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CEP
SaskCouncil |
SaskTel
Bargaining Unit for Local
1-S Local 2-S Local 3 |
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June 25, 2010 The CEP Bargaining Committee met on June 24 and 25 and discussed some
interim bargaining issues as well as our current situation on EDO’s. No
meetings with the Company occurred since our last update. The Union and Company’s position remain very different regarding
EDO’s. The CEP Bargaining Committee is planning to hold information meetings
with the members this summer. Scheduling of dates has not been completed at
this time. Our goal is to give every member an opportunity to meet with representatives
of the Bargaining Committee firsthand. Members will be provided with
information on bargaining to date. All member concerns around bargaining issues should take place at Local
meetings and in turn raised at the Bargaining Table by the Union. June 14, 2010 The modified
proposal put forward by the union discussed in the last update was again
rejected with little feedback provided. We did not meet face to face
with the company as planned on June 10. Two informal meetings took place
between the "chairs" of the committees to see if enough common
ground existed to meet. The CEP
Bargaining Committee is attending a Telecommunication Conference this week
with representatives from Bell, Aliant and MTS. We have a
caucus meeting scheduled for June 24. We will discuss how to proceed at that
time. No meetings have been scheduled beyond June 25 with the company at this
time May 13, 2010 We’d like to take the opportunity to
thank the membership for the support they have shown to the Bargaining
Committee with regards to our position on the EDO issue. Though we didn’t meet with the company
face to face on May 13th, some informal discussion took place.
However, at this point in time, we still do not have agreement on the EDO
issue. We are committed to trying to negotiate a
Collective Agreement at the bargaining table without having to use job
action. We are, however, encouraged to know that if job action is required,
we have the continued support of the membership. We are scheduled to meet with the company
on May 20th. April 24 – May 3,
2010 As previously reported the CEP Bargaining
Committee for the SaskTel Bargaining Unit met with the Executive Board
members of CEP Locals 1S, 2S and 3 on May 3, 2010. The reason for the meeting
was the company’s proposal C17 which, as explained by management, is the
complete elimination of unpaid days off (for an explanation see the previous
report below). The discussions and comments at the
meeting mirrored previous discussions of the Bargaining Committee. These
discussions and comments gave the Bargaining Committee comfort in the
position taken at the bargaining table with respect to the union’s position
on the DO issue. To try and capture the tone of the meeting
we will provide you with the top ten quotes from the meeting: 1. CEP does not
bargain concessions. 2. When do they
expect us to schedule appointments? 3. Days off are a
quality of life issue. 4. $130 million in
profits last year and this is our reward. 5. They call
themselves a top 100 company. 6. If full time are
working 5 days a week will this not mean less hours for part time? 7. If we give up
DO’s What’s next? 8. Stand Strong. 9. Our Days Off are
off limits. 10. CEP does not
bargain concessions. United
We Stand Divided We Fall We have a meeting planned with the
company for May 13. March 26 – April
23, 2010 We have held bargaining meetings with the company on four separate
days since our last update. Our scheduled day of April 22 was cancelled by
the Union. We have finished initial arguments on all proposals at the table
with the exception of the pure monetary proposals. We felt it necessary to
have a further discussion with the company on their proposal C17 which is the
total elimination of unpaid days off or DO’s. This would involve full time
employees working all of their hours in a two week period over 10 days versus
the current 9. That discussion took place April 20. We informed the company
that our direction from the Provincial Screening Caucus on this issue was very
clear. The Bargaining Committee is meeting with the Executives of Local 1-S,
2-S and 3 on May 3 to discuss this issue further. At the April 20 meeting the company raised the issue of our members discussing
bargaining issues directly with managers. All member concerns around
bargaining issues should take place at Local meetings and in turn raised at
the Bargaining Table by the Union. March 22 - 25th
2010 We spent a good portion of our time this week discussing the upcoming
changes that will take place in Operator Services in June 2010. Meetings will be scheduled with the members
in Operator Services in the near future to explain the impacts of those
changes. The Presidents of Local 2-S and 3 plan to attend those meetings. We continued discussions on proposals and have a meeting scheduled
next week. Wendy Sol AVP CEP Western Region issued a press release responding to
the Provincial Budget release. Here is a copy of that release. March 19, 2010 Due to the
public nature of this forum and email we are unable to respond directly to
members. The Bargaining Committee asks that members attend local meetings or
direct inquires to the Local offices by phone. We can provide
a more detailed explanation of the statement on the last update "SaskTel
is not legally bound by either the Canadian Human Rights Act or the
Saskatchewan Human Rights Code". The
explanation we were given by the company is
that when SaskTel as a Crown Corporation became federally regulated
only certain provisions of the Federal Labour Code applied by statute.
Initially SaskTel was not covered by the rules and regulations of the CRTC.
Legislation was passed along with a grace period for SaskTel to comply to the
CRTC. That grace period expired a number of years ago. One of the areas not
covered by the changes to the legislation was the application of the Canadian
Human Rights Act. Due to the fact that SaskTel is covered by the Federal Labour
Code means that the provisions of the Saskatchewan Labour Relation Board and
subsequent Saskatchewan Human Rights Code do not apply to SaskTel by statute.
The same way that SaskTel is not covered by the provincial essential services
legislation. SaskTel has voluntarily complied to the provisions of the
Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. Neither the provincial or federals human
rights commissions have the power to force compliance of the respective
pieces of legislation. It is up to SaskTel to voluntarily comply. The Bargaining
Committee is verifying the companies explanation with our legal counsel and
the respective Human Rights Agencies. We have a
proposal at bargaining to address this issue Union # 63. It may no longer be
a housekeeping proposal. March 11, 2010 We met
with the Company March 9th and March 11th.
We continued to complete first arguments on proposals. Of particular interest is that we learned
that SaskTel is not legally bound by either the Canadian Human Rights Act or
the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.
Also of concern is the company’s proposal to move to a common work
week of 36 hours for all employees with no D/O. This would mean a 7.2 hour work day for 10
days in a 2 week period for all SaskTel Employees. This issue could very well lead to an
impasse in bargaining. We have future
bargaining dates with the company on March 23rd, and March 25th. We also have half a day on March 30th with
the company. Feb 25th, 2010 We met with the Company for a full day to
discuss outstanding issues not related to the current round of Bargaining. We are scheduled to meet with the Company
on March 9th, 11th, 23rd, 25th
and 30th. Feb 9th and 11th, 2010 Initial arguments on proposals were
provided by both sides. To date, we
have worked through approximately a third of the proposals. January 27, 2010 On January 27th, 2010, The
Company and the Union provided a recap of the proposals defining
objectives. We were notified at that
time about the expected potential 50 surplus in Kym Wittal’s area. We pressed for answers to our many
questions however very little information was provided. We went on record with the position that
“we are in total disagreement with their conclusion.” We provided the company with a letter on a
Maintenance Agreement with the parameters dictated by the Canada Labour
Code. The company requested a written
letter in the event of a labor dispute to ensure emergency services would be
provided by our members. January
12, 2010 The
Bargaining Committees exchanged proposals on December 17, 2009. The company
gave us 30 proposals and we presented 66 to them. The company’s proposals
were submitted by the various Director teams throughout the corporation. Our
proposals were screened by each Local and again by the Provincial Screening
Caucus. The company’s focus as per Doug Burnett’s opening remarks will be on
flexibility and cost reduction. Our National Representative Susan Saunders
advised the company our main focus will be to maintain the integrity of our bargaining
unit work, ability to move within the company, recruitment and retention, and
balance of work and family. A brief explanation of each proposal was given by
both sides. At the end of the meeting future dates were booked to meet. Our
next meeting date is January 27, 2010. December
21, 2009 2009 CEP and SaskTel Contract Proposals are now on
the website January
29, 2009 Update The bargaining
committee has many projects and tasks it is focusing on for the coming year.
These include: •
Review of the Sick Leave Policy •
Revision of the Anti-Harassment Policy •
Improving Grievance Resolution •
Maintaining Integrity of the Bargaining Unit •
Improving CEP membership involvement |
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Copyright
2006 CEP Union of |
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