News

To submit your name for the vacant position on the CUPE Local 104 Executive, download the form from the link below and submit it to elections@cupe104.ca.

East TO By-Election Nomination Form

Employee leave policy

Update #2

Vulnerable employees

Public health officials know there is an increased risk of more severe outcomes for some Canadians:
– aged 65 and over
– with compromised immune systems
– with underlying medical conditions

If you fall into one of these categories, we urge you to speak to your manager and work from home if able to, or if unable to telework, to submit “other leave with pay,” (leave code 699). At this time, public health officials have indicated there is insufficient evidence to say that pregnant women are at greater risk, however we encourage our pregnant employees to consult their health care providers and talk to their managers about working from home.

If you have questions regarding the RCMP’s official and current procedures regarding COVID-19 and its various issues, please ensure you consult the “COVID-19 – Addressing Important Topics for Employees” page on the Infoweb.  If you do not have access to the Infoweb, please reach out to your manager or check the RCMP’s public website for information.   If you have specific workplace concerns that are not being addressed by management, don’t forget to contact your steward or Regional Chairperson for assistance.

We wish to thank everyone for your amazing work and dedication during these difficult times.

Our President has been involved in daily teleconferences with senior members of the Treasury Board and the RCMP. There are several key topics including working conditions and occupational health and safety. As part of the National Joint Council (NJC), our Union has a voice at all of these meetings along with other bargaining agents currently representing employees of all federal government departments, which includes the RCMP.

As part of the NJC and also as part of the RCMP National Occupational Health and Safety Policy committees, we have been advocating on many fronts.

• We have raised concerns about the lack of communication from RCMP management as well as the inconsistent application of Treasury Board and RCMP directives. We are pleased to see that this is improving.
• We are continuing to push to ensure that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is ready and available to our members, if needed.
• We are trying to ensure availability of high demand hygiene items such as hand sanitizer and wipes.
• We are ensuring Telecom Operators and Intercept Monitors are included in Business Continuity Planning at all levels because disruptions to the critical functions performed by our members would have significant impacts on public safety and emergency response.

It is very important that everyone follows the guidance and advice from federal / provincial / territorial health authorities. The Public Health Agency of Canada has excellent information and updates available on its website – https://www.canada.ca/covid-19.

Anyone who has travelled out of the country needs to self isolate for 14 days. This includes all of our members. We are not exempted from this. If your manager is telling you to come to work anyway, please contact your Steward and/or Regional Chairperson for assistance.

We are all driven and dedicated to our work and often feel compelled to go to work when sick so that we do not “let our co-workers down” or “have them run short”. Please consider the bigger picture and try looking at it from another perspective. If one person goes in sick, the potential is there to make others sick, and so on. Although the intention may be good, this has the possibility to significantly decrease available staffing resources or even wipe out an entire workplace. Staying home when you are sick will actually help the staffing and workload situation.

At this point, management should be providing extra hand sanitizer, wipes, and tissues. They should be arranging your work site so that you are all working a safe distance away from each other.

These are some examples of management actions that are reasonable and encouraged:

• Reduce or restrict communal items, such as magazines.
• Reduce staffing levels to the minimum required to maintain critical operations.
• Have employees work from home, if they are able and it makes sense.

The following are examples of actions that, at this point in time, are not reasonable:

• Restricting employees from eating at their workstations.
• Advising sick employees to come to work.
• Advising employees in self-isolation to come to work if they are feeling fine.
• Asking employees to provide a doctor’s note.

Things are changing on a daily basis. It is possible that some of us may be redeployed to ensure critical operations across the country. It is also possible for leave to be cancelled and / or restricted further. There are provisions in RCMP policy and the TC collective agreement that deal with re-deployments as well as leave cancellations. If you have travel plans or have booked / paid for vacations over the next while, now is the time to review the applicable policies and articles in the collective agreement to be aware of your responsibilities as well as the responsibilities of the employer in these situations.

Please continue to let your Steward or Regional Chairperson know of any issues at your work site. If there are unreasonable requests or directives coming from management, we will work to resolve them.

These are uncertain times and things are changing on an hourly basis. Thank you all for your flexibility and dedication to keeping Canadians safe. We will get through this together.

Executive contacts – https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/

Contact us – https://104.cupe.ca/contact-us/

We have been in contact with the Treasury Board to reaffirm our desire to move ahead with bargaining as soon as possible. They have advised that they are not yet ready. Meanwhile, our bargaining team continues to work hard on preparations. It is important to note that deeming does not affect bargaining and we are all eager to get to the table.

We do not know if the Regular Members (RMs) will go to the bargaining table before us but it is important to know that their situation is not the same as ours. We are not in the same position as them. We have two different categories of employees as well as two completely different sets of terms and conditions of employment and various employer policies that we are bringing forward into one single contract.

We are eager to get this formally going but we also do not want to rush this very important process of bargaining our first contract. We have a different negotiator than the RMs and we are not queued up in front or behind them.

We have CUPE National’s support and immense experience behind us and they continue to actively assist us with researching other contracts, benefits, and precedents to support our position when bargaining.

The government is planning on moving almost 4000 of our Civilian Member (CM) colleagues onto the HORRIBLE and broken Phoenix pay system. It is destroying peoples lives financially and more. RCMP CMs are already on a great pay system that isn’t going anywhere and will continue to pay the Regular Members (who are not being made to move to Phoenix). Our PS colleagues that are already on Phoenix need all the help and attention they can get without having resources diverted to the CM’s. Everyone deserves to be paid completely and on time. EVERYONE!

PLEASE feel free to sign and share FAR AND WIDE to friends, family, acquaintances etc and feel free to encourage all of them to do the same. To sign please click on button on the bottom of petition that says “sign the petition” and then check your email (and your junk/spam folder) to finalize your vote.

Link to Petition

Nomination Guide & Form