Ivaco workers press
for second vote
richard.mahoney@eap.on.ca
of the mill.
L’O RIGNAL
One of the largest private sector employers
in the area, Ivaco employs about 460
employees.
An internal drive to save Ivaco Rolling
The melt shop closure will likely mean
Mills in L’Orignal has been launched
that the entire plant will be shut before the
following the company’s announcement
end of the year, observes Richard Leblanc, a
it will close the melt shop portion of the
staff representative with the union.
steel mill in July.
“We are asking the employer if there is any
Union members’ rejection of a pay freeze
alternative,” said Leblanc following the
and fringe benefits concessions is cited for
announcement of the melt shop closure.
the planned shutdown.
The majority of the members voted in
However, union member Steve
favour of accepting austerity measures that
Berniquez says that he and some co-workers
would be contained in a five-year agreement,
are circulating petitions asking the United
says Leblanc. “But in order for that to be
Steelworkers to organize another vote on
accepted, all three locals had to vote in favour.
the new contract offer. “There will be a
One of the three said No, so it wasn’t
cessation of operations” at the melt shop
accepted.”
effective July 16, company President and
Ivaco has maintained that the new
CEO Giorgio Piliu writes in an April 12
contract was needed before the corporation
letter
to
United
Steelworkers
would proceed with an investment valued
representatives.
at $80 million.
The decision came after about 340
However, “Some employees thought that
unionized workers rejected a pay freeze
was just a bluff,” says Berniquez. “A lot of
and fringe benefits concessions, measures
people voted against the contract when they
the company says are essential to the future
did not have all the information. They
thought that this was just a bargaining tactic.”
Clarification
That impression was reinforced by
comments by Glengarry-Prescott-Russell
A recent article in The Tribune-Express
M.P. P. Jean-Marc Lalonde, relates Leblanc.
erroneously inferred that Ontario
Le Chenail returns to Le Chenail
The M.P.P. indicated that the expansion had
Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli planned
been approved by Ivaco’s head office in
to intervene in the Ivaco Rolling Mills file.
Photo Richard Mahoney
Chicago. “The members thought the
The article indicated that Chiarelli
Le Centre culturel Le Chenail is returning to La Maison de l’île, situated on Le Chenail,
investment was a fait accompli and that they
planned to meet management and union
or The Snye, from which the organization takes its name. The cultural centre moves its
did not have to accept the cuts,” the union
representatives about concessions the
office from the Knights of Columbus hall on William Street to the heritage building after
representative said.
company said it needed before proceeding
the group and Hawkesbury council agreed to a new three-year lease. Le Chenail is
One of the largest private sector employers
with an expansion at the L’Orignal steel
proposing to assume responsibility for the tourist information centre also located in La
in the area, Ivaco employs about 460
mill.
Maison de l’île. This idea is being studied by town council.
employees.
We apologize for the error.
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VOUS INVITENT AU DÉBAT DES CANDIDATS DE GLENGARRY-PRESCOTT-RUSSELL en vue des élections fédérales du 2 mai 2011 LE LUNDI 25 AVRIL 2011, DE 19 H À 21 H CENTRE RÉCRÉATIF DE ST-ISIDORE
INVITÉS : Julie Bourgeois (Libéral) Pierre Lemieux (Conservateur)
AU PROGRAMME : Allocution des candidats Questions du public Questions des médias Mot de la fin des candidats
Sylvie Lemieux (Vert) Denis Séguin (NPD)
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