Two Week Strike Nets Gains for Machinists at Novelis!

Kingston, ON – “The two-week strike by members of IAM Local Lodge 54 at Novelis Incorporated is over. “The employer blinked first on June 29th and doubled the ‘Skilled Trades Upgrade’ to $1.35 per hour on base rate prior to the GWI percentage in the first year of the agreement,” explained IAM Grand Lodge Representative Bill Shipman. As a result, the new tentative agreement was ratified by a wide margin.
The 47 members consisting of provincially certified millwrights and electricians walked off the job at midnight June 17, 2012 after rejecting a tentative agreement.
The new three-year agreement provides for wages increases of 5.73 per cent in the first year and 2 per cent in each of the second and third years respectively.
The Novelis plant, formerly owned by ALCAN, produces specialty and industrial products for marine, transportation and other industrial sectors.
The IAM, among the largest industrial trade unions in North America, represents more than 700,000 active and retired members, and administers more than 5,000 contracts in transportation, woodworking, aerospace, manufacturing, healthcare and defense related industries.