We, the framing carpenters (“Pieceworkers'') of local 183, are announcing that we will be abstaining from the upcoming Collective Agreement vote for the new contract. We will not respect the result of this vote until we are given the ability to vote for our own salary. We are pieceworkers (Tradesman) and not hourly workers, labourers, foremen, or forklift drivers. We believe that we deserve our own vote and our own individual contract. No employee should be allowed to vote on his employer's salary and no occupation should be allowed to vote for any other occupation's salary or pay.

We all work hard, and to have our hard work's reward be decided by anyone other than ourselves makes no logical sense. All trades (Foremen, forklift drivers, labourers, hourly workers, back framers, framers, and contractors etc.) are unique and separate, and should therefore receive separate attention and contracts. A labour union is an organization that acts as an intermediary between its members and the business that employs them. If that's the case, then this should be evident through communication between us - the workers - and the union. When we want to change, the union should help us change. This includes each trade's ability to vote for their own pay.