NorthwesTel and union both call for mediation — but don’t tell each other

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

The sound of honking horns filled the air last Friday, as drivers in passing cars showed their support for a handful of NorthwesTel workers picketing in front of the company’s Iqaluit office.

Last week’s picket line was the first in Nunavut since 375 NorthwesTel technicians and call-centre staff walked off the job May 27.

“The enthusiasm level wasn’t very high,” said Hugh Milmine, a service technician with 15 years’ service, and the Iqaluit strike captain. “I don’t think any of us expected it to last longer than two weeks.”

Thirteen full-time service technicians and six call-centre employees are on strike in Nunavut. “Six went home. They’re looking for other jobs. We’ll be lucky to see half of them come back,” Milmine said.

“We have three single mothers,” he said, glancing over to a small boy walking the line, holding a picket sign in one hand and his mother’s arm in the other. “They’ve been living on their NorthwesTel income.”

The company and the union have renewed negotiations several times since the strike began, but have been unable to reach an agreement. The sole area of conflict remaining is wages.

The union is asking for a 15-per-cent increase over three years, while NorthwesTel is offering 11.5 per cent over three years. In negotiations during the past two weeks, the two sides have come as close as one per cent away from a deal.

The company rejected the union’s last offer on June 14 “as it is even higher than the previous offer put forward by the union last week and creates a wider gap between the positions of the company and the union,” a NorthwesTel press release said.

$1 million in savings

NorthwesTel has saved almost $1 million in salaries and benefits to striking workers so far.

“They’re trying to starve our union out of existence,” said Cary Gryba, unit chairperson for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the union representing the workers.

Anne Kennedy Grainger, director of public affairs for NorthwesTel, confirmed that 45 per cent of the company’s $32 million in operating expenses goes to wages and benefits. That works out about $1.5 million in savings since the strike began on May 27.

However, she said, “We’ve incurred other expenses for management staff.”

This includes overtime pay for managers currently working 12-hour days. NorthwesTel pays employees twice their hourly rate in overtime. The company is paying managers at a rate Grainger refused to specify, calculated to be an average of the amount paid to unionized workers.

The two sides are engaging in a war of words through ads in the media, with NorthwesTel providing a list of phone numbers for customers to call for service and the IBEW directing customers to call the CRTC if their service requests aren’t filled promptly.

But the IBEW is concerned that a new NorthwesTel ad, called “A Fair Offer” suggests that the union’s requests may force an increase in local rates.

“We feel that our offer provides for a fair settlement and achieves a balance between employee and company interests and will not create an undue burden on our customers in the form of higher rates,” the ad says.

“How do we know they weren’t planning to raise rates anyway? They’re saying ‘Gee, because of this labour disruption, we might have to raise the rates and it’s all the union’s fault,’” Gryba said.

“It’s abundantly clear that their interest has never been to entertain a counter-proposal from us unless that proposal was an acceptance,” he said.

Conciliator available?

In early May, before the strike began, the two sides sat down with Bill Lewis, a Labour Canada representative from Vancouver, who acted as a conciliator.

“Nothing came of it,” Gryba said.

However, both sides are interested in bringing Lewis back as a mediator. NorthwesTel and the IBEW have both contacted Lewis, but, it seems, they haven’t discussed it with each other

“They [NorthwesTel] don’t even talk to him,” Gryba said.

But Grainger said the company has been in constant contact with Lewis and would welcome his help.

NorthwesTel is counting on the strike being settled before mid-July, when construction is scheduled to begin on projects under its service improvement plan.

“We’re hoping we’ll have a resolution before then,” Grainger said.

In the meantime, the company has decided to withhold information it thinks might inflame the situation.

NorthwesTel won’t release its annual report, which it usually makes public in the spring, at least until the strike is over, Grainger said.

“We decided not to release it because it could be misinterpreted or misused,” she said. “Particularly the part about profit. We’re not a non-profit. We’re a business.”