MEDIA RELEASE: FFAW MEMBERS AT ALTERA ENTER STRIKE POSITION 

October 20, 2023

FFAW-Unifor members at Altera (Atlantic) Management ULC have voted overwhelmingly to reject the company’s latest offer, which includes major rollbacks in contract benefits. As a result, the Union is now in position to take further steps including job action. FFAW members at Altera have been engaged in the negotiations process with management for over a year and half and express their extreme disappointment that no agreement has been reached through bargaining or the federal conciliation process.

“The core of the issue here is the company’s insistence that Consumer Price Index (CPI) provisions be removed from the Collective Agreement – meaning a significant rollback to hard-fought for gains and protection against inflation,” explains FFAW-Unifor President Greg Pretty.

There are 66 members part of the bargaining unit at Altera who staff 3 shuttle tankers that transport crude oil for the offshore petroleum industry.

Altera has refused to engage in further face-to-face bargaining if CPI remains on the table, and Union members have been clear they refuse to entertain any discussions without CPI remaining as part of the agreement. The company has also refused to engage in other key issues such as the medical plan, severance pay and seniority bonus.

“I want our members at Altera to know they have the entire force of not only the FFAW behind them in this fight, but they also have the entire force of Unifor behind them. You may be just 66 members, but together we are over 315,000 strong, and together we will show Altera that they will not roll back the clock on their employees,” Pretty concludes.