2023-02-26
Bargaining update
Dear CUPE 104 members,
As you know, we spent last week in mediation attempting to negotiate a tentative agreement with the employer. We put a lot of energy and effort into the mediation. We presented every aspect of our case. We presented all our data showing comparable wages and benefits from across Canada. We reiterated the critical role our members play in police and public safety. We reinforced the current working conditions, trauma, and mental health pressures you are facing every day. We begged for a salary that might slow down the attrition and retention issues we are facing and help recruit more potential applicants to try and “stop the bleeding” on the staffing crisis. Unfortunately, we do not have a tentative agreement to present to you.
For us to accept a tentative agreement and present it to you for ratification, we must agree to unanimously recommend that you ratify it. We cannot recommend ratification of the current settlement offer.
Fair pay is the biggest issue remaining. Their salary offer is basically the same salary that they offered the first time. The pay increases are pretty much the same as they were before and the same as the other public service groups.
Despite not reaching a tentative agreement, we were able to sign off a few of the remaining articles so we are working on our final reviews of those. We are now working on cleaning up loose ends and firming up exactly what is left for our submission to the Public Interest Commission (PIC).
We are planning some virtual town halls so that we can talk more openly with all of you. We need to make sure we know exactly what we can talk about with respect to the negotiations and mediation sessions. We need to make sure we do not negatively impact anything going forward with the PIC.
Upcoming Survey
In the meantime, there is a survey scheduled to come out this week. It is extremely important that everyone completes it. If you received this email, you are on the list to receive the survey. It is a short survey. We need everyone to complete it to ensure that we have the most recent data from you, our members, that backs up our positions on these issues going into the PIC.
In Solidarity,
Your CUPE 104 executive
Kathleen, Robbin, Myles, Robb, Cyrus, Marc-Étienne, Alex, Brandon, Randy and Ron.