Article in the Waterloo Record

Waterloo Region Record
By Brent Davis

WATERLOO — With a strike or lockout deadline looming next week, Wilfrid Laurier University officials and the union representing the school’s custodial, trades and groundskeeping workers were in mediated talks Monday.
Members of Local 926 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been without a contract for more than a year. There are approximately 100 employees represented, with about two-thirds of them custodial staff.
The key sticking point remains the proposed contracting out of work to third-party, non-union custodial workers.
Union officials see this as a direct threat to job security, setting the stage for the loss of loyal, dedicated university employees.
“It’s one of the most drastic, draconian tactics an employer could ever use,” said CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn, who was in Waterloo Monday lending his support to members.
University administrators say no current unionized staff would be laid off as a result of contracting out, a move they say is necessary in an effort to offset “unsustainable” costs.
“The universities are not flush with cash,” said Laurier’s vice-president of finance and administration, Jim Butler. “We’re struggling trying to keep our costs down.”
Butler said the university stands to save about $300,000 a year if its proposal is adopted. The move would allow the university to contract out work to replace unionized employees who retire or leave voluntarily or if new positions open up, Butler said.
Hahn said the move would introduce lower-paid, low-security jobs into the community.
“This is something that actually makes no sense,” he said. “(The university is) trying to destabilize a core group of its employees.”
Last week, the university requested what’s known as a no board report, which would legally allow for a strike or lockout as of next Sunday. Butler said the university does not intend to lock out the workers.
Another day of mediated talks is scheduled for Friday.
“I’m hopeful that a resolution is reached at the bargaining table,” said Kitchener-Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife.
Fife called a trend of publicly-funded post-secondary institutions looking to contract out jobs “worrisome” and “disturbing.
“It would be very unfortunate for our community to lose those good jobs,” she said. Contracted jobs “do not pay as much, they do not have job security, and they are more precarious in nature.”
Another proposed contract change would see union retirees being required to pay 15 per cent of their benefit costs each month.
Butler said that’s a move that’s been agreed to by the other unions at the university.
“Postretirement benefits, first of all, are not common and they are expensive,” he said. “CUPE’s just catching up to what the other unions have agreed to.”
Hahn said he wants to ensure employees “retire in dignity and not retire into poverty.”

Media Release

Waterloo, ONT—With a university-imposed deadline of July 10 for either a lockout or strike looming, negotiators for Local 926 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 926) will return to the bargaining table Monday.

“Our goal is a negotiated settlement, but Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) is driving this bus to a lockout or strike,” said Allan Savard, president of CUPE 926, which represents custodial, groundskeeping and trades workers at WLU.

“The bargaining team feels very strongly that the University’s proposals would, if accepted, have a profound negative effect—not just on our members, but on the entire campus community,” he added.

Last week, WLU management requested a ‘No Board’ report from the Ministry of Labour, which set in motion a 17-day countdown to a lockout or strike if the two sides cannot reach an agreement. The University and CUPE 926 will be in a legal lockout or strike position on Sunday, July 10, at 12:01 a.m.

While Local 926 has not sought major improvements in this round of negotiations, WLU has demanded that employees accept concessions that would effectively give the university ‘carte blanche’ to contract out custodial work, turning stable, secure work into precarious work that pays poverty wages.

“That isn’t just bad for our members—it’s bad for the community and it’s bad for students, faculty and other staff, who will see the educational experience they and their families have sacrificed for diminished,” said Savard.

Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario will meet with CUPE 926 members and their bargaining committee Monday to offer the support and solidarity of the more than 258,000 CUPE members across the province.

“I want every member of Local 926 to know that they have the full support of every single CUPE member in Ontario, and we will marshal the resources at our disposal to stand with them every step of the way,” said Hahn.

Notice to Editors and producers—Fred Hahn will be available to answer media questions from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, July 4, as he meets with CUPE 926 members. Media wishing to speak with Fred Hahn should contact Kevin Wilson, CUPE Communications, to make arrangements.

A Message to CUPE 926 Members

Dear Members of CUPE Local 926 –

Laurier has requested a “no board” report from the Ministry of Labour which means that the Ministry has set a lock out and/or strike deadline for 12.01 a.m. on July 10th. In response to this aggressive action by Laurier we must be prepared to strike. The Union Negotiating Committee, Laurier and the Ministry of Labour are meeting on Monday, July 4th and if needed Friday, July 8th in an attempt to resolve outstanding issues.

If no resolution is achieved, all members should be prepared for strike action beginning Sunday morning at 12.01 a.m.   Should members be locked out by Laurier or the Union decides to start strike action you will receive a phone call from one of our strike committee members advising that strike action will begin and what times you are to report to the picket line. All members will be expected to report to the picket line at the WLU main entrance, University Avenue. The Strike Committee will meet on Tuesday, July 5th. More details will be provided via newsletter on Wednesday or Thursday next week.

If Laurier locks out the members but allows the employers’ preferred employees to cross the picket line, CUPE will file a complaint immediately with the Ministry of Labour. It is expected that the Ministry of Labour will direct Laurier to stop allowing bargaining unit members to cross the picket line in a lock out situation.

Wilfrid Laurier has been misleading members in this respect and CUPE Legal Counsel has indicated that the Ministry would stop this type of action.

The outstanding issues relate to Article 20.01 Contracting Out and the post-retirement benefit costs to be co-shared at 85 percent employer paid and 15 percent employee paid.

The Local Negotiating Committee strongly rejects Laurier’s proposed amendments to Article 20.01. In our opinion, if we accept Laurier’s proposed language, it will affect current custodians and that some of your co-workers will lose their jobs to contractors.

We are talking about your co-workers, some who have recently experienced the hardship of being laid off for months because of lost income and benefits. This is the here and now, not a “maybe” affecting members in the future.

The Negotiating Committee is also concerned that payment of benefit costs will cause financial hardship for retired employees. The current pension plan amount will make it difficult for some of our retirees to maintain payments of 15 per cent of benefit costs each month.

The Negotiating Committee wants to caution members that should the bargaining unit members not stand up and fight for rights within the collective agreement, you can be sure that Laurier will come after more negotiated language in the collective agreement next round of bargaining. If members roll over this time, they will likely use these same tactics to amend provisions such as the sick leave plan that they withdrew during this process. These same strategies have been used at University of Queens and Windsor to reduce custodial staff as well as benefits in their collective agreements.

As a member of a Union we must stand for solidarity and unity. Each member should want to stand up for their fellow co-workers and support each other and assist in maintaining job security and benefits. If all members in each classification are prepared to strike, it would send a strong message to Laurier that we will not accept their treatment and downgrading of our skills, hard work and dedication we bring every day to the campus community. By going out on strike, Laurier would have a difficult time finding replacements for Stationary Engineers and other tradesmen and it would create a huge financial burden to cover costs to replace our workers. If Laurier wants to be fiscally responsible, research has shown that the best way to do this is to continue to employ bargaining unit members.

Support your Negotiating Committee by wearing your wristbands and if you haven’t signed the online petition found on the Local 926 website, please do so today.

UNIVERSITIES WORK BECAUSE WE DO

Response to Max Blouw

Dear Dr. Blouw,

Thank you for your response. I find it interesting that you only state custodians would not be laid off as a result of “contracting out”, but make no other mention of other ways traditionally used to lay off employees. Most notably, using the excuse of BUDGET CUTS, then hiring a third party company to perform the same work. Just because you’re not laying someone off due to contracting out, does not mean that the 67 custodians have a secure job. Do the right thing and secure the jobs of these hard working 67 people. Their families depend on it. As an alumni of WLU, I am saddened to hear that the University I attended in order to get a good job, is taking measures to get rid of the good jobs they provide to residents of Waterloo Region. Shame.

Amy M. Class of ’05

Response to Max Blouw from CUPE

Dear Dr. Blouw: You call it what you want; we call it union busting

Dear CUPE members, supporters and friends:

First, warmest thanks to everyone who signed the petition letter at www.stopcontractingout.ca. We are deeply grateful for your solidarity and support for our efforts to retain the anti-contracting out language in CUPE 926’s collective agreement.

Keeping this language in our contract is more than a matter of principle; it is all that stands between good-paying custodial jobs at Laurier and low-paying jobs with an outsourced cleaning service. And it is all that stands between our CUPE members and layoffs.

If you signed the petition letter, you will have received reply from Laurier President and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Max Blouw. That’s encouraging for a couple of reasons: it means we know we’re having an impact; and it gives us a chance to refute the misinformation that the university’s leadership is peddling.

Our answer is below; quotes from the university president’s letter are in italics and CUPE’s responses follow:

Among the most challenging of the issues under discussion are those specific to the delivery of custodial services. The University has communicated to CUPE that we are interested in negotiating a business model for custodial services that will be cost effective and sustainable on a go-forward basis…

CUPE’s response: Dr. Blouw, CUPE has a lot of problems with the way custodial services have been run at Laurier, what with positions left unfilled after resignations and retirements, and 67 custodians left doing work meant to done by 100. But whether by accident or design, custodians are being scapegoated for various issues of mismanagement: Laurier gapping positions and stretching existing staff too thinly; claiming that absenteeism is at 19 days per year, when the average is actually 11; failing to provide custodians with standard cleaning supplies; and more.

… and that will not impact the jobs of our current custodians. It is because we value our employees that we have taken this long-term approach and promised that none of our current custodial staff (about 67 in total) will be laid off as a result of contracting out.

CUPE’s response: Wrong, Dr. Blouw. The anti-contracting out article protects workers from being laid off. If it is amended in our collective agreement, the minute the new Global building opens and the “Peters” building closes, three full-time permanent custodians will be laid off. They will have no chance of being recalled to work because Laurier has no plans to transfer these employees to the Global building.

It is important to note that the University is seeking collective agreement language that CUPE has agreed to at many other universities. This language allows for flexibility to use third-party contractors to deliver some custodial services as needed, as long as no existing CUPE employee is laid off as a result

CUPE’s response: Dr. Blouw, please don’t tell us what CUPE has agreed to at other universities. We fight contracting out, privatization and outsourcing every day. We fight for members’ jobs and for the added value that our jobs bring to a community. As for no CUPE employee being laid off – as already mentioned, three workers will be laid off immediately, and the university will let attrition do the rest.

You know that Laurier never intends to hire a custodian ever again. We know this because you announced to the Board of Governors that there will be no CUPE custodians at Laurier.

The University has further assured that no trades or grounds employees will be laid off, and no trades or grounds positions will be lost, as a result of contracting out.

CUPE’s response: Then please put your money where your mouth is, Dr. Blouw: provide a proposal without conditions and offer it to the local’s negotiating committee.

As a public-sector institution it is important for us to ensure that we are delivering services to our students in a productive and financially responsible manner. The current business model for delivering custodial services does not meet these standards of productivity and financial sustainability. Therefore we must seek alternative ways to deliver this service going forward.

CUPE’s response: CUPE proposed the creation of a new custodial position with a starting pay of $17 per hour, similar to custodial classifications across the university sector in Ontario. Other cost-saving measures proposed were recommendations for a sustainable short-term sick leave plan.

But apparently your business model for delivering financially sustainable custodial services involves cleaning services carried out by mainly by immigrant women working for $13 an hour ($3 less than the living wage in the Waterloo region).

The University has tried to problem-solve this issue with CUPE, including the examination of alternatives to contracting out. 

CUPE’s response: No, it hasn’t. In this round of bargaining, Laurier has made no effort to find a compromise.

However the Union has not responded with any proposals to date that adequately address the University’s financial and operational concerns.

CUPE’s response: Nonsense; Laurier’s management team responded to CUPE’s offer by withdrawing their sick leave proposal and rejecting our proposal for a new custodial position at $17 an hour.

Your email allows me the opportunity to clarify a common misbelief that the university will lay off our own custodial, trades and grounds employees once the Collective Agreement is signed.  In fact, this is the opposite of our intentions.  The University seeks first to protect its own employees and only when custodial positions are freely vacated, then to utilize, where feasible, a third party contractor.

CUPE’s response: Dr. Blouw, whether you admit it or not, Laurier’s actions are classic union-busting tactics. Our fight against Laurier’s plans is a fight to preserve good jobs for our members, for the university and for our community.

Response to Max Blouw

Max,

Your arguments aren’t sound. As an academic, it should be easy enough for you to see the problems with your arguments. Universities are places with people not institutions that focus solely on productivity, progress, and “financial sustainability”. The constant rhetoric that universities are under corporation-style peril from their shareholders is beyond far fetched. What you’re saying is that you won’t directly and illegally attack unionized workers who can fight back but you will slowly erode the bargaining unit and contract out work to those who cannot fight back. You say so yourself, quite directly, in your email. It is your plan to contract out these positions.

You’re attempting to continue to reduce the quality of rights for workers on campus. As workers retire or as you put it “freely vacate” will you commit to replacing them with unionized workers or will you continue to contract out those positions? No, you won’t. And productivity cannot be the model for a university if that means that you eliminate good jobs and contract out jobs to avoid providing good working conditions and benefits. Contracting out also means contracting our your responsibility to the people who work for and serve the university community. There’s only one responsible option here: stop trying to erode bargaining unit work.

Cameron

 

Another Response

Dear Dr. Blouw,

I did not have any of the misconceptions you mentioned. I also have no illusions about the harmful effects of your stated intentions regarding attrition of the good union jobs and directing the work towards the slippery slope of third-party contractors.

Custodial contract work is renowned as one of the most abusive industries in our society, exploiting primarily minority group workers in poorly paid jobs with no benefits and no job security, and little to no visibility, recognition or respect from the people and institutions they serve – as you’ve amply demonstrated by your position as stated in your email and in bargaining.

As a public institution, you have not only a fiscal responsibility to the public that pays you, these custodial staff, but also a social responsibility to the public at large that you are funded by (Ontario) and the community at large that you serve (Waterloo and region).

Take a day to come down out off the top-earner spot of your tower and walk the grounds in their shoes, doing their work. You’d still be paid ten times more than them for that day, but maybe you would learn and earn some respect for and from them.

Thank you for your interest in the well-being of the people and the community impacted by this matter – not just your bottom line.

Sean Kelly
Coordonnateur syndical / Union Coordinator

 

Response to Max Blouw’s email

Dear Dr. Blouw:

I was saddened to read of the proposed out-sourcing of custodial jobs at Laurier. As you likely know, Waterloo Region is a provincial leader in the Living Wage initiative, and this action flies in the face of all that the literature tells us about stable, sufficient income as a determinant of health. Since these jobs are often performed by new immigrant women (often caring for young children)  and others who are the vulnerable, the move would be particularly damaging.

I’ve done some quick math with the numbers I’ve seen, and estimate that this potential outsourcing pads would save WLu $1 per custodian hour, and pad the pockets of a private company  with a $6.00 an hour/ per custodian profit, and leave the actual workers with $6 less per hour, roughly 1/3 of the current pay.  I know my family would be hard hit by such a wage reduction, and I’m sure yours would as well.

As a well-resourced, progressive and socially-responsible University, I would hope that you will maintain these higher paying jobs for individuals trying to better themselves in this prosperous region.

Kim Hodgson , MHSc.

 

 

Help us to defend good jobs at Laurier

betraying-workers-2Wilfrid Laurier University wants to outsource cleaning work on campus, replacing decently paid custodial jobs with ones that pay low wages and offer only precarious work. It’s a move will increase inequality on campus and cut the number of good jobs in the Waterloo region.

Laurier’s custodians are dedicated members of our community, fighting to maintain high-quality cleaning standards for students, staff, and faculty.

Help us to defend good jobs at Laurier by sending an e-mail to President and Vice-Chancellor Max Blouw.  Let him and other Laurier leaders know that you support decent jobs, fair pay and good services for all.

Produced by CUPE and Local 926