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Story Brief: TRG, Corporate Responsibility, Union Busting?, and More
AT&T, Barack Obama, Canadian Law, Corporate Responsibility, India, International Politics, International Steelworkers, Labour movements, Peter Kormos, RBC Insurance, Reliance Home Comfort, Unions, health care, politics
UPDATE/PARTIAL EMBARGO: TRG Employees/United Steelworkers local have been told, but are not holding their breath, that their severence pay will be finally forthcoming on Aug 22.
A Rally is scheduled for Aug 22 - the prospective date, in front of the MTO building, St Paul St, downtown St. Catharines.
The USW, on behalf of the former tenured TRG employees, have filed for a full redress to reimburse employees that were affected by evictions, bounced checks, fees incurred, and general hardship
Stay tuned for the full report, pictures, and outcome dated Aug 23.
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We’ve been doing a good amount of scratching beneath the surface - sadly Niagara-based media thinks that “one phone call” is actually called “reporting”.
On Aug 2, the proposed date that former U.S. - owned TRG employees are to recieve their severence packages.
In the meantime we’re simply posting a “brief” so you have an idea of what to look for this coming Friday/Saturday.
BRIEF - the Situation So Far:
”MichCon/DTE, AT&T, Union Energy (Canada) , RBC Insurance, and Obama For President hired a company that was knowingly closing 2 offices in Ontario, putting 700+ people out of work.
Represented By the Int’l Steelworkers, the company hired by the above - TRG/Telespectrum - appear to be reneging on a contractual severence Agreement based on the July 23rd closure of the Office.
Approximately 100 workers at the St.Catharines office have been denied their severence package - leaving the Union to file a formal Grievance.
The cost of litigation can be high and can drag forever in “official channels”.
Almost NO Provincial and Federal Politicians have ‘reacted’ to the situation, holding out little hope that the American -owned TRG (based in Pennsylvania) will actually come through without forcing the Union into litigation.
Few others have spoken out, whereas NDP MPP Peter Kormos has at least sought to learn something of the background.
We have attempted to contact this company that is essentially an agent for the above named companies.
We have attempted to contact the Companies that have hired - and retain - contracts with TRG.
We have attempted to rec’v comment from Provincial and Federal reps in the cities that have seen a TRG office close.
Approx. 100 families have been directly hit by the closure and TRG reneging on the contract agreement with Int’l SteelWorkers.
Many are left with no money for mortgages, rent, groceries, and medicine.
A potential 120 families that may have to strain the local resources of FoodBanks, Shelter Assistance, Employment Agencies, Welfare Services, etc.
And that’s 500 fewer workers in downtown St.Catharines to assist an already atrophied economic region.
We”re hoping to hear back from corporate and political representatives before press time.
TRG STILL HAS AN ACTIVE INBOUND/OUTBOUND ‘NON UNION’ CENTRE IN THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO
FULL report Friday Aug 2/ Sat Aug 3
To date we have rec’d comment on the situation from MPP Peter Kormos (NDP), MichCon/DTE, and Reliance Home Comfort/Union Energy, and have spoken with Carrie Robinson of the International Steelworkers, as well as a few employees of TRG - however a response from Obama For President, AT&T, and RBC Insurance has not been forthcoming.
TRG’s main PR/Media Department simply screams “no comment, no comment” repeatedly and then hangs up.
Lastly, and this is addmittedly conjecture, it appears that only TRG’s Union represented offices were closed. We’ll have some conclusions on that component for you, too.
Be a corporate citizen, dollars are votes too. If you have any business arrangments with any of the previously mention companies, don’t hesitate to make a phone call and ask “what’s up?”. Remember, it might be your family member’s job that is affected by actions such as these next.”
Post Script: just as many of these companies offer a disclaimer saying “your call may be recorded for quality assurance, training purposes, etc” as they juggle you on hold and pass you from office to office, we made sure to record every call also. Fair is fair.
To that end, we’ll also be including the names and contact information of each company.
STAY TUNED. Ultimately, we prefer a happy ending for the families needing their pay rather than an in depth news piece - which is why we hope you get on the phone to the companies involved.
admin @ July 29, 2008