Polley Mine Lockout Irene Lanzinger, President of the BC Federation of Labour, will be attending the Mount Polley Mine Picket Line in support of USW Local 1-2017 miners currently involved in a lockout/strike. Monday, June 18, 2018 at 10:15 a.m. Bootjack Rd (access to Mount Polley Mine) ON THE LINE As our members are no doubt aware, the unionized workforce at Mount Polley Mine continues to maintain picket lines at entry points into the mine site. Unfortunately we have had little choice in this action as the Company started the labour dispute with a lockout at 3 a.m. on the morning of May 23rd. Despite a decisive strike vote of 96% in favour of a strike should it be required, no strike action was started. We have clearly indicated to the Company that it has been our intention to reach a mutually agreed upon, fair Collective Agreement reached through fair negotiation. Our committee continues to be available to meet the company at any time to (possibly) conclude negotiations. The Company’s response has been to cancel all scheduled meetings with your union bargaining committee, stating that there was no need to meet any further as their last proposal (dated May 9th) was their final position and they felt there was no further need to meet. This has brought us to an unfortunate impasse. We believe the company does not have the right to force an agreement upon our membership. There is no Collective AGREEMENT when only one party agrees. At this point it seems the company remains committed to running our unionized site with staff and contractors. This is without doubt causing hardship on both sides. Our membership is to be commended for their commitment to keeping our picket lines properly represented 7 days a week around the clock. Please go to CaribooRadio.Com on Facebook to learn more. #caribooradiostation #caribooradio #cariboocommunity #caribooradionews
