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) voted unanimously
in favour of a strike. At the end of the last conciliation hearing
held July 19, both parties came to the conclusion that they were
miles apart. Their collective agreement expired December 31, 2003
. Workers have been in legal strike position since July 21.
“We will not
agree to the rollbacks the employer is proposing”, indicated Richard
Ransom, NAC employee and Regional vice-president of PSAC's National
Component. “Furthermore, we believe that we deserve significant
wage increases to bridge the gap between us and our counterparts
in the federal public service or in the private sector.”
“When the
NAC claims we are asking for a 64% wage increase, they don't tell
the whole story,” said Ed Cashman, PSAC Executive Vice-President
for the National Capital Region. “The truth is this employer had
offered sub-inflation increases, if not wage freezes, for the workers
over the years. This has created a huge gap between these workers
and those doing similar jobs in the public or the private sector.
Our members want to close that gap. We never asked for 64% over
three years, as said the NAC.”
“Furthermore,
we are concerned about the willingness expressed by the NAC to use
strike-breakers. Even if they try to disguise the work that will
be performed by these individuals with other names such as “replacement
workers”, using other people to perform the work of striking workers
is strike breaking. The National Arts Centre should focus on how
best to solve this legal strike instead of finding immoral ways
of fighting it,” concluded Cashman.
The National
Arts Centre has been insisting on a five-year contract and has been
asking for a number of rollbacks. While the union is attempting
to address a long standing wage gap that PSAC members had to endure
for years, the NAC arrived with an offer of 2% per year and a minimal
amount of money to deal with the wage gap. This is unacceptable
to the union negotiating team. The NAC is in great financial
shape, with a surplus of one million dollars on a 58 million dollar
budget.
The NAC is also involved
in conciliation with another group of PSAC members, 60 ushers whose
contract expired last April 31.
-30-
Information:
Pierre Lebel, PSAC Communications, (613) 560-5482
Richard Ransom, Regional Vice-President, National
Component
(PSAC), (613) 612-6199
42-230704
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