Workers On Picket Lines

Workers at several Tolko mills in BC are on strike today after mediated talks on a new collective agreement broke down.

The employees are off the job for what is expected to be just one day at the White Valley operation in Lumby and Heffley Creek near Kamloops.

Marty Gibbons, president of the United Steelworkers Local 1417, says they are looking what he calls a fair contract that reflects the profits the companies are earning.

“We want a contract that reflects profits,” Gibbons told CFJC Today in Kamloops. “We’re not saying that we expect all the profits, but we expect a fair contract that actually sees the workers who earn those profits benefit from the profits they earn. Now, we have a very reasonable offer in front of the employers, and we’ve had nothing but difficulty bargaining with them. They’ve taken a very aggressive approach, and our members have basically had enough.”