REGINA -- Grain handler Viterra Inc. (TSX:VT) plans to implement a "rotating lockout" next week for its Regina office and Saskatchewan operations and maintenance workers who rejected the company's latest contract offer.
The company, formerly called Saskatchewan Wheat Pool before it bought Winnipeg-based Agricore United, has served notice to the Grain Services Union that the rotating lockout will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. CT on July 7. The move will not keep employees from the work-place but requires them to report for their normal shifts under the terms of the company's offer.
"We've reached an impasse and at that point its within the rights of the employer ... to use the tools we have used," Viterra chief information officer Mike Brooks told The Canadian Press.
"This is called a rolling lockout. We are not physically locking employees out of the build-ing. This is a legal measure that allows us to implement our terms and conditions of the final offer that we presented to the union through the bargaining process."
More than 800 employees could be affected by the tactic, which essentially requires them to play by the company's rules even if those rules haven't been accepted by their union nego-tiators.
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Brooks said it's "a fairly common tool" used by employers in such situations. The lockout is intended to "encourage" the union to reach an agreement with Viterra and negotiations will continue, he said.
Viterra said the contract offer would give employees a 27 per cent pay hike over five years.
Grain Services Union members at Viterra's AgPro operations in Alberta and Manitoba voted 85.5 per cent in favour of a new five-year contract last month.
The deal includes a six per cent signing bonus and annual performance-based wage in-creases of six per cent in the first year and five per cent in the next three, beginning Nov. 1. It also carries opportunities for further annual incentives in the range of five, 10 and 15 per cent of their pay.
"This is our final offer that we presented to them," said Brooks.
He said the company is willing to meet with the union "as it is likely that progress will be made."
Viterra said it is prepared to continue operations in the event of labour disruptions.
Its shares closed Thursday at $13.52, up a penny, at the Toronto Stock Exchange.
