Jan. 11, 2001
What do you want in your next
contract?
Fill out the
demand-setting survey!
The year 2001 is a contract bargaining year for OPSEU members in
the Ontario Public Service. Your current collective agreement expires
Dec. 31, 2001. The process that leads to your next contract starts
now.
Throughout January, OPSEU stewards in locals from Red Lake to
Niagara will be conducting an on-the-job canvass of all members,
asking them to fill out the demand-setting surveys. These surveys are
your first chance to have your say about your next collective
agreement. Make sure you fill one out! If your OPSEU steward has not
yet dropped off a survey, ask for one. If you don’t have a steward,
contact your local president.
You can download a copy of the "OPS Bargaining Issues
Questionnaire" from our web site
. It still has to be returned to your steward or local president to be
included in the local demand report.
What is demand setting?
Demand setting is the process by which OPSEU members decide the
union’s bargaining goals. This fall, your bargaining teams (to be
elected this spring) will sit down with the employer to negotiate a
collective agreement for the OPSEU bargaining unit in the OPS. What
will the union team be asking for? Whatever the members tell them
to. It could be contract language to stop privatization. Or a
significant wage increase. Or better benefits. Or all of the above.
The surveys are very detailed, and designed to help you explain your
priorities for bargaining.
What happens to the surveys?
All surveys must be completed and returned to your local before the
end of January. Surveys are then compiled into a report that is
presented at the local demand-setting meetings in February. The local
must give members at least 30 days’ notice of the demand-setting
meeting. Watch for the notice this month.
Using the survey report as a starting point, members at the
demand-setting meetings vote to set demands and priorities for
bargaining. These demands are then forwarded to OPSEU Head Office (via
Regional Offices), where they are compiled into a province-wide
report. Locals will receive this report for review in June, when they
will be able to suggest changes or clarifications to the demands. The
final version of the demands then goes to the union bargaining teams.
Stay informed
Table Talk will be published frequently throughout
2001, and will provide news and information about bargaining until we
have a new collective agreement. This information is important to
every worker in the OPSEU bargaining unit in the OPS. It is published
on our web site at www.opseu.org,
but you can also receive it directly by e-mail or by fax. To receive Table
Talk, e-mail a message to lwilliams@opseu.org
or fax it to Lesley Williams at (416) 443-1762. Please include your
name, correct mailing address, and local number (if you know it), and
indicate that you want to be on the OPS list.
Produced by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union,
100 Lesmill Road, Toronto M3B 3P8.
Web: www.opseu.org; e-mail: opseu@opseu.org.
Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.
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