Striking employees from the Canadian Automobile Association's (CAA) South Central Ontario (SCO) offices have been on the picket line since Oct. 29 – setting a record for the longest union strike according to union stewards on the picket line.
“This is the longest that any union within CAA has been on strike,” said Carolyn Bain, 879 union steward and member services consultant at CAA South Central Ontario, on the picket line Friday in Guelph.
Fighting for livable wages, the unfreezing of wages and the hiring of more staff to reduce the overload, the strike action by Teamsters Local 879 has closed the CAA Stores in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and London.
With negotiations at a standstill, a deal that was under negotiation was pulled from the table and communication between the parties ceased until January.
A meeting to come back to the table is set for Feb. 16, just one week before all CAA stores across the province are planned to reopen on Feb. 21.
“I think it will be the same, minus what we did have negotiated in there, I definitely don't think it will be better,” said Cambridge CAA travel agent and 879 union steward Brenda Wheeler.
“There’s no communication until January, and then they took the deal we had kind of negotiated off the table, so now we don't know what they’re going to present but we have a meeting with them to come back to the table on Feb. 16,” said Wheeler. “But who knows, it could be the original offer or it could be nothing.”
“We also took on other travel agents that have left the company or went to a different position within the company, we are taking on their files, the member services are doing extra work, short-staffed, they’re just bringing things up of them do to that have nothing to do with their job,” said Wheeler.
Wheeler said the employees at the London location are not currently travelling, however, the Guelph, Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo employees are banding together to travel to picket lines.
With the Waterloo location closed, the group has omitted the location, rotating between the three locations.
The strike action has seen employees on the picket line every weekday, including during the recent snowstorms and temperatures dipping to -20 C.
Tony Tsai, CAA vice-president of corporate communications and services said out of respect for all parties at the bargaining table, CAA will not share or discuss any details in regards to the negotiations.
He added that he had no other update regarding the strike action.
