Hello Members,
On March 13th, 2025, Rogers Communications unexpectedly requested federal government conciliation with USW 1944, Unit 60 members in Abbotsford after only 4 days of bargaining.
Under the Canada Labour Code, requesting federal conciliation during bargaining is the first of several steps required prior to initiating a lockout or strike. In their request they suggested your bargaining team was stalling and repeating the same discussions that were already bargained in Vancouver and Surrey in 2023. But, as they well know, Abbotsford bargaining is not some kind of continuation of Vancouver/Surrey bargaining. These are distinct rounds of bargaining for distinct certifications under labour law. As we all know, Abbotsford members were not privy to those bargaining discussions and are focused on improving the collective agreement we have with the company. Accepting anything blindly without discussion would leave us open to re-interpretation and endanger our jurisdiction. It is imperative that we do our due diligence and ensure that anything we agree to at the table is done with clarity and understanding on both sides, since ambiguity in bargaining only ever helps the employer.
We have experienced the company's attempts to enforce some of Surrey and Vancouver's language on Abbotsford members, yet Rogers isn't so quick to reference those CBAs when we ask for equal pay for equal work. Ironically, your bargaining committee originally asked for a quick and simple contract with pay equality and a three-year term to match up with Surrey and Vancouver. They said no to both proposals. Discussions continued as we attempted to understand and clarify our jurisdictional rights and to secure our Abbotsford work with the removal of all outside contractors that would exclude both IBEW and other USW workers.
Throughout the first four days, we have insisted Abbotsford's 25 members are looking for a fair contract with job security.
Unfortunately, Rogers’ actions seem to indicate it is not interested in either fairness or security.
To underscore this sentiment, this week Rogers issued lockout notice to the 26 members in the Kootenays who were newly unionized by IBEW 213 and bargaining their first contract. In its first two years, Rogers seems to be on the attack to bully, demean, and belittle the skilled western Canadian technicians they inherited from Shaw despite committing to the federal government that they would create thousands of more stable jobs after the takeover. When they promise the moon to get approval from the feds and treat workers like this, it's no wonder we push for clarity and understanding at the bargaining table when our very livelihoods are on the line.
Abbotsford won’t be bullied. We will defend our work that we see being taken away from us.
We appreciate your solidarity and will provide more updates as they unfold.
In Solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee
