News release
February 14, 2007
Chocolate to sweeten the deal at IMP Group Limited
Halifax- On Valentine's Day, PSAC members working at IMP Group Limited poured their chocolate coated hearts out in an attempt to soften management's stone cold heart.
In front of the company's headquarters in Halifax, the workers distributed heart shaped chocolates to managers and other employees as they entered the building. The workers hoped their gesture will be seen as an expression of their heartfelt desire to reach a negotiated settlement with IMP Group Limited.
“We are hoping the company will realize the benefits of open and positive negotiations with the employees' union,” said Greg Isberg, president of PSAC Union Local 21018 in Comox, British Columbia. Isberg is also a member of the PSAC negotiating team at IMP Group Limited. “We want to maintain peaceful and harmonious relationships with the company, but management seems intended in creating a confrontation,” he added.
After 5 months of negotiations, the company has agreed to settle only minor topics while the important issues of the collective agreement remain unresolved. The PSAC had to ask the federal government to appoint a conciliation officer because of the lack of progress in the bargaining process. The negotiations with the conciliation started in Halifax on February 12, 2007
IMP Group Limited has a contract with the National Defense to maintain and repair Canadian search and rescue Cormorant helicopters. On February 6 and 7, the PSAC members set up information picket lines in front of three plants of the IMP Group Limited in Comox, B.C., Trenton, ON and Gander in NFLD expressing their frustration over management's attitude towards collective bargaining.
The workers feel that they provide Canadians with an important service: the maintenance and repair of search and rescue Cormorant helicopters. They are highly skilled and dedicated workers and they are currently the only ones with the skills to maintain and repair Cormorant helicopters in Canada. They want to ensure the safety of Canadian citizens who find themselves in need of search and rescues services and of the brave men and women of the Armed Forces who risk their lives on a daily basis "So Others May Live", the motto of the Search and Rescue Technicians of the Air Force.
For information:
Jeannie Baldwin, PSAC REVP (902) 445-0927, 902-275-7945 (cell)
Eugene Stone, President, PSAC Local 90120, Gander, (613) 859-0962
Nancy MacLean, PSAC Regional Representative (902) 443-3541
07-140207
Date Modified : 2010/07/28
