Steel Layoffs

With the upcoming shut down in the Steel Division please be aware of bumping rights as outlined below.

Lay-Offs

  • Production and Maintenance Employees Only

In the event of cutback or lay-off, an employee shall be deemed to have the right to a position that is lower in that line of progression and will regress down their line to a position which they can hold. You shall regress as you progress and progress as you regress.

Office and Technical Employees Only

In the event of cutbacks or layoffs, an employee shall be deemed to have the right to a position according to seniority and qualification. An employee may bump into any position that they can hold. Employees bumping a position that they have not previously performed will be subject to the intermediate training rate for a period of six (6) months. It is therefore understood and agreed that management shall have the right to pass over any employee if it is established that they do not have the qualifications, ability or physical fitness to perform the work involved, even if they were given a reasonable trial or training period.

An employee who refuses to exercise their bumping rights and elects to take a layoff will not be recalled unless the job from which they were laid off becomes available. Should a laid off employee wish to return to any other vacant jobs they must advise the Human Resources Department of such request, in writing, before becoming eligible for recall.

Displaced Employee

  • In the event that they cannot retain a position in their own line, or a job which is not within a line of progression, a displaced employee may apply (by filling out a bump form) for one of the following depending upon the circumstances arising from being displaced (copies of the bump form shall be sent to the Union):
    1. Any jobs below the displacement line in any other line of progression held by the junior employee provided their plant seniority is greater than that of the employee to be replaced.
    2. The higher job in any other line of progression held by the junior employee provided that they have held a bid and performed that job for a period exceeding thirty (30) consecutive days and can still perform that job efficiently with a familiarization period. Any other line excludes your original line of progression.
    3. (i)           Any jobs outside the lines of progression as “noted” below the displacement line in Appendix E, held by a junior employee and which they are capable of performing.
  • Any jobs outside the lines of progression, “noted” above the displacement line in Appendix E, held by a junior employee provided they have held a bid and performed that job for a period exceeding thirty (30) consecutive days and can still perform that job efficiently with a familiarization period.
    1. Exceptions to this Article shall be those employees in the category of tradesmen and apprentices. It is not the intent of this Article to prevent tradesmen and apprentices from bumping within their own trade from department to department.
    2. Recall from layoff will be on the basis of plant seniority from among those people who can still perform that job efficiently with a familiarization period. The employee with the greatest job seniority within the line of progression demoted or laid off due to lack of work shall have the right to their regular job before those with less job seniority in that line of progression. Employees called must return to their original line of progression or bid job and be willing to promote to any job where they possess job seniority.
    3. Exceptions to the above shall be when you cannot hold a position in the plant because of layoff using your plant seniority the effected employee or employees must bump the lowest possible job in their own line of progression.

Note: The familiarization period mentioned in the above provisions shall be a period not exceeding two (2) shifts.

  • Rules for Bumping – Displaced Employees Only
    1. Time Limits for Bumping

A displaced employee wishing to exercise their bumping rights must do so within ten (10) calendar days from time of displacement.

  1. Before Being Displaced for One Year
  • An employee who has not been displaced from their original line of progression for one (1) year will not accumulate job seniority in another line of progression.
  • An employee displaced for less than one (1) year shall not progress within another line of progression during times of vacancies (except as noted in 12.10 (f)). During times of cutback the employee will maintain their position in another line of progression using plant seniority. If an employee is unable to maintain their position in another line of progression they will be displaced from that line of progression.
  • For clarification it is understood that working overtime in the line of progression an individual has been displaced from does not constitute a recall to the line of progression for the purposes of this article.
    1. After being displaced for One Year
      • After one (1) year of displacement an employee shall lose all job seniority in their original line of progression and shall not be entitled to recall to their original line of progression.
      • After one (1) year of displacement the line of progression into which an employee bumped will become their regular line of progression. An employee shall be inserted into the line of progression with job seniority in the new line of progression at the position they bumped and job seniority from the day they bumped.

During periods of cutback an employee shall regress and progress within their new line of progression according to job seniority. Plant seniority will maintain an employee on a bottom job within a line of progression.