Unionized employees of the Halifax Shipyard are voting Sunday afternoon on whether to give their negotiating team a strike mandate.
The current collective agreement between Unifor Marine Workers Local 1 and the Halifax Shipyard expires at the end of the month. About 800 of the union’s members, ranging from electricians to metal fabricators, work at the shipyard.
Irving employees are in the middle of constructing Arctic and offshore patrol vessels. A large centre section of the first one, HMCS Harry DeWolf, is now visible outside the massive assembly hall on the Halifax waterfront.
The Halifax Shipyard building is four football fields in length and 48 metres high. (Submitted by Irving Shipbuilding Inc.)
Formal bargaining started a month ago and the two sides say they’ve spent four days at the table so far.
Sean Lewis, Irving Shipbuilding’s director of communications, said the two sides are still working on scheduling talks with a conciliator. The province appointed one after the company’s Nov. 23 request, he said.
Break time, sick leave, seniority discussed
The union has invited its members to an off-site meeting this afternoon to discuss the bargaining process.
On Friday, Natalie Clancy, a spokeswoman for Unifor, said the union would not be releasing any statements about the meeting to the media.
Based on previous statements by the employer, and a response by the union, it appears the contentious issues include work breaks, seniority and paid sick time.
Irvings says it offered 2 proposals
In a public statement on Nov. 23, the Halifax Shipyard said it had offered the union two proposals.
“We are disappointed that we were unable to move bargaining forward through mutual discussions. We are hopeful that an outside party can assist in restarting negotiations, as we believe a negotiated agreement is the best option for the Halifax Shipyard and our shipbuilders,” it said.
In a later statement, Irving said it wants to combine the morning break with the lunch period, paying employees for the extra 10 minutes at lunch.
Unifor’s bargaining team told employees that the company’s first proposal was “33 pages of major concessions” from the union, including getting rid of seniority, break periods and “most safety provisions.”
Technicians work on a hull at Halifax Shipyard in 2013. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)
The union’s statement said it was asking for four sick days a year “for unforeseen illness.
“Their proposals do not reflect improved or modernized working conditions, as the removed of breaks and safety provisions are not improvements,” it said.
In 2010, Irving won the contract to build between six and eight of the Arctic offshore patrol vessels for $2.3 billion and 15 warships for $26 billion.
There have been delays with construction and Irving is now planning to build five or six patrol vessels. The shipyard is supposed to finish the first ship in 2018. The last one is expected to be complete in 2022.