Author: Admin

Lay off Update March 10 2020

The Union had a meeting with the Company and received an update regarding the ongoing issues surrounding the shutdown in Steel and Pipe.

STEEL DIVISION

The Company has made up a bumping and placement document that people can use to determine where they are working and where they may be able to bump during the layoff or cutback. Please refer to the following document.

March-10-2020-Bump-Displacement-documentDownload

Please note this document is a work in progress. Namely there are two positions below the bump line in the greaser position that are missing.
As of today the Company states they intend to run the skeleton crew until around April 1st and then starting operations in the Meltshop and then starting operations on April 15 in the Rolling mill.

PIPE DIVISION

There will be another meeting regarding the Pipe Division at 1 pm tomorrow. We will update further after that meeting.

EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE INFORMATION

If you are applying for EI at Service Canada or online please DO NOT check the box that it is a group layoff. This will slow down your claim according to the Company.

Layoff Update March 6 2020

Steel Division

Today the Union was informed that the Steel Division shutdown that was scheduled to begin at the end of March has now been started today because of the Cyber attack of Evraz on March 5 2020. The 3 day layoff is still in effect until Monday March 8 2020 . As of now everyone will be working Monday and the layoff for March 12 will most likely be cancelled.

Pipe Division

As of today the Company plans to lay everyone off starting March 12 18:00 for two weeks until they can resolve the issues surrounding the Cyber attack. The Union has been informed that layoff notices under Article 12.12 (a) part 4 began to mailed out into today.

Bargaining Update 2020

On January 21st and 22nd the bargaining committees of locals 5890 and 6673 met in Regina to go over Non-Monetary Bargaining proposals.

Our Non-Monetary proposals consist of Local issues for each plant and Common issues that we both share.

We have agreed to Non-Monetary proposal exchange with the company on May 6th&7th, 2020. We will be sending out Monetary Surveys so please take time to fill those out as well watch for special bargaining membership meetings.

Both Locals are meeting in Calgary with the new VP of Human Resources, Barbra Turk, on Feb 26th for a Labour Management Meeting

We look forward to your continuing support and feedback. We always looking for members to help with the C.A.T team. If you would like to help out please contact one of the leaders in your department.

SOLIDARITY RALLY

There will be a Solidarity Rally with locked out members of Unifor 594 at the Co-op Refinery

When: Saturday, February 1

Everyone attending will please meet at the USW 5890 office (#26-395 Park Street) at 11:00 AM. We will be joining with other USW members from Saskatoon and surrounding area then convoy to Gate 7 Co-op Refinery for a Solidarity Rally

If you have any questions please call the office @ 306-569-9663 or email m.day@usw5890.com

LETS STAND TOGETHER FOR WORKERS AND PENSIONS

Grievance Report

Brothers and Sisters,

In an effort to keep the membership of 5890 more informed, your Grievance Committee would like you know that in the past 6 months the Local has filed almost 140 grievances with the company. In fact, since ratification there has been over 520 grievances filed. We have seen an increase in both Terminations and Drug and Alcohol testing since a new Director of Human Resources Canada was hired. Focusing on the last 6 months here is a breakdown.

*15 Terminations

* 8 Post Incident Drug and Alcohol Tests

*1 Reasonable Suspicion Test

*15 Indefinite Suspensions

*2 Disqualifications

*7 Grievances for suspensions over 4 days

*17 Grievances filed for 3 day suspensions

*3 Grievances filed for 2 day suspensions

*15 Grievances filed for 1 day suspensions

*10 Grievances filed for written warnings.

*18 Grievances for Line of Progression/ Overtime violations

*9 Grievances filed for the Company not following Timelines as outlined in the C.B.A

That is 106 suspension days filed in the past 6 months not including the Terminations.

In that same period of time there has been 21 grievances resolved ranging anywhere from written warnings , 1 day suspensions and 2 day suspensions being removed, reduction in disciplines and pay for time lost.  The largest grievance resolve in terms of pay was the De-gasser grievance in which was settled with the company paying out over $16,000.

GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE;
Ryan Mckenzie [Chair]
Kyle Fisher[Tubular]
Brad Gibbons[Steel]
Kim Roberts[O&T]  

Work Boot Allowance Change

The Company has changed their policy on the process of buying boots. From now on members and probationary members will have to pay the 25% of boots up front or at the time of purchase.

It has also been brought to the attention of the Union that some people purchasing boots who paid 25% up front were also charged 25% on their paycheck. Please double check your pay stub if you recently purchased boots.

Building Power

This past week members from USW Regina locals 5890, WASCO 5917, Calgary locals 6673, and Tenaris Prudential 7226 met for a Building Power Course facilitated by Mike Zielinski from The USW International Office, Strategic Campaign department. District 3 Director Steve Hunt and Assistant to the Director Scott Lunny opened our meeting on the first day with bargaining strategies and success stories and offered their support. We talked about ideas and strategies to enhance our communication skills, ways to increase solidarity and prep for upcoming bargaining.

We have established a CAT team (Communication Action Team) to share information in and make sure our membership is up to date on all our issues in real time. The point of the CAT team is to involve a broad spectrum of our membership to relay information from the Executive and the bargaining committee. These roles will be an integral part of our bargaining going forward and will have a large role in our fight to preserve and enhance our position in bargaining.

There will be specific training sessions for CAT team Coordinators and members- details to follow.
We still require a few more members to work with the coordinators, if you want to make a difference and be active in the process please reach out to your local President.

The four locals have committed to dates for a Bargaining school which will include CAT team coordinators.

Embassy is drafting a list of American officials for Trudeau’s ministers to lobby


Katie Simpson · CBC News · Posted: Jan 10, 2019

“Canada has engaged in a number of charm offensives … and so far, those efforts have yielded next to nothing” .

                                                                                                                                      -Marc Rowlinson

The prime minister’s inner circle is ramping up another lobbying push in Washington to terminate American tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Two senior government sources say that ministers with connections to American national security portfolios will be tasked with reaching out to specific U.S. officials to push Canada’s anti-tariff message.

The campaign is based on Canada’s long-standing position that the tariffs are both illegal and absurd.

Last June, the Trump administration invoked a rarely used national security provision — Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 — to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imported steel and 10 per cent tariffs on imported aluminum.

The tariffs are based on the argument that, in the event of a national emergency, the U.S. needs robust domestic steel and aluminum industries. Canada has openly attacked the tariffs, pointing out that Canada is not a threat to U.S. national security.

One source said the new lobbying campaign actually began when Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Washington in December.

Early in the new year, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan delivered a similar anti-tariff message over the phone to the new U.S. acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan​.

And Finance Minister Bill Morneau also made Canada’s case during a face-to-face meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in Washington yesterday.

Now, the lobbying push is seeking new targets. Officials at the Canadian embassy in Washington are drafting a list of influential Americans who may be open to Canada’s message.

Once that list is complete, individual ministers will be tasked with reaching out to those officials, by phone or in person, to press Canada’s case.

Both Freeland and Morneau will use the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland as a forum to meet with their American counterparts and push them to nix the tariffs.

They won’t see U.S. President Donald Trump there. Trump announced on Twitter today that he would be skipping the forum to focus on the current federal government shutdown and a swelling dispute with House Democrats over his demand for a border wall.

Paul Moen, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and an international trade lawyer, said Canada’s strategy makes sense — but it should also reach out to business and labour leaders and the new faces in Congress who took office in the November midterm elections.

“With the new Congress in place, that’s a new opportunity to build some new relationships, build on some old ones, but also to broaden the engagement with the business community, with the labour community,” he told CBC News.

But Mark Rowlinson, a spokesman for United Steelworkers Canada, said the window for charm offensives has long since closed and it’s time for Canada to draw “a line in the sand” by refusing to ratify the revamped North American trade deal until the tariffs are dropped.

“I’m skeptical​,” he said. “It’s clearly the case that Canada has never posed a threat to U.S. national security, and I don’t think anyone on either side of the border has ever really taken that seriously. Canada has engaged in a number of charm offensives … and so far, those efforts have yielded next to nothing.

“What they should be doing is saying, ‘We will not sign, we will not ratify the new Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, unless and until these tariffs are dropped.”

In fact, neither of the two senior government sources who spoke to CBC News is optimistic that Trump will abandon his enthusiasm for tariffs any time soon.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted a defence of his tariff policy by quoting an interview on Fox News with Mark Glyptis, a local president of the United Steelworkers union from West Virginia.

One of the sources said that Canada will be stepping away from any arguments that connect the tariffs to the updated North American free trade agreement.

Some American lawmakers and business leaders who oppose the tariffs have said publicly they should be dropped, since they were meant only to serve as leverage in the trade negotiations.

One of the sources told CBC that Canada doesn’t want to touch that argument because it’s too similar to the line Mexican officials are taking in their own push to end the American tariffs.

Canada does not want to be lumped in with Mexico, the source said, because Mexico might end up agreeing with American demands for export quotas on steel.

CBC News has reported that American trade officials want both Canada and Mexico to accept caps on how much steel they can import into the United States, based on a portion of what was imported in 2017.

“That’s crazy,” said the source, adding Canada will not entertain the idea of accepting quotas.

Texting

In the mail-out you received from the local regarding the C.A.T team and texting program, we just wanted to inform everyone that this is a NEW texting program. If you were signed up before on the old program you will need to sign up to this one. All the info is on the card in the mail-out.

Merry Christmas

Season’s Greetings from your USW 5890 executive. We would like to wish everyone a safe and  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. All the best to our brother’s and sister’s .

Trudeau’s Tariff Failure Threatens New Year Devastation for Many Canadians

The following opinion column by Ken Neumann, United Steelworkers National Director for Canada, has been published in the Globe and Mail.

A gloomy holiday season awaits thousands of Canadians whose livelihoods depend on our domestic steel and aluminum industries, their family gatherings sure to be tinged by a sense of foreboding for what lies ahead in the new year.

For months, workers and manufacturers across the country have increasingly been feeling the threat stemming from U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum – levies that are widely recognized as illegal under international trade rules. These fears are exacerbated by recurring reports that the United States is making unacceptable demands for export quotas as alternatives to the illegal tariffs.

A chilling reality is setting in for more and more Canadians – our government has surrendered its leverage to fix the steel and aluminum crisis and avert devastation for so many families and communities.

Federal government data indicate that since the Trump administration’s “national security” tariffs came into effect in June, monthly Canadian steel exports to the United States have plummeted by up to 29 per cent and aluminum exports have dropped by as much as 25 per cent.

Canada’s steel and aluminum sectors directly and indirectly support 175,000 middle-class jobs across the country. With no positive resolution to the tariff dispute in sight, these Canadian families and businesses are bracing for the worst in 2019.

Business, community and labour leaders have been clear in warning Ottawa of the potential for massive, permanent damage from the crisis. Continue reading Trudeau’s Tariff Failure Threatens New Year Devastation for Many Canadians

November C.O.L.A Release

The CPI figure for October was released on November 23, 2018. Per the Collective
Agreement, the following calculation will apply:
October 2018 138.7
July 2018 138.0
Difference .7
Divide difference by .063 = $0.11
Effective with the first pay period after the release, COLA will be $0.91 per straight-time
hour worked as it was previously $0.80.

Standing Up Against Unfair U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Steel and Aluminum

 

The USW Fights for All Canadian Steel and Aluminum Workers

 

Faced with absurd American ‘national security’ tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum products, only the United Steelworkers has consistently stood up for our members and all workers in Canada’s steel and aluminum industries.

 

USW leaders on both sides of the border have been unequivocal in our opposition to the Trump administration’s baseless tariffs of 25% on Canadian steel and 10% on Canadian aluminum. On May 31, the USW International Executive Board unanimously and publicly condemned these bogus tariffs and Trump’s approach to the Canada-U.S. trading relationship.

 

Everyone knows Canada does not pose a national security threat to the U.S. – including Donald Trump. Trump acknowledged he was just using the baseless tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum as leverage to extract concessions from Canada in the renegotiations on NAFTA.

 

Sadly, Canada’s Liberal government submitted to Trump’s numerous concession demands in the new trade deal – the USMCA. Even more unforgiveable, the Liberals did not even insist that Trump hold up his end of the bargain – lifting the bogus tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

 

The magnitude of the Canadian government’s sell-out was made clear by Trump’s economics adviser, who gloated that “Canada gave very graciously.”

The Liberal government has attempted to justify the sell-out by arguing steel and aluminum tariffs were separate from the USMCA negotiations. However, Steelworkers – and the news media – have exposed this argument as patently false.

The USW has generated national media coverage by highlighting the fact that the Liberals agreed to a trade deal that legitimizes such baseless U.S. ‘national-security’ tariffs on our key industries – now and into the future. Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, published my opinion column exposing this critical issue.

Unlike some others in the labour movement who are cheerleading this abject failure, Steelworkers are at the forefront in denouncing the USMCA for exactly what it is – a sell-out of tens of thousands of Canadian working families, in the steel and aluminum sectors, in dairy, egg and poultry farming, and the list goes on.

 

Those who negotiated this deal – with help from some in our labour movement – sold out steel and aluminum workers in exchange for some protections for auto workers.

 

It must be awkward for union leaders who support the USMCA and have members working in both the auto sector and the aluminum industry. As Steelworkers, we will never sell out one group of workers for another.

 

It is only the United Steelworkers who have consistently stood up for all Canadian steel and aluminum workers in our strong opposition to the tariffs and to the USMCA.

Continue reading Standing Up Against Unfair U.S. Tariffs on Canadian Steel and Aluminum

: Steel Quotas won’t work for most Canadian producers say MPs, industry reps (incl. Mark Rowlinson)

Federal MPs representing ridings affected by American tariffs on Canadian steel exports say they’re skeptical that a quota-based system can be a solution to the ongoing trade dispute, even after one major steel producer recently stepped forward to tell the House International Trade Committee that it would support certain quotas in exchange for a duty exemption.

At the committee meeting on Oct. 2, Kaylan Ghosh, president and CEO of Algoma Steel, located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., recommended the government “explore a quota-based system” as a solution for securing tariff exemptions.

Mr. Ghosh signalled openness to accepting a quota system similar to what Canada and the U.S. agreed to in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on autos. Under the agreement in principle, Canada and Mexico will not be slapped with auto tariffs unless exports exceed 2.6 million units annually—a threshold significantly higher than current export volumes.

Such a scenario isn’t ideal for the industry, he said, but given that U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that quotas are his preferred approach, and that other countries have bowed down to those conditions, Canada could negotiate a similar fix.

Mr. Ghosh said a potential system should reflect historic exports levels to the U.S., and have the quota distributed company- and product-wise to ensure fairness and certainty over exports reaching American buyers. His company represents 40 per cent of the Sault Ste. Marie’s economic output, a city that has seen major job losses in the sector in the last generation.

His remarks to MPs came a day after USMCA was formally agreed upon by the three member countries, although the steel and aluminum tariff spat remains unresolved. On Oct. 1, Mr. Trump told journalists on the White House lawn that the tariffs will remain “until such time as we can do something different, like quotas, so that our industry is protected.” Continue reading : Steel Quotas won’t work for most Canadian producers say MPs, industry reps (incl. Mark Rowlinson)