About 350 unionized workers at Kamloops’s Domtar pulp mill were urged Monday to vote in favour of a strike and against a company offer.
Murray Matheson, president of Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Local 10b, said the union urged members to vote against the package offered by Domtar Corp.
“We’re voting to reject the company’s offer and having a strike vote,” Matheson said.
The union declined to provide details of bargaining proposals. Workers have been without a contract since April.
B.C.’s unionized pulp sector has targeted a deal made with Canadian Forest Products in northern B.C. as its “pattern” deal. Matheson declined to say if Domtar’s offer is based on the Canfor deal.
The Canfor deal provides 7.5 per cent wage increase over five years, with the first two years offering no wage hikes.
Matheson said the union is committed to the achieving the pattern for the industry.
