Union plots response to Viterra's lockout threat

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 3 (Reuters) - Union officials on Thursday sparred with Viterra Inc. (VT.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) over the company's latest wage offer as Canada's largest grain handler warned it planned rotating lockouts next week.

Leaders of the Grain Services Union were deciding how to respond to the company's announcement late on Wednesday that it would also implement on July 7, the terms of its contract offer already rejected by workers.

Viterra, a name adopted by Saskatchewan Wheat Pool after its takeover last year of rival Agricore United, is at odds with 200 unionized employees at its headquarters and as many as 750 grain elevator workers in Saskatchewan.

The workers voted last month to reject the company's last contract offer.

The union disputed Viterra's media statement on Wednesday that it had offered the workers wage increases of 27 percent over five years.

Viterra had not formally agreed to pay the higher wages to all the workers, aside from an initial signing bonus, and the offer included some money that employees were already scheduled to receive, the union said.

The two sides are also at odds over issues such as job classifications, hours of work and benefits.

Viterra's statement on Wednesday said the lockout would not physically keep the workers from being at their workplaces. A company spokesman was not available to clarify on Thursday how the lockout would work.

A company notice posted on the union's website said employees who did not report for work under the new contract terms as scheduled would be subject to discipline.