Bargaining update
Your Unit 4 Bargaining Team believes that we have the potential to reach a tentative agreement in the very near future, but there are still several items on the table.
As of today (Tuesday, February 3rd), we’re still negotiating Compensation and Hours of Work, among a few other items.
As per the Employer’s most recent proposals, they are attempting to assign additional duties for CAs. These additional duties proposed by the Employer include:
- Mandatory move-out shifts;
- Mandatory open house shifts;
- Mandatory room inspection shifts.
These duties have historically been done by positions other than CAs (eg. GRAs and PAs), so by downloading this work onto CAs, the Employer is unfairly seeking to take away the paid hours of these other workers. We are of the position that these duties should not be downloaded onto CAs as this would only benefit the Employer’s own pockets, while harming Unit 4 workers.
Furthermore, the Employer is unfairly insisting that CUPE 3906 agree to a pay equity plan as part of collective bargaining. Pay equity, while important, is a process that is separate from collective bargaining and governed by separate legislation. We believe that the Employer’s assertion on this matter is highly unusual and is unreasonably delaying good faith negotiations.
What’s next?
This week, we have two more full-day collective bargaining dates booked with the Employer on Wednesday and Friday.
We believe that we are negotiating fairly and making reasonable movement in order to ensure we get the best mutually agreeable deal and the best outcome for Unit 4 workers. We are hopeful that the Employer will reconsider their proposals so that we can reach a fair deal soon.
We’ll have another update with more information on Friday!
Sincerely,
Your CUPE 3906 Unit 4 Bargaining Team
(Caleb, Elissa, Simran, Anna, Muskaan, and Vanessa)