TUESDAY, October 9, 2012
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LOCAL NEWS
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MAKING A JAVA STOP Offering something different at Saturday morning’s Kamloops Farmers’ Market in the downtown core, the Coffee Bus serves up hot brew to market customers on a brisk autumn morning. The market will run Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. until the end of the month. George Wycherley/KTW
Domtar workers vote today By Andrea Klassen STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
Days after more than 99 per cent of workers at Domtar Corp. rejected an offer and voted in favour of a strike, the company and union have reached a tentative agreement. Murray Matheson, president of Communication, Energy and Paperworks Local 10-B, said the new agreement was reached late Wednesday, Oct. 3, after two full days of talks. The union’s approximately 350 Domtar members will decide whether to accept the deal in a ratification vote today (Oct. 9). “It feels really good,” said
Matheson of the agreement. “Of course, it’s a very stressful time not only for the people at the bargaining table but also the whole membership and the staff people and everybody. I think it’s just a load off everybody’s minds to come to this point — understanding we still have to ratify it.” Matheson said the union was seeking a pattern deal based on a five-year agreement Canfor Pulp negotiated with its Prince George workers earlier this year. The contract will see workers get lump-sum payments of $3,750 in the first two years and wage increases of two, 2.5 and three per cent over the remaining
three years. Matheson said wages increases weren’t what led the union to reject the company’s previous offer, however. “Ironically, the wages never changed. It was about some other parts of the contract,” he said. “Their original offer included some attacks on the pattern bargaining, so we couldn’t accept those.” Domtar spokeswoman Bonny Skene said the company is pleased to have a tentative agreement in place. “We are looking forward to hearing what the eventual outcome is from the membership,” she said.
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General Membership October Dinner Meeting
Wednesday, October 10, 2012 3rd Floor, Vista Room, Kamloops Convention Centre 5:30 pm Registration 6:30 pm Dinner program begins
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