The sabres are not yet rattling but they are within arm's reach as the City of North Bay and the union representing hundreds of its municipal workers readies for negotiations with the current collective agreement set to expire on Dec. 31.
Brent Lavigne, CUPE Local 122's president says the union has given the city its notice to bargain and expects that process to get underway soon.
It seems negotiations have already informally begun, with the union pointing to the City of North Bay seeking bids for winter maintenance on two municipal snowplow routes.
"Due to ongoing recruitment challenges, the City has found it necessary to contract two rural snow plowing routes — the Four Mile Lake Road and Peninsula Road areas — for the upcoming season in order to maintain our current level of snow removal service," noted communications officer Gord Young in late September.
See related: City banking on outside help for two snowplow routes this winter
The RFQ for the snowplow routes was issued on Sept. 23, bidding closed on Oct. 11, and the contract was to be awarded on Oct. 25, presumably in advance of the first substantial snowfall. Except no subcontractor has been publicly identified. Lavigne has heard there were no bidders on the snowplow routes — an interesting twist to the dispute — but the principle of the matter remains.
"This should have been a bargaining issue, says Lavigne, "but they know we would’ve refused and not entertained any contracting out. That’s why they put it out before bargaining and didn’t eliminate any positions. In a nutshell, the city did bring this to the locals’ attention, but we did not confer as this implies that they asked for our opinion. They simply told us this was happening, and it was put out just days later. At no time has the union been OK with this as they have given us false information and excuses."
"No jobs are being lost as a result of this decision and the City of North Bay remains focused on delivering reliable winter road maintenance despite these staffing difficulties," Young adds. "Our top priority is ensuring residents do not experience a reduction in the quality of street clearing and winter road safety. The City does work regularly with contractors for parking lot plowing and other snow removal operations."
"Yes, no jobs will be eliminated now but I’m sure the next two jobs that become vacant will not be filled," responds Lavigne. "They also told us that they only have one spare plow truck, but they left out the fact that they've sold two trucks that could have been used as spares. 'Do you know how much it costs to buy this piece of equipment? It’s expensive,' we were told. No wonder we don’t have vehicles to plow the roads."
Lavigne acknowledges negotiations could be complex, with a movement already underway to raise wages for mechanics before they complete apprenticeships as municipal employees only to find greener pastures in the private sector. Since its inception in 1963, the union has never taken a strike action.
"We don’t have enough mechanics to fix the plow trucks at night if they break down. The local has met with the city numerous times over the last year or two to discuss market wage adjustments for our trade positions," Lavigne explains. "They won’t entertain any of it. The employer can’t recruit or retain anyone in these positions when they can go down the street to the ONR or other local shops and make $5 or $10 more an hour with the same benefits and pensions.
Lavigne admits the friction between the union that represents 300 workers and the employer is tangible.
"Over the last two years, the city has been creating intern positions, contract positions, and non-union/ non-management jobs like crazy. Non-union positions so they can pay them higher wages and be selective on who they hire, but with no managerial duties or responsibilities all the while doing the same work as union employees.
"I fear this is only the beginning of the push to privatize our city's services. It’s funny how we keep losing union jobs, but there’s never any loss of management jobs, only more of them."
