EDMONTON – Canadian brewery giants Molson and Labatts closed the doors on their jointly owned distributing company (BDL) on June 8th in Edmonton, throwing one hundred four unionized employees onto the unemployment line. BDL has contracted all of its operations to MTE, another warehousing company.

The union, Retail Wholesale/Canadian Auto Workers (RW/CAW) Local 285 spent the next month negotiating a closure agreement on behalf of their members.

"We finally ratified a closure agreement acceptable to us on July 8th," confirmed Local 285 President Brent Potter. As part of the agreement, all workers received severance pay based upon years of service, and seven older workers received enhanced retirement benefits. As well, there is a three-month labour adjustment program that will assist members in their efforts to find new jobs.

"The agreement is fair," said Potter. "It provides the most senior workers with about $60,000 in severance. Everyone’s severance was calculated at the same rate, with the total depending upon years of service."

As part of the agreement, the union insisted that neither BDL nor MTE appeal the landmark "Wallace" decision [see story on this page] that arose out of the lockout.

"We could have stayed on the line for another six or eight months," said Potter, "but we could easily have been in exactly the same position we are in today. This way we can get on with our lives." Potter himself plans to take a little time off to recover from the lockout, and then start looking for a new job.

AFL President Audrey Cormack focused her criticism on the province’s labour laws. "What happened in the BDL strike is a disgrace," she said. "This employer has been allowed to contract-out all of its work, thereby derailing a long-term collective bargaining relationship with its workers."

According to Cormack, the government should have intervened. "We demanded government action to prevent BDL, and other like-minded employers, from blatantly overriding the democratic rights of workers to have a union, said Cormack. "Allowing employers to avoid union obligations by contracting out operations is tantamount to declaring open season on workers." The Minister responsible for labour issues, Clint Dunford, refused to act on the Federation’s request for action.