Staff
After 27 hours of non-stop bargaining, CEP Local 324-99 and Ainsworth Engineered LP in Barwick reached a new tentative agreement yesterday.
“All I can say right now is the deal includes key language and monetary improvements, and absolutely no concessions,” Stephen Boon, CEP national representative in Dryden, said in a press release issued yesterday afternoon.
“All planned strike action is now officially suspended pending the outcome of a ratification vote,” he noted.
Meetings are scheduled to take place this evening (Aug. 19) at the Emo Legion.
Specific contract details are not being released until they are formally presented to the CEP membership.
CEP strike action that initially was supposed to take place at midnight Sunday was postponed pending the outcome of renewed talks between the union and Ainsworth, which resumed Tuesday.
CEP members had rejected a final offer put forth by Ainsworth’s OSB mill in Barwick, and voted for strike action by more than 97 percent at meetings held July 20.
