IAM, IBEW locals ratify six-year deal

Local members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the International Association of Aerospace Workers last night ratified a six-year contract with Abitibi-Consolidated.
Members with IAM Local 771 ratified the deal by 78 percent. Numbers for the IBEW Local 1774 vote were unknown by press time.
Mill manager Jim Gartshore remarked this was “very good news” for the Fort Frances mill.
“We have a six-year agreement with all of our locals and we’re looking forward to six years of good relations and prosperity,” he remarked.
“We’ve certainly given the employer labour stability for six years,” echoed Brian Short, an IAM Grand Lodge rep who sat on the bargaining unit for both unions.
“Let’s hope to see some employer stability in the next six years as a reciprocal of that deal,” he added.
Gartshore said the deal struck with IBEW Local 1774 and IAM Local 771 was very similar to the pattern set in the agreement reached last month with the striking Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union locals.
“It allows for a lump sum [$2,750] in the first year, followed by five years of two percent raises,” he noted. “And there’s some significant improvements to the pension plan.“
Short agreed the contract was a good one compared “with the pattern that’s already been set in the industry.”
“We were hoping to have our specific concerns addressed that maybe weren’t addressed in the pattern,” he remarked. “To that end, the membership believed it.
“That’s what matter most,” he stressed. “The membership was satisfied with it.”
Abitibi-Consolidated and the two union locals had resolved local issues in October but talks to work out main-table issues were held off until after the five-month CEP strike ended.
The IAM and IBEW, who were laid off during the walkout, make up about 300 members of the mill’s workforce here.
Herman Pruys, president of IAM Local 771, and Dwayne Sletmoen, IBEW Local 1774 president, could not be reached for comment by press time today.