Bargaining Update Local 047, Chapter 061
Over the past few weeks, your negotiations team has encouraged you and your co-workers to fill out a bargaining survey for your first collective agreement at Revera Our Parents’ Home. We’re happy to say that the results are in—and now it’s time for us to plan what’s next.
Almost the entire staff at our worksite participated! This gives your negotiations team a strong picture of what your priorities are in bargaining, and the team is looking forward to bringing those priorities to the table at our first negotiating dates on Jan. 25 and 26.
Here are some of the key priorities you and your co-workers expressed:
- Improving benefits for part-time and temporary employees
- Staff parking
- Improved safety measures on the worksite—especially monitoring the front door
- Improved scheduling practices, particularly around filling vacant shifts and vacation/time-off requests
- Improved sick leave
- Fixing the too-frequent payroll errors that you currently deal with
- Respect and communication in the workplace
- Higher wages, shift differentials, RRSP contributions, and benefits.
With your priorities in mind, your negotiations team will be preparing our ingoing proposals. But our success in negotiations depend on your support. That’s why the team will be holding two meetings to discuss bargaining, as well as any other questions that you might have,—such as how our new union works, how we can work together to address payroll mistakes, how to prepare for a new manager arriving, and general issues of mobilization.
The meetings will take place on Dec. 20. The first will occur from 10:00 to 11:00 in the morning, and the second will be from 4:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon.
You can join the meeting at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/97066822388. If you need to call in, you can call +1 587 328 1099.
Your negotiations team will be present, along with AUPE staff who are available to help you with whatever issues you’re facing in the workplace. It’s important that you attend one of the meetings. Remember to also tell your co-workers about it! Just make sure that any union conversations you have do not take place on employer-paid time.
Remember: You have rights!
Even though we don’t have a first collective agreement yet, you still have rights as a union member. One of the most important rights that you have is the right to union representation.
This means that you have the support of your union when you face problems at work. You can get in contact with your Membership Services Officer, and they will support you. If there is a problem with your pay or benefits, if you are being bullied or harassed, if you have health and safety concerns, if you believe that any of your rights have been violated or if you are facing discipline, please contact your MSO as soon as possible!
Your MSO is Guy Quenneville, and you can email him at g.quenneville@aupe.org. You can also call AUPE’s Member Resource Center at 1-800-232-7284 between 8:30 and 4:30 on weekdays.
We know that, for all of us, the possibility that we’ll need the backing of our union is not just hypothetical. As we wrote about in our last update, we saw the employer unjustly terminate our chapter chair, a move which we think is aimed to scare the rest of us into submission.
We’re fighting to bring our chair back. With AUPE behind us, we’re bringing a complaint to the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB). The Board is currently in the process of scheduling a hearing, and your negotiations team will be sure to keep you in the loop about further developments. With the power of a union, we can fight back against unfair employer abuse.
Our union provides you with the defense that you need, but it also provides you with opportunities to learn and become stronger. AUPE’s education department has an extensive series of courses that you can take, on subjects ranging from occupational health & safety, to conflict management, to contract interpretation, to direct action. You can find out more at https://aupe.org/training/courses.
As an AUPE member, you can also receive discounts for products and services across the province—from massage therapy to phone repair to mortgages, and everything in between. Look over the list at https://www.aupe.org/member-resources/discounts.
For more information about how AUPE works, check out the orientation document we’ve put together here: https://www.aupe.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/C18400OrientationBook_ThisIsAUPE_DEC2018.pdf
Time to stand together
We know that we deserve respect and dignity in the workplace, and we know how to achieve it. We do it by standing together, shoulder-to-shoulder, in solidarity. And now, as we prepare to enter into negotiations for our first collective agreement, it’s more important than ever.
That’s why it’s so essential for us to come together in our meetings on Dec. 20—so that we can move forward together as a united front. We are the ones who make Our Parents’ Home run, and we do it together. We can also make it a better place to work.
We’ll see you at the meetings on Dec. 20. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out to your negotiations teams with any questions, comments, or feedback.
Bargaining committee:
Catherine Flamiano flamianocatherine@gmail.com cell 780-901-6474
Zeus Ng zeus_ng@mail.com - cell 780-710-1539
Jennifer To jenniferjj.to@gmail.com - cell 780-709-3812
Renalene Zarate norlhen.lc@gmail.com cell - 587-873-3824
AUPE Resource Staff:
Merryn Edwards, Negotiations – 780-952-1951 m.edwards@aupe.org
Michelle Szalynski, Organizing –403-634-8262 m.szalynski@aupe.org
Guy Quenneville, Membership Services Officer – 780-237-8253 g.quenneville@aupe.org
Jon Milton, Communications Officer — j.milton@aupe.org