ST. JOHN’S, NL – Employees of D-J Composites in Gander will mark the one-year anniversary of the date they were locked out by the company with a solidarity rally at Confederation Building in St. John’s next Tuesday.
The employees are bracing for a second Christmas on the picket line.
The American-based aerospace manufacturing company locked out 32 workers, members of Unifor local 597, at its Gander facility on Dec. 19, 2016.
"If the province had stronger labour laws there is no way this American company could get away with its shameful union busting and would have to instead negotiate fairly," Lana Payne, Unifor’s Atlantic regional director, said in a news release today, Dec. 14.
The provincial labour board found D-J Composite guilty of bargaining in bad faith in May of this year.
An independent mediator was brought in by the provincial government in October, but that effort failed to resolve the situation.
Unifor says D-J Composites' demands include gutting seniority provisions and arbitrary merit pay.
