April 5, 2023

To: All Local 1 (Viterra Country Operations) and Local 2 (Viterra Head Office) members

UPDATE #11



Update from April 4 & 5, 2023

Yesterday and today, we resumed negotiations with the company. They presented their latest offer yesterday and we worked last night and prepared our reply, which we offered this morning.

Your bargaining committee is, to say the least, disappointed with the company.

We understand that both sides may not agree or have a difference of opinion, but when your committee speaks, about the realities of members who work second jobs or about members struggling to keep a balance between work and home, the company tries to disregard us. We are told that is just our perception of how bad things are and they don't acknowledge the very real situations workers are facing. It is very disappointing.

But we haven't backed down.

Bargaining has reached a point where we are close to our limit of what you, our members, have told us to fight for. But your committee wants to report to members personally and hear what you all have to say. We will begin to plan and schedule bargaining update meetings that will begin after our next session. Regardless of the outcome of those next dates, we feel that it is time to meet.

We want you to hear from us, and we need to hear from you.

Whatever happens on April 26 & 27, we need to meet with members in May.

We will hold town hall ZOOM meetings and in-person meetings for each Sub-Locals. Once we have the town hall meetings scheduled we will let everyone know, and staff representatives will in the coming weeks be arranging dates and time for Sub-Local meetings.

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STIP Update

This is not a bargaining update but an update on what has taken place since the STIP was withheld by Viterra in March.

Copies of the signed petitions were provided to Viterra Human Resources clearly stating our position that GSU views the withholding of the STIP as an unfair labour practice and interference in the bargaining process.

With March 31, 2023, passing and Viterra not releasing members' STIP, GSU filed an unfair labour practice with the Canada Labour Relations Board. This application points to the statutory freeze, in place as a result of bargaining, that we believe the company violated.

Getting the STIP released will not be done by petitions or legal action alone. But by the combination of those and the actions and constant voice of members speaking up and say "No, I won't work longer than 12 hours until you release our STIP." and "Pay us our STIP, and live up to the values that Viterra is supposed believe in."

If you and your co-workers want to do something to show the company you think they need to release the STIP, talk to your staff representative, make a plan and then do it!

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Bargaining Dates

Below are the current bargaining dates and details of what has occurred so far.

May 9, 10 and 11, 2023 - upcoming

April 26 & 27, 2023 - upcoming

April 4 & 5, 2023 - both sides met

Full update above.

March 7 & 8, 2023 - both sides met

The company and your committee each presented offers to bring both sides closer together but still not close enough. We kept up and reinforced that even though the company might not like certain proposals, they all came from you, the members, as a result of frustrations and anger about the current state of affairs.

January 31 & February 1, 2023 - both sides met

The company brought their money and wage offer and presented it to your committee. Your committee worked to review the offer and prepare a counter offer which was presented to the company on the second day. Your committee took a thoughtful approach and their counteroffer still maintained the focus and goal of achieving real gains for members. Including real wage increases and no aggregate pay, better hours or work language, clarity on car loading and understanding of the impact on workers and health and safety.

December 14 & 15, 2022 - both sides met

The company still did not bring any money or wage proposals but advised that they would next time. The company presented additional information about their proposals submitted, and your committee again said they wouldn't bargain with themselves and was frustrated about the time it has taken as we wait for the company to come to bargaining prepared.

November 24 & 25, 2022 - both sides met

The company still didn't bring money or wages to the table. Your committee again said we wouldn't negotiate until the company brings their money. We shared why we are asking for what we proposed because members told us they want and need these changes to the collective agreement.

November 16 & 17, 2022 - both sides met

Local 1 & 2 provided their full proposal package. Viterra provided some of their proposals but nothing about money or wages. We said we wouldn't change or withdraw any of our proposals until the company brought their entire package, including money and wages.

Local 1 & 2 Stories

Below is another collection of stories for you to read. These stories keep getting submitted and it is a powerful thing to read them as they come in. Members are telling their personal stories about hardship, frustration, hope and fight. Know that the stories you submit will be seen and they do make a difference.

We also hope that sharing your story is helpful to you, saying what needs to be said and getting it out there can help.

If you haven't sent in your story or need to share a recent story, please follow the link below.

Share your Story

Any stories submitted will have any names or information removed to keep the member anonymous.

Local 1 & 2 Member Stories:

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"Due to the train never being on time, there are weeks we have to go into the negative on our banked overtime to make up the time that we miss if we get pushed off. There are overnight shifts where we are here for 8-12 hours waiting for cars and then they don't show up until the morning. 20 hour deadline on loading that is unachievable by our site. My only issues are scheduling for cars. During this harvest season every car spot day has been during the week and constantly gets pushed back to the weekend.

With an unachievable deadline we sit waiting for the train in a chance that they are earlier than originally stated as to get that headway in an attempt to reach our deadline.

Provided with shitty equipment from CP adding longer hours to our deadline we can't reach.

(IE CP provided 4 locos with breaks locking up and them expecting us to find a work around their faulty equipment.)

No pay rise for training that increases risk to us and our co-workers (Loco driving and Switching)

Not enough local staff to load a train, need to constantly borrow 1-2 people from other sites that are only available to work during the day. Meaning local staff are constantly pushed to the overnight shift even after raising concerns about not wanting to be on the overnight shift.""

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 "So if my story was to continue... it would read how I truly feel....Rage is probably the top. . I was requested to attend an Admin meeting mid November this year in Saskatoon. So first thing I did was question the time of the event. I am elderly and do not highway drive in winter especially in dark. Well a fellow employee had expressed her worries and was basically told that if she didn't attend for the full agenda that it she wouldn't be recognized... not really sure what TF that meant, but seemed fairly serious.   So I watched the weather Channel and worried constantly about traveling to this, last minute, Admin meeting.  F...I wish I would have called in sick. We finished at 3:30 pm ... got to Rosetown then headed south.  Roads were okay for awhile.  Then a shitshow.  Had nearly zero visibility and safely followed a semi, that actually stopped on the road cause he couldn't see. We finally made it home, but took an extra hour.

How can a company that strives on safely send a bunch of women out on the road in November to a f'n worthless meeting.  I said I would never do that again 

How does a company, that shoves safety down our throats get away with this. You know , the last time I drove in the winter and in the dark was when I got a call from the hospital that my sister was dieing... that was 15 years ago....so I f'n risked my life for Viterra???....my last mistake."

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"We use to work 13.3 modified shifts here 3 days per wk. two shifts. Now they have changed to either 7-3 or 2-10 shifts Monday to Friday. Well suppose to be, now for a month we have been loading cars on one day on the wkend. So working 6 days per wk. Also the loading day isn't a 8 hr. day it's usually 12-13 hrs. or how ever long it takes to load 104 cars. Not only is this hard on family life as we get 1 day off a wk. With the cost of living/Fuel prices I am paying out of my pocket an extra $240 per month in fuel alone to come to work to make this company money. Hope this year i make more than the .16 cents per hr. raise that I got last year. Based on performance. That's a joke. After 34 1/2 years of service I have gave this company and that's all i get."

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"My work load had increased so much in the last few years I now have two stations I am responsible for and now have to worry about contracts!! CARs aren't to blame for that, the company needs to trust us to do our jobs and not demand more more more from us with no more time or money to do it!"

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"What if instead of focusing on acquiring new elevators, we focused on treating our employees fairly. Pay fairly, with fair working hours, and the support that we need to get the job done. How are you supposed to do a good job taking on more employees when you can't handle the ones that you've got? That's like trying to put out a house fire with water from the kitchen tap."

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If you have any questions about bargaining, specific bargaining issues or about sharing your story reach out to your staff representative or anyone on your bargaining committee.

On Behalf of your Bargaining Committee,

Steve Torgerson

GSU staff representative

Your GSU bargaining committee members are Local 1 – Jim Brown (Balgonie), Wilfred Harris (Carnduff), Shannon Antonenko (Lloydminster), David Barrett (Gull Lake) and Travis Brewer (Saskatoon); Local 2 – Sheila Tran, Howard Wilson and Kaylee Kruger; assisted by GSU staff representatives Steve Torgerson and Mason Van Luven.

Local 1 & 2 (Viterra) members will be the first to hear about what is taking place at the bargaining table. Email updates will be issued before the information is released in our Tuesday Members’ Memo.

Please share these updates with fellow GSU members who may not be on our bargaining update or Tuesday Members’ Memo email lists, and encourage them to sign-up for updates by contacting their GSU Staff Representative or their Local representative.