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Emterra Environmental employees in Kamloops walked off the job on Monday in a legal strike after months of failed negotiations over wage increases and safety conditions.
President of the United Steelworkers local union Marty Gibbons explains that Emterra employees are asking for a small wage increase as most of them live on or below the poverty line. With an increase in the number of managers and the decrease in the amount of workers over recent years, Gibbons says Emterra would only have to eliminate one managerial position to increase wages to a livable level.
“We did provide proposals to the company that were more than fair that would see workers here get to where other plants are today in a three year term. That was unacceptable to this company and we’re out on strike,” said Gibbons.
Gibbons adds safety concerns are also an issue as often times people do not follow the rules as to what they can and cannot recycle. He says workers are frequently exposed to unsafe working conditions and Gibbons says that needs to change.
“There’s everything from kitty litter to regular trash to dead animals and all sorts of awful stuff and that is basically dumped in our work environment. A lot of the particles become airborne and our members are breathing them. We want weekly air testing. We want to know what we’re being exposed to,” said Gibbons.
It’s unclear when Emterra employees will return to work. Gibbons stated they have made their basic demands clear and that the employees are not likely to budge until Emterra agrees to make changes.
Emterra currently holds the contract for the city’s recycling program. Their contract will expire at the end of 2015.