Bargaining Begins
Your negotiating team met with the employer on February 4 to begin a new round of collective bargaining.
Your bargaining committee submitted a complete proposal package, including monetary and non-monetary items. The employer tabled their non-monetary proposals only. However, they committed to costing our proposals and responding at the next round.
The union proposals are based on the survey results and other bargaining discussions with the membership. Thank you to all those to took the time to give their input.
Our monetary proposals included improvements to pay and benefits to keep pace with the cost of living, including bringing the lowest paid classifications above minimum wage and adjusting the rest of the salary grid accordingly.
Our non-monetary proposals include provisions for addressing workload and classification concerns, as well as bringing the agreement inline with revised Occupational Health and Safety and Employment Standards legislation. We also will be discussing the current use of temporary and casual employees.
We agreed to a new Article 43, Continuing Education, which brings the current language in Schedule B about the employer covering costs associated with approved courses, in line with the current policy and practice.
We signed off on Article 29, On Call/Standby and Article 36, Negotiating Conditions with housekeeping updates as well.
We also agreed to a number of Articles that do not need changes:
Preamble
Article 2 – Management Rights
Article 7 – No Strikes, No Lockouts
Article 8 – Grievance Procedure
Article 10 –Termination of Employment
Article 12 – Seniority
Article 16 – Overtime
Article 18 – Banked Overtime
Article 24 – Jury Duty and Court Service
Article 26 – Additional Employment
Article 28 – Assuming Another Classification
Article 31 – Sub-contracting
Article 32 – Workers Compensation
Article 33 – Loss of License/Security Clearance
Article 35 – Work by a Supervisor/Volunteer
Letter of Understanding (LOU) #1 RE: Labour Management Committee
Next Bargaining Dates
Our next bargaining dates are scheduled for March 10, April 7, 8, and 9, and May 21 and 22.
Your negotiating team is dedicated to keeping you informed throughout the entire negotiations process. Please do not hesitate to contact a member of your committee or AUPE resource staff with any questions, comments or concerns you may have.
Please update your contact information so you don’t miss out on important union updates by visiting: aupe.org/updateinfo
Town of Ponoka Negotiating Team
Willie Jones, willie8075@yahoo.ca
Lori Matejka, matejkavl@gmail.com
Tamara Cameron, huzar@live.com
AUPE Resource Staff
Merryn Edwards Negotiator, m.edwards@aupe.org
Farris Sobhani Organizer, f.sobhani@aupe.org
Alexander Delorme Communications Officer, a.delorme@aupe.org