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Strike over

After being on strike for five-days, Bombardier employees have voted to go back to work.
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CAW member Bombardier employees voted in favour of going back to work at the Moose Hall on Aug. 13, 2011. (Jeff Labine, tbnewswatch.com)
After being on strike for five-days, Bombardier employees have voted to go back to work.

The Canadian Auto Workers Local 1075, which represents more than 700 people at the plant, went on strike Tuesday but was able to reach a tentative deal with the company the following day.

More than 500 employees voted at the Moose Hall on Saturday, with about 94 per cent in favour of the deal.

Some of the terms negotiated were a cost of living increase as well as an overall increase to employee wages and pensions.

CAW Local 1075 president Dominic Pasqualino said it was good news for the employees and probably one of the shortest strikes in the plant’s history.

“We’re very happy about the settling of the strike but we just wished that we didn’t have to go on strike at all,” Pasqualino said. “I think 26 hours before getting a tentative agreement might have been a record for this plant.

“If (Bombardier) had pulled off those concessions a day earlier all of this could have been avoided and our people could have been working all through this and would have saved the company a lot of money.”

Pasqualino said the big reason for the strike was to protect the health care benefits for early retirees. The company tried to remove the benefits three years ago but the union was able to put a stop to it.

If Bombardier tries that again in three years then the workers will go on strike again, he said.

But there were some compromises in the deal. Employees will now have a seven-day operation instead of a Monday to Friday workweek.

"We’ve never had a seven-day operation before,” he said. “We have a language now that introduces a seven-day operation so I mean that’s huge. People will be working on the weekends. We still have to hammer out the official documentation of that and really negotiate that.”

Prior to the results, employees said they felt confident that they would be returning to work.

Peter Stankevicus, who has worked at Bombardier for 34 year, said he was happy with what was in the contract.

“I thought the bargaining committee did well,” Stankevicus said. “We didn’t give up any concessions. The main thing is that people are going to be back to work. We lose financially and every other way if we are out there on strike.”

Joyanne, who did not feel comfortable giving her full name, said her husband has worked at Bombardier for 26 years and hoped he would go back to work because they couldn’t afford to live on $200 a week while he was on strike.

“It’s just awful,” Joyanne said. “I think most women feel that way. No one wants a strike. Everyone wants to get back to work.”

But not everyone felt confident that the strike would end so soon.

Al Bowen joined the company about three months ago and said it was the first strike he’s ever been on and thought it went well.

“I don’t know much about unions but the senior guys that I was talking to thought we were going to stay on strike a lot longer,” Bowen said. “I’m just very happy to be going back to work and I’m sure everyone else is.”



--- Follow Jeff Labine on Twitter: @Labine_reporter




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