Union claims B.C. Ferries’ head of labour relations told union boss to ‘shut the f— up’ during meeting
The union representing B.C. Ferries’ workers has lodged a lengthy complaint to the B.C. Labour Relations Board, accusing the employer of a string of bad behaviour and asking for $2.1 million in damages.
The 14-page letter of complaint comes as the two sides are engaged in tense negotiations to increase wages for the union’s 4,700 workers.
According to the Dec. 14, letter, the employer “has undertaken a concerted campaign to undermine the union’s exclusive bargaining agency and lower its reputation among its members. The employer’s efforts have stoked fear and animosity among members which has directly led to discord between the union of members.”
It also alleges that the employer has wrongfully reached out twice to union members telling them that union leadership had rejected a seven per cent wage hike offer as part of mid-contract wage negotiations now underway.
The union also alleges that during an online meeting on Nov. 28 related to the two notifications, the B.C. Ferries executive director of labour relations, Dean Dobrinsky, told B.C. Ferries Union president Eric McNeely to “just shut the f— up.”
The letter states that just before the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the union was preparing to negotiate a two-year collective agreement with proposed wage hikes of 10 per cent a year.
However, due to the onset of the pandemic, the union changed its position and, in November 2020, accepted a five-year contract with increases of zero, two and two per cent, with the last two years’ pay hikes to be determined through two wage re-openers.
The letter states the employer has wrongfully notified union members that they have been offered a general seven per cent wage hike for one year and that union leadership has rejected that, leading to further discontent.
As punishment, the union is asking that B.C. Ferries pay $100,000 for bargaining directly with employees (related to the housing deal), $1 million in damages for defamation and $1 million for damaging the union’s relationship with members.
According to a B.C. Ferries spokesperson, the company is aware of the letter.
“There is a limitation to what we can say right now as the matter is now before the Labour Relations Board,” the spokesperson said.
“B.C. Ferries is also in the middle of an arbitration process with the union which will determine wage adjustments for 2024. We are looking forward to a good outcome for our people and having this process complete in the New Year when the arbitrator panel makes its ruling.”
The B.C. NDP has puts its stamp on B.C. Ferries over the past 18 months, appointing NDP stalwart Joy MacPhail as chair of the board and former ICBC boss Nicolas Jimenez as CEO.
Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.
The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.
Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.
The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.
The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.
The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.
The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.
Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.
In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.
“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.
As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.
Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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