January 12^th, 2007

At the January membership meeting, the membership voted unanimously to open our strike fund (over $1.2 million) in the event these resources are needed to reach a fair and equitable contract.

The Bargaining Committee is working diligently and putting all their efforts towards the BEST solution, a settlement before the deadline and without a strike. We are meeting regularly with the Company and discussing contract language. On Friday, January 12^th, we started the day off with Wayne Nitchie, our Health & Welfare Officer and Tom Dattilo, our National Rep presenting to the Company our concerns on Disability Management, benefit language and the return-to-work protocol for our injured workers.

We have managed to settle some of the smaller issues. The more serious issues, the ones that have caused most of our grievances and impacted most of our members, still need to be addressed. It will be a while before we start on the money issues.

The major issues are obvious. The membership has been sending the Company this message for the last six years, by filing grievances. It is no surprise to anyone - the big issues are job postings, transfers between sites (especially to Nickel Rim) and vacations. The membership is adamant; we need to negotiate language to solve these issues so that the next three years are not a repeat of the last three years.

While our efforts focus on the BEST solution, we must be responsible and prepare for the worst. We’ve opened the strike fund and on January 16^th, 2007, we will vote YES for the strike mandate to show the Company, once again, the membership’s support for their Bargaining Committee.

We will continue to update the website and put information flyers on the worksite. Any progress and information will be communicated to the membership as it becomes available. Always be cautious of rumors; if you hear anything that has not come directly from the Union Leadership (website or flyers), it is probably NOT FACT. We will keep you updated.

For more information, remember to attend the strike mandate vote meeting.

On a side note, our thoughts are with Hemi Mitic, Assistant to Buzz Hargrove, on the news of the injury to his son in Afghanistan; we wish him and his family the courage to deal with this tragedy.

In Solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee,

Richard Paquin Rick Grylls

Tom Dattilo Brian Castilloux

Jan Romo Gord Lamothe

Rejean Berthiaume Jeff Mullally

STRIKE MANDATE VOTE

Strike mandate meetings and vote will be held in the Main Hall of the Navy League Hall on Tuesday, January 16^th, 2007

LEADERSHIP: 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

MEMBERSHIP: 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Jack McGrath