The union representing Hampton’s operations here may have voted to strike but both sides are working on setting up negotiating dates in hopes of reaching a new contract.
The old contract, which was for five-years, ended June 30 and talks broke off July 23 with the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1-2017 voting to take a strike vote.
That resulted in an overwhelming mandate to take to the picket lines when 1,509 of the 1,629 members who voted said they are in favour of job action.
“The USW bargaining committee spoke today and the employer group will be contacted to line up dates for future talks. Once that has been determined we shall release the date,” said Local 1-2017 president Brian O’Rourke Aug. 15.
At issue are wages and benefits as well as isues including leave for members struggling with domestic violence, union representation and pension funding improvement.
O’Rourke declined to get into negotiating specifics, saying “we shall leave our bargaining for the bargaining table and not through media.”
But he did say the previous five-year contract provided for total wage increases of 13 percent overall with tradespeople also seeing a 50 cent an hour increase in each of the 5 years prior to the percentage increases being added.
Hampton president Steve Zika also declined to discuss specifics, saying comment should come from the Council of Northern Interior Forest Industry Relations (CONIFER) which represents companies in the north and south into the Cariboo.
“We remain optimistic that an agreement can be reached between the industry and the union,” Zika said.
Approximately 120 Hampton workers in Burns Lake are represented by the Steelworkers.
Companies involved in the negotiations also include Tolko and West Fraser mills in Williams Lake and Quesnel, Conifex mills in Fort St. James and Mackenzie, and Lakeland, Canfor operations at Fort St. John, Houston, Isle Pierre and Prince George and Dunkley Lumber near Quesnel and Prince George.