We are starting to ramp up our campaign action and are in need of volunteers. Please contact Allan, Roger or Lynette for more information.

A good read for 926 members:

There is a rally tomorrow, Feb. 11 at 1pm regarding students against the statue project.  I feel that this will be a great opportunity to get the word out about our issues to the student community.  I need a couple volunteers to hand out some flyers from about 1-2. Please let me know if you’re able to attend and I’ll get you some flyers. Email me at lbrubacher@wlu.ca.

In Solidarity

Lynette

CUPE 926 is Bargaining in Good Faith

CUPE Local 926 continues to try to find a reasonable solution with Wilfrid Laurier University. Our Union has 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 included review and recommendation of sick leave which would represent a sustainable short term sick leave plan for WLU employees.

The WLU management team’s response was to withdraw their sick leave proposal and reject our proposal related to a new custodial position at $17.

Mismanagement Blamed on Workers

WLU is demanding the Union agree to their proposed amendments that will remove language which protects bargaining unit positions and retirement benefits. The reason given by the WLU administration is that they are not seeing value from our members’ work.

However, the statistics show it is management that is preventing quality cleaning, not workers.

WLU has not been filling custodial positions vacated due to retirements and resignations. This means that your custodians are trying to maintain a high standard of cleanliness even though they are required to clean significantly larger areas especially in light of the fact that the number of custodians has been reduced from approximately 100 to 68.

In addition, WLU’s VP of Finance, Jim Butler has been misleading the university community on sick leave in an attempt to blame absenteeism for service quality issues. However, disclosure of sick leave shows the average yearly personal sick leave at 11 days, well below the 19 days per year outlined by the administration in a recent letter.

WLU management has not provided required cleaning and paper products necessary to maintain cleaning quality standards. Again, it is the reduction in the number of custodians and mismanagement of cleaning product inventory that has resulted in lower quality, not our members work.

It is clear to Local 926 that WLU management proposals are not related to cost containment. Instead, they are part of an attack on the Union to replace good jobs at WLU with low wages and precarious work. In the end, we see this strategy as one that will undermine the university and the community.

CUPE Local 926 will continue the fight against deterioration of the bargaining unit, erosion of our collective agreement and the growth of precarious work at WLU.

The Board of Governors has indicated that it is their obligation to ensure the best student experience at WLU. Our members believe that labour unrest is not in the best interests of anyone at WLU.

A fair settlement can be achieved if the administration simply withdraws the proposal relating to contracting out.

CUPE Local 926 Bargaining Committee

Our meeting will be in the Science Building at 10am room N1002.

Special Meeting to be held on Tuesday February 2nd at 5:30pm in room BA101.

***SPECIAL MEETING***

Tuesday February 2nd OR Wednesday February 3rd at 4:45/5pm (Depending on room availability) Exact date/time and location will be posted when confirmed.

Agenda: Motion to approve up to 4 negotiating committee members to attend the OUWCC (Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee) conference to be held February 18th-21st.

General Membership Meeting

Sunday February 7th at 10am, Location TBD.

Agenda: Negotiations Update

The general membership meeting will be held on January 17th at 7pm in BA 102.

The Negotiating Committee will be meeting with the employer and a conciliation officer on January 27th and 28th.

A reminder that the Strike Committee will meet at 9:30am on January 9th at the CUPE Kitchener office, 1120 Victoria St. N, room 204 – top of the stairs.

There will be a Membership Meeting on January 17th at 7pm, location TBD.  If you have any questions or would like to have any concerns addressed, you can email Jill at jsmyth@cupe.ca. 

WLU is distributing a document which outlines the negotiating process between the Union and WLU. As you are aware, this same information has been provided to our members at previous meetings. It is our position that the University is interfering with the Union membership as well as the negotiating process in an attempt to coerce members into crossing picket lines should the Union be forced by WLU into strike action or is locked out by the employer. Members need to ask themselves why WLU did not ask the Union to jointly provide a “frequently asked questions” document versus WLU advising the Union that they were sending out this communique under the guise of “an increasing number of questions” from our members.
Again, in this communique WLU is attempting to maintain the split between classifications by blaming custodians for high absenteeism, lack of shift flexibility, and various forms of premium pay and overtime and inferring that it is the Union’s fault that a settlement has not been reached. It is the Union’s position that this information has not been substantiated with documentation we have received to date nor do we expect it to upon receipt of further disclosure of documents. In addition, all our classifications are entitled to and receive shift premiums and overtime and in fact the custodial classification has very little overtime and high absenteeism is prevalent in almost all areas. Currently, there is need for shift premiums in the trades classification and as well the Union does not understand how cost savings will be achieved if more custodians are assigned to afternoon and night shifts where premiums are paid. We also want to remind members that issues still being discussed include significant changes to sick leave provisions which does affect current employees as well as the hours of work contrary to statements that employer proposals will not affect current employees.
Needless to say, your Negotiating Committee is very distressed that WLU has chosen to approach bargaining in a negative and confrontational manner and appears unconcerned about how insulting and demeaning their comments are in regard to our custodians who are cleaning more square footage due to lack of staff but manage to ensure WLU is beautifully clean and it is unsettling for the balance of the bargaining unit members over the need to conduct a strike mandate. This type of bargaining does not enhance the student experience nor does using contracted out cleaning services!
CUPE Local 926 and myself have indicated that any member may contact us should they have any questions or require clarification in regard to the bargaining process. Contact numbers for Executive and Negotiating Committee are available and/or you can email me at jsmyth@cupe.ca.
Your Local Union Negotiating Committee want you to know that we are working very hard on your behalf to bargain a settlement that will reflect all members needs no matter what classification they work in. UNIVERSITIES WORK BECAUSE WE DO!