GSU has been urging employers to show appreciation for the additional risk being experienced and the added effort of employees who are continuing to work in essential sectors of the economy. As part of GSU’s effort, general secretary Hugh Wagner wrote to Nutrien and Viterra on April 13. (Wagner’s correspondence is reprinted, below.)
Nutrien replied in writing on April 21 (read that reply below) and Viterra replied verbally on April 28. Both companies declined the employee recognition measures proposed by GSU or any additional recognition.
“I am disappointed with the response by these two employers,” said Hugh Wagner. “These are extraordinary times that call for a much better and more generous employer acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication of their employees.”
Trouw Nutrition and Grain Millers Canada Corp. step up
Click here to learn more about two employers of GSU members who have gone out of their way to acknowledge their employees’ commitment and dedication with more than just words.
Correspondence with Viterra
from: Hugh Wagner
to: Angela Zborosky
cc: Josh Fink; Bill Roszell
date: Apr 13, 2020
subject: Employee Recognition During the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 13, 2020
Ms. Angela Zborosky
Director of Employee and Labour Relations
Human Resources
Viterra Inc.
Regina, SK
Re: Employee Recognition During the COVID-19 Pandemic
During the COVID-19 Pandemic Canadians have recognized that there are sectors of the economy/society beyond the frontlines of health care that are also essential to our collective well-being. In response to the situation various employers have chosen to recognize the efforts of workers many of whom are going the extra mile to keep the system functioning.
In recognition of employees’ commitment and dedication during this difficult time I am writing to propose that Viterra award all employees a two (2) percent across the board performance increase to their rates of pay effective April 1, 2020 in addition to paying out incentive bonuses for the past year.
Furthermore, since access to dental and other healthcare services are unavailable or restricted at this time and bearing in mind that employees pay their share of benefit plan premiums until their last day of work I propose that the employee benefits plans be amended to continue coverage for employees who retire for an extended period of time.
I also propose that Viterra temporarily amend the employee benefits plan to provide coverage to seasonal and temporary employees commencing on their date of hire.
I would appreciate it if Viterra’s senior management team would consider the above proposals. I look forward to a reply.
Sincerely,
Hugh
Hugh Wagner General Secretary
Grain and General Services Union (ILWU • Canada)
Correspondence With Nutrien
From: Hugh Wagner
Sent: April 13, 2020
To: ‘Cheryl Skiba’
Cc: ‘Roger Bortis’; ‘Kelsey Schaeffer’ >; ‘Dale Markling’
Subject: Employee Recognition During the COVID-19 Pandemic – Nutrien
Without Prejudice
April 13, 2020
Ms. Cheryl Skiba
Senior Human Resource Manager (Canada)
Nutrien Ag Solutions (Canada) Ltd.
Regina, SK
Cheryl,
Re: Employee Recognition During the COVID-19 Pandemic
During the COVID-19 Pandemic Canadians have recognized that there are sectors of the economy/society beyond the frontlines of health care that are also essential to our collective well-being. In response to the situation various employers have chosen to recognize the efforts of workers many of whom are going the extra mile to keep the system functioning.
Notwithstanding the fact that GSU and Nutrien are currently engaged in agreement renewal collective bargaining, I am writing to propose that Nutrien, in recognition of employees’ efforts during this difficult time, award all employees a two (2) percent performance increase to their rates of pay in addition to paying out existing incentive bonuses for the past year.
I also propose that Nutrien temporarily amend the dental care, prescription drug, vision care and healthcare portions of the employee benefits plan to provide coverage to seasonal and temporary employees commencing on their date of hire and to grandfather coverage (for an extended period of time) to employees who retire.
I would appreciate it if you and your colleagues would consider and reply to the above proposals.
Sincerely,
Hugh
Hugh Wagner General Secretary
Grain and General Services Union (ILWU • Canada)
From: Cheryl Skiba
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2020
To: Hugh Wagner
Cc: Roger Bortis; Kelsey Schaeffer; Dale Markling
Subject: Employee Recognition During the COVID-19 Pandemic – Nutrien
Without Prejudice
April 21, 20120
Good Afternoon Hugh,
Thank you for your email of April 13, 2020, and of earlier today.
I hope you and your colleagues and all families continue to be safe and healthy during this time. We are happy to report that the Canada Region has remained COVID-19 positive free to date. We believe our aggressive approach to this matter has served us well. We are hopeful this pattern continues.
In response to your proposal, we offer the following:
- As Dale will confirm, at the bargaining table we were not in agreement to providing any standardized across the board increase. Our position has not changed.
- As you know, the Incentive Program is not a term of the Collective Agreement and therefore Nutrien paid out all incentives, based on 2019 business results, on March 13, 2020.
- As you will see from our employee reports, we continue to hire, and do business as usual. You will have probably heard in our local news that other industries are laying off a large majority of their workforce. Even in the current environment, we see no need to make any changes to any of our benefit plans. We continue to do business in the same fashion as pre-COVID-19 and can employ a full complement of temporary staff. We certainly hope this continues.
- With regard to any retirees, we are always open to having discussions with retirees about a potential in change their retirement date (as we have already experienced) or keep their retirement date as originally planned (which we have also experienced).
We would like to suggest that we return to the negotiating table, so that we can continue down the path to finalizing an agreement. In light of our current environment, it will have to be in a digital manner such that we can maintain the social distancing. I attach instructions for the platform that we use internally, as it can be used externally as well. I ask that you and your team review and determine if this is doable for your group. A lot of our external meetings (ie Nutrien’s AGM) are being held digitally, and believe where we are at in negotiations that this would be appropriate. If you have any alternative options, we are of course open to assessing those as well.
Finally Hugh, while I have indicated that Nutrien Ag Solutions has so far not been directly impacted by COVID-19, this may change. Given this, we think it is in both the employee’s interest, as well as the Company’s, to conclude negotiations sooner as opposed to later.
I look forward to hearing from you regarding our proposal to return to the table.
I did receive your voice mail on Friday, but just haven’t had a chance to return your call. If you would prefer, once you have had a chance to review this email, let’s set up some time to discuss.
Thanks,
Cheryl Skiba, CPHR, CPM
Sr. Manager, Human Resources – Canada