NEW FLYER EMPLOYEES VOTE TO AUTHORIZE STRIKE

97.2% of workers vote “yes” as Winnipeg bus manufacturing company’s latest offer fails to address fair pay, forced overtime, sick leave, and paid religious holidays for Minnesota-based workers

New York, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and Columbus could see bus orders disrupted should workers strike

St. Cloud, MN — New Flyer workers and members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in St. Cloud, Minn., yesterday voted 415-12 to authorize a strike, should it be necessary. The vote follows the bus manufacturing company’s slow progress toward negotiating a fair contract that includes fair wage increases to account for inflation, paid sick leave, and paid time off for religious holidays and comes as the company faces a major staffing shortage. The company has also failed to address workers’ concerns about forced overtime. The Union has not set a strike date yet.

Deemed essential workers during the pandemic, the 492 Minnesota-based New Flyer workers manufacture and supply electric, diesel, hybrid (diesel-electric), and compressed natural gas (CNG) public transit buses for cities across the country, including New York, N.Y.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio, as well as for New Jersey Transit. The company is based in Winnipeg, Canada, and has a majority of the market share of heavy-duty transit buses in the U.S.

“We are doing everything we can to avoid a strike and get New Flyer to negotiate a fair contract so we can do our jobs and build green buses for our country’s major cities,” said Michael Krugman, Senior Electrical Technician. “It is frustrating and ironic that the delay in bargaining is all about time – time with our families, times with our friends. New Flyer may be better managed in Canada, but here the company can’t seem to function without forcing us to work excessive overtime. A big part of the problem is that wages are too low to recruit or retain employees. Of course that makes it worse for remaining employees who are then forced to work even more overtime. It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.”

The company continues to face production delays due to supply chain issues and staff turnover. With its current staffing levels, workers at the St. Cloud facility are only producing 10 buses a week. The company is trying to nearly double that production, which would require almost 120 additional workers. Before the New Flyer’s staffing crisis, the facility was producing about 24 buses a week and maintained close to 700 workers. The production of electric buses, which are critical to cutting cities’ fuel emissions and increasing efficiency, requires more workers than hybrid buses.

To make up for its staffing crisis, New Flyer regularly mandates Saturday overtime for many workers, and frequently denies vacation requests which fails to account for employees’ work-life balance at the company and generates calls for an end to forced overtime.

“Most of the issues we brought to the table are about time,” said CWA Local 7304 President, Matt Lelou. “We do not have any paid sick time. We are often barred from using vacation time when we need to because of production demands, and people are forced to work too much overtime. It’s about time New Flyer realizes that paying better wages is not just good for employees but it’s good for the company, too. They’ll increase production by retaining experienced employees which saves money on training and it makes New Flyer more competitive in the market for new hires. At the same time, less overtime and more time off means less overworked and exhausted employees.”

The St. Cloud workers are also asking New Flyer to provide two floating holidays for the substantial group of workers who observe Eid and which would act as additional paid time off for the other workers. In addition to failing to commit to this request, New Flyer has also ignored workers’ proposal to make Juneteenth a paid holiday.

“As someone who observes Eid, having two days paid leave that I can use to celebrate with my loved ones is incredibly important to me and my religious values. But New Flyer is ignoring our requests, while also mandating overtime, failing to give us paid sick leave, and refusing to adjust our wages to account for inflation. It’s completely dehumanizing and in large part the reason why I, and so many others at New Flyer, are leaving the company,” said Abdirisaq N. Hassan, Assembly Technician. “We voted to authorize a strike not because we want to walk off the job, but because it’s about time our voices are heard and that New Flyer recognizes the value we bring to this company.”

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