Conciliation Underway
Your bargaining team met with a conciliation
officer, in Toronto June 23-25, 2009. These meetings resulted in successive
days of productive negotiations, and steps forward to attaining our goal of
a fair collective agreement.
Both parties agreed at the table that
progress was being made, and that further dates with the conciliation
officer, would be beneficial to achieving a negotiated collective agreement.
Due to summer vacation schedules, further bargaining with the conciliation
officer will be held September 14th and 15th in Ottawa.
Update:Unfair Labour Practice – Freeze Violations and
Bargaining in Good Faith
On May 4, 2009 the Union filed a complaint
with the Labour Board that the Employer violated Sections 17 and 86 (1) of
the Ontario Labour Relations Act. The Freeze violations are:
Change of hours of operation in
Apheresis and
The Standardization of clinic hours
pilot project including Mississauga, Square One.
During bargaining, the employer made
announcements at the table regarding the multi-skilled worker, facilities
location, management appointment solution, consolidation of work in lookback/traceback,
and potential clinic services re-design to be piloted initially in
Saskatchewan. Any impact from these workplace changes should have been
negotiated with us before implementation.
As a result, your bargaining team filed a
complaint of not bargaining in good faith with the Labour Board. The
particulars are encompassed in the Labour Board complaint. The Employer
and the Union met on Tuesday June 16th in Ottawa with a Labour Relations
Officer and were not able to mediate a settlement. The Union requested a
date for the violations to be heard by the Board.
Mobilizing Activities
Your mobilizing efforts to date have been
very effective. It is because of these actions that your team was able to
make progress at the bargaining table. Congratulations to you all!!! By
wearing the “We’re not going there” stickers, you sent the employer a clear
message of what you want to happen in this round of bargaining, a fair and
equitable collective agreement.
Keep up the great
work!!!
A picture is worth a thousand words...
It’s time to put a face to the great work
that each of you do! The bargaining unit is launching a photo campaign to
profile members in the provincial support unit on the OPSEU website. Take
your cameras out and get
pictures of you and your co-workers and the valuable work that you do. Send
in your pictures via email to
ghamara@opseu.org with a brief description of the surroundings and the
full names of the members in the pictures, including your work location and
local number. Please note that high resolution photos work best.
Be creative. This is your time to shine.
Raise awareness and let CBS know ---it’s not in you to give in!!!
Further Mobilizing events are being
planned throughout the summer-get involved!
Your bargaining team
Brenda Thompson L 210 – Team Chair
Cindy Kissick L 5103
Tom Goddard L 5103
John (Reid) MacDonald L 477
Cathie Bergman-Richards L 160
Lester Yearwood Staff Negotiator
Tracy More Staff Negotiator
