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The Local Labour Council Throughout The Years

Mr. Skurjat compared the union contract negotiations to a yo-yo. The company would agree to the financial aspects of the contract but would back down on its commitments in this area of agreement to compensate for non-monetary items of the contract it agreed to afterwards.

Mr. Skuriat said that union security was important to the union members and they asked that it be strong enough that the company would not be able to engage in union-busting tactics again. At this stage of the negotiations Mr. Pammet, the sole negotiator for the company, agreed to a wage increase of sixteen cents the first year of the contract and an increase of four cents for each remaining year of the three-year contract.

After Mr. Pammet agreed to the Union Security clause he retracted his offer of twenty-four cents over the life of the contract and changed it to twenty-two cents with fourteen cents to be paid when the contract was signed and four cents each remaining year of the contract.

Mr. Skurjat said that another point of contention was that the company insisted that its toolmakers not be included in the bargaining unit. However the certification granted by the Ontario Labour Relations Board had included the toolmakers in the bargaining unit. Mr. Skurjat said the matter was settled after the union and company lawyers met to discuss it.

The union at this point thought an agreement had been reached and recommended to their membership that it be accepted. A majority agreed to accept the contract as offered, that is, the new offer of fourteen cents the first year and five cents each subsequent year of the three-year agreement.

Included in the package was a lump sum payment of twenty-five dollars in lieu of retroactive pay. At this point in the negotiations Mr. Skuriat said Mr. Parnmet backed down on his twenty-five dollar offer saying he had given in on the toolmakers being included in the bargaining unit and he wanted something in return. The something that he wanted was the twenty-five dollar lump sum payment. After further negotiations he offered fifteen dollars or six cents an hour for the last year of the agreement.

It was at this point that the union decided that the negotiations were not getting anywhere and the union decided to strike as soon as legally possible.

Mr. Skurjat said "that the union was prepared to sit down and meet the company at any time and settle the matter."

Mr. Skurjat also commanded the police on duty near the picket lines for their gentlemanly behaviour and for not taking sides.

An ex parte injunction was granted by Mr. Justice J. L. King on December 20th on the complaint of the company.

Attempts at mediation and conciliation of the dispute were made by Members of the Ministerial Association, the President of the Peterborough and District Labour Council and the Area Representative for the Canadian Labour Congress, the M.L.A. for Peterborough, the Mayor of Peterborough, the Chief Conciliation Officer of the Department of Labour for the Province of Ontario and the Deputy Minister of Labour for the Province of Ontario.

According to a newspaper advertisement in the Peterborough Examiner of Wednesday, February 23, 1966, purchased by the Peterborough Labour Council Injunctions Committee, workers' wages at the plant were $1.12 an hour and in a few cases up to $1.17 an hour.

A decision was made by a meeting of the Labour Council to hold a demonstration against the use of injunctions in labour disputes.

The demonstration took place on the 23rd and again on the 24th of February. About four hundred representatives of various unions in Peterborough took part in the demonstrations on the 23rd and a lesser amount on the 24th.

It was indicated widely in the press that the Attorney General would take action against the demonstration and he did.

The union movement claimed and still do that the demonstration was an orderly demonstration against the use of injuctions in labour disputes and was not in violation of the picketing injunction.

Twenty-seven people were named in the summonses issued by the Attorney General. People named in the summonses were Victor Skurjat, Representative, T.W.U.A.; Charles "Bud" Clarke, Organizing Director of T.W.U.A.; William Mulders, President, Peterborough and District Labour Council; Stanley Rouse, Secretary of Peterborough and District Labour Council; George Rutherford, Vice-President of Peterborough and District Labour Council; Bill Woodbeck, Representative, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America; Daniel Dean, Representative, International Association of Machinists; Merton Pearse, William Staunton, Bruce Castle, Michael Gahagan, Clarence Wilson, Harry Woodbeck, Allen Rice, James Welch, Jack Urquart, Carl Ainsworth, Robert Sarginson, Carl Jensen, John Pacey, Lockie Longhurst, Patrick Maloney, Robert Beubiah, Edward Shore, Robert Kelly Jr., John McGlennon, Victor Doughty from Bridgenorth, and Allen Rice.

One name appears twice on the list and some were unfamiliar to the Injunction Committee.

In the debate in the Provincial Legislature with respect to the mass arrests and the demonstration even the spokesman for the Government, Mr. Rowntree, agreed that there had been no violence at the demonstration, that there had been repeated futile attempts at conciliation and mediation, and even on the latest attempt on Tuesday of that week, February 25th, the company had refused to attend meetings called by the Department of Labour. He added that the law provided for the injured party to take the alleged offender before the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

Mr. Donald MacDonald, Leader of the New Democratic Party, added the cogent comment: "Meanwhile the strikers go to jail."