Do you remember the employer who refused to take collective agreement negotiations seriously? We recently posted an article that compared the employer’s willingness to engage meaningfully to the amount of time it took to get fast food.  Stéphane Bissonette, the Chief Financial Officer for the last three years at Great Lakes Pilotage Authority (GLPA), is the employer’s lead negotiator.

Stephane has not come to the table willing to work with the Union. Instead he has only a list of things he wants to take away. He is wanting to change existing language in the collective agreements. He wants to remove previously negotiated benefits.  He is asking for concessions that will result in members hours being cut and therefore causing them to work an extra one out of every 4 years in order to retire at the same level as if they were to retire today. That is 25% longer for the same benefit!

100% of our members at GLPA are against Stéphane’s way of negotiating. They have been without a collective agreement for three years but are not willing to accept losing what took years to build. GLPA is being unreasonable.

Nobody wants a Stéphane at the negotiating table.  Our bargaining teams come to the table in hopes of working with the employer to achieve a fair agreement. Not to be ignored. Not to be given less consideration and thought than the time it takes to order the type of pizza you want.