CUPE LOCAL 10🍁4 VIRTUAL TOWN HALLS: 2023-03-07 and 2023-03-09

2023-03-04

To all CUPE Local 104 Members,

CUPE Local 104 Executive will be holding two virtual town halls to update you on bargaining, followed by a Q&A session.

 

DATE: TUESDAY MARCH 7th, 2023
TIME: 19h00 EASTERN TIME
PRE-REGISTRATION:
To attend the virtual TOWN HALL, you must first PRE-REGISTER by clicking on the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkc-GhpzopGNGa1r3m21gAgguiasSSKKdA

 

DATE: THURSDAY MARCH 9th, 2023
TIME: 18h00 EASTERN TIME
PRE-REGISTRATION:
To attend the virtual TOWN HALL, you must first PRE-REGISTER by clicking on the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlcOCqpz8tHNTQRMpVdre2J8_4bJEqb_5H

 

IMPORTANT: You need to use your full first and last name when registering and logging into the TOWN HALL to be admitted.

If you want to attend both town halls, you must register for each.

The registration process may take a few days; we all work full time and will be manually approving registrations after work. PLEASE REGISTER EARLY! Members who try to register the day of the town hall, may not get their link in time.

Once registered, you will receive an email with a PERSONAL LINK to the Town Hall. You can’t share this link with other members; they need to register themselves.

REMINDER: Recording of union proceedings in any way is not permitted.

If you can’t be present, ask another member to fill you in after the meeting.

If your colleagues are not receiving this email, please tell them to go to www.cupe104.ca and fill out the MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION FORM so we have their email.

PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH YOUR COWORKERS.

We hope to see you.

In Solidarity,

Your CUPE 104 executive
Kathleen, Robbin, Myles, Robb, Cyrus, Marc-Étienne, Alex, Brandon, Randy and Ron.

Executive e-mail addresses: https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/

Main page: https://104.cupe.ca/
Membership Form: https://104.cupe.ca/membership/

Notice of Elections

2023-03-03

In accordance with our bylaws, here is the Notice of Election for the following positions for the CUPE Local 104 Executive Board:

  • Eastern Region Intercept Monitor Chairperson (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, QuĂ©bec)
  • Central Region Intercept Monitor Chairperson (Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan)
  • Western Region Intercept Monitor Chairperson (Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Yukon)
  • Trustee (2 year Term)
  • Trustee (3 year Term)

Key Dates:

  • Nominations: March 6-12, 2023
  • Voting: March 17-23, 2023
  • Results: March 28, 2023

Nomination guide and forms are available online at https://104.cupe.ca/wp-content/blogs.dir/820/2021/01/Nomination-Package-2021-01-15.pdf .

They must be signed, scanned and e-mailed to elections@cupe104.ca before the nomination period closes on 2023-03-12.

 

Campaigning may take place at any time and is the sole responsibility of the nominee(s). Shortly after the close of the nomination period, and at the request of the nominee(s), the Elections Committee will send one email to the membership including: nominees’ names, work locations, and one URL link, provided by the nominee, pointing to a website of their choosing.

Voting will be by electronic ballot sent to the email we have on file from your membership form. Remember to check your junk / spam folders.

Voting will start on 2023-03-17 and remain open for seven (7) days. Results will be communicated on or before 2023-03-28.

Please ensure you read the nomination guide attached to the nomination form carefully as it contains important information. You will receive confirmation from the Elections Committee that your nomination form was received within 24 hours of sending it in.

The Elections Committee is Western TO Chair Alex Johnston, Western TO steward Andrew Wilkie and Western TO steward Shelly Lozinski.

You can contact your Steward, Regional Chairperson, or the Elections Committee with any questions.

 

In Solidarity,

CUPE Local 104 Elections Committee
elections@cupe104.ca

CUPE 104 website: https://104.cupe.ca/
Executive e-mail addresses: https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/
Membership Form: https://104.cupe.ca/membership/

 

CUPE 10🍁4 – NEWS

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.

CUPE LOCAL 10🍁4 NEWS

2023-02-09

MEDIATION DATES:

Your bargaining committee will be in mediation on February 21st, 22nd and 23rd 2023.
We continue standing up for what we deserve.

CUPE LOCAL 10🍁4 NEWS

2023-01-31

 

OUR LATEST NEWS:

  • On January 17th, a joint (CUPE104-Treasury Board) request for mediation was sent to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.
  • On January 26th, a mediator was appointed.
  • We are waiting on a mediation date and we will let you know when we have it.

 

MEDIA CAMPAIGN TOOL:

Here is the link to our media campaign tool:

End the short-staffing at RCMP Emergency Communication Centres | Canadian Union of Public Employees (cupe.ca)

Please complete it and send it and please ask your friends and family to do the same.

 

MEDIA INTERVIEWS:

Have a listen to our President’s latest media interviews:

https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/barely-hanging-on-union-says-rcmp-emergency-dispatchers-facing-retention-and-recruiting-crisis-1.6239807?fbclid=IwAR2ksfRZLimzzM_FoE2QFzDr4Wk5bi3OMumAc4ME2olopnJ0v_G6BE22rd0&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-103-the-afternoon-edition-sask/clip/15961361-sask.-rcmp-9-1-1-dispatchers-facing-major-staffing-shortage?fbclid=IwAR2YnCaqexUts-bF8677lj8PcG6ZIfbbVmX3FxHsgCYKns4dFsVxVemu9c4&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

https://globalnews.ca/news/9397872/kelowna-911-dispatch-services-low-staffing/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ

 

 

In Solidarity,
Your CUPE 104 executive
Kathleen, Robbin, Myles, Robb, Cyrus, Marc-Étienne, Alex, Brandon, Randy and Ron.

Executive e-mail addresses: https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/

Main page: https://104.cupe.ca/
Membership Form: https://104.cupe.ca/membership/

CUPE LOCAL 10🍁4 BULLETIN

To all CUPE 104 members,

Our media campaign has started.

The following article is on BusinessWire.com for other media outlets to pick up.

Please click on the online action tool  to put public pressure on the Treasury Board and the Public Safety ministers, MPs and the RCMP, and force them to address the situation immediately.

Thank you for your continued support!

In Solidarity,
Your CUPE 104 executive

Source: 40% job vacancy at RCMP Emergency Communication Centres. Will your call get through? | Business Wire

“As first responders, our members are the public’s first point of contact in an emergency. They make sure RCMP officers and other emergency services can intervene rapidly when Canadians need help. At least, this is the theory,” said Kathleen Hippern, president of CUPE 104.

“Unfortunately, when time is of the essence in a dangerous situation, Canadians are often waiting long minutes before someone is available to answer their call for help. Why? Simply because the RCMP has not retained nor hired enough staff required for these critical operations,” added Hippern.

For eight weeks starting January 9, a massive bilingual ad campaign (bus, bus shelters and digital ads) will target downtown Ottawa where the Treasury Board office is located, as well as the areas surrounding the RCMP headquarters in Montreal and Surrey, BC.

The digital ads invite viewers to an online action tool on cupe.ca to put public pressure on the Treasury Board and the Public Safety ministers, MPs and the RCMP, and force them to address the situation immediately.

Devastating impacts on staff, but no respect at the bargaining table

This short-staffing is not only putting Canadians in danger, it has devastating impacts on CUPE’s RCMP Emergency Communication specialists: workloads are heavier, stress is high, medical leaves and mental health issues are on the rise, vacations are denied, and retention is difficult.

“Our members are public safety professionals who serve Canadians around the clock, every day of the year. They need to be in sufficient number to do their work properly for the benefit of Canadians. The public and our 1,200 members – who are still without a contract five years after certification – deserve better,” said Hippern.

“We are inviting Canadians to use our online action tool to write to the President of the Treasury Board, the Minister of Public Safety, the RCMP Commissioner and their MP to end the short-staffing. And ask them to show respect at the bargaining table for the RCMP Emergency Communication specialists who do vital work for you,” concluded Hippern.

CUPE 104 represents 1,200 RCMP Emergency Communication specialists across Canada, including 9-1-1 call takers and dispatchers, police telecommunicators, and communications monitoring analysts. They joined CUPE in 2018.

For more information
Philippe Gagnon
Media relations, CUPE
613-894-0146
pgagnon@cupe.ca

Bargaining update 2022-12-29

 

Dear CUPE 104 members,

 

Last week, we met with the employer for another bargaining session. Unfortunately, the employer has taken the position that there is very little room for movement on the remaining items and there is no room for movement on their salary offer. To be clear, they have not moved at all from their initial salary offer.

 

During this session, the employer maintained their position and continued to try and justify the insulting salary offer that they tabled. Based on their presentation, they are not taking into account our critical staffing levels, high vacancy rates, the unique skills of our members, the responsibility we have for public and officer safety, nor the impacts of the work and working conditions on our mental health. Their analysis also showed that there are no issues with recruitment and retention.

 

Throughout this round of negotiations, we have fought against numerous concessions being sought by the employer. It appears the employer believes our group was first created in 2014 with no regard for the history of the terms and conditions that were established over the previous decades.

 

Our group was closely linked to the Regular Members of the RCMP in terms of salaries, benefits, and other terms and conditions for many years. We were not linked to the other groups in the Core Public Administration. However, through these negotiations, the employer has remained focused on the other 300 000 public servants and 28 other bargaining units while negotiating with us.

 

We are disappointed that the employer has taken this approach. Like many of you, we are disheartened that the employer thinks so little of the work we do and the impact that it has.

 

In an effort to help resolve the outstanding issues in a timely manner, we are proceeding to mediation. It is our hope that a third-party mediator can help us reach a tentative agreement with the employer. We are hoping to get dates for mediation soon and we will advise you of the dates as soon as we have them.

 

We ARE an incredible group, and we WILL remain unified and fight if we must and we will fight hard! We need to count on each other, support each other, and remain united now more than ever.

 

We are working on a date for a virtual Town Hall, sometime in the next couple of weeks, to discuss where we are at and the next steps
 so stay tuned.

CUPE LOCAL 10🍁4 VIRTUAL GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

2022-12-06

 

To all CUPE Local 104 Members,

 

This is your official notification as required by the bylaws that we will be holding a virtual General Membership Meeting (GMM).

 

DATE:   WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 14th, 2022
TIME:   18H00 EASTERN TIME

 

PRE-REGISTRATION:
To attend the virtual GMM, you must first PRE-REGISTER by clicking on the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErc-CtrTMuE9H2n__zhbWEXKgVOk-DScqq

 

IMPORTANT: You need to use your full first and last name when registering and logging into the GMM to be admitted.

The registration process may take a few days; we all work full time and will be manually approving registrations after work. PLEASE REGISTER EARLY! Members who try to register on the day of the GMM, may not get their link in time.

Once registered, you will receive an email with a PERSONAL LINK to the GMM. Links cannot be shared, all members attending must register individually.

If you are unable to attend, we recommend that you ask another member to fill you in after the meeting.

 

As per the bylaws, the order of business shall be:

  • Roll call of officers
  • Reading of the Equality Statement
  • Housekeeping
  • Voting on new members and initiation
  • Reading of the minutes
  • Matters arising from the minutes
  • Secretary-Treasurer’s Report
  • Communications and bills
  • Executive Board Report
  • Reports of committees and delegates
  • Nominations, elections, or installations
  • Unfinished business
  • New business
  • By-law amendments
  • Good of the Union
  • Adjournment

An informal Town Hall/Q&A will follow after the formal meeting is adjourned.

Your questions relating to these topics may be submitted prior to this meeting to secretary@cupe104.ca.

 

If your colleagues are not receiving this email, please tell them to go to https://104.cupe.ca/ and click the link at the bottom MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION FORM so we have their email.

 

We hope to see you!

 

In Solidarity,
Your CUPE 104 executive
Kathleen, Robbin, Myles, Robb, Cyrus, Marc-Étienne, Alex, Brandon, Randy and Ron.

Executive e-mail addresses: https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/

Main page: https://104.cupe.ca/
Membership Form: https://104.cupe.ca/membership/

 

CUPE LOCAL 10🍁4 BULLETIN

2022-12-02

 

To all CUPE 104 members,

 

The Employer sent out an email to some of our members this week. To be clear, this email was from them, not us. We had nothing to do with it and we have no idea why they only sent it to some of you and excluded the rest of you.

 

CUPE, Canada’s largest public sector Union, represents over 715 000 members negotiating for public sector workers across Canada. Prior to the preparations for deeming, there were no groups in the Federal Public Service equivalent to the Telecommunications Operators or Intercept Monitor Analysts. They had to create a new group, the PO Group. We are a unique group of workers, and the Employer keeps trying to lump us into the rest of the Core Public Administration (CPA). There is nothing we can do about being hired into the CPA. However, we will never stop educating the employer about the unique public safety, first-first responder work that we all do.

 

As you know, we served notice to bargain on May 9, 2018. We have been transparent about all the bargaining dates as well as the work that we have been doing prior to and between those dates. We gathered information from comparator agencies all over Canada. We also searched through the current and historical collective agreements between other bargaining agents and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). From this vast research and experience, we crafted and presented a first collective agreement proposal to the Employer on behalf of our members.

 

Since May 2021, when we first exchanges initial proposals, we have made a great deal of movement. We will discuss all of this when we either reach an impasse or a tentative agreement so that you will be fully informed before you are asked to vote on accepting or rejecting an agreement. The most recent November 8 offer that the employer referenced in their email is not acceptable.

 

The Employer, including TBS and the RCMP, Senior Management and Policy Centres have been in regular communications about the collective bargaining process. We believe it would be in their best interest for them to listen to their front-line managers about what they need to ensure their centres remain open. We do not know how much information they are sharing with managers, but we do know that what they recently offered is not what we need to survive.

 

Obviously, we are all concerned about the lag in salaries. In 2017, the employer refused to give our group the raise we were entitled to for 2015 and 2016 including the economic increases we were supposed to get with the pay package for 1.25%, 1.25% and the 2.3% market adjustment in 2016.

 

As you know, we were forced to file an unfair labour practice complaint with the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB). As part of that complaint, we were able to achieve a settlement for the economic increases of 1.25% and 1.25% for 2015 and 2016. The Employer refused to settle the remaining 2.3% market adjustment we are still owed from April 1, 2016. We presented our case to the FPSLREB this past summer and we are still waiting for the decision from that hearing.

 

If the Employer, including the RCMP, truly recognized the impact of the salaries on morale and retention and presented us with an offer that reflected that, we would have presented you with a tentative agreement to review and ratify.

 

Throughout the bargaining process, we have consistently pushed back against the concessions that the Employer presented. We worked hard this week on our latest counteroffer, and we presented it back to the employer with our supporting evidence and rationale.

 

We still have another session planned for December 19-23. We are committed to working with the Employer to achieve a collective agreement at the table. We will continue to fight for all of us to achieve a deal that is fair and reflective of what we are worth.

 

Thank you for your continued support!

 

In Solidarity,

Your CUPE 104 executive

Kathleen, Robbin, Myles, Robb, Cyrus, Marc-Étienne, Alex, Brandon, Randy and Ron.

 

Executive e-mail addresses: https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/

Main page: https://104.cupe.ca/

Membership Form: https://104.cupe.ca/membership/

CUPE LOCAL 10🍁4 VIRTUAL TOWN HALL: November 23rd 2022 @ 18h

Date: 2022-11-16

To all CUPE Local 104 Members,

 

CUPE Local 104 Executive will be holding a virtual town hall to update you on bargaining and to answer your questions.

 

DATE: WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 23rd, 2022
TIME: 18h00 EASTERN TIME

 

PRE-REGISTRATION:
To attend the virtual TOWN HALL, you must first PRE-REGISTER by clicking on the following link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tf-GqqTgoE9B3zqiNDHpvSeoBe2mf-Abt

 

IMPORTANT: You need to use your full first and last name when registering and logging into the TOWN HALL to be admitted.

 

The registration process may take a few days; we all work full time and will be manually approving registrations after work. PLEASE REGISTER EARLY! Members who try to register on Nov 23rd, may not get their link in time.

Once registered, you will receive an email with a PERSONAL LINK to the Town Hall. You can’t share this link with other members; they need to register themselves.

REMINDER: Recording of union proceedings in any way is not permitted.

If you can’t be present, ask another member to fill you in after the meeting.

 

If your colleagues are not receiving this email, please tell them to go to www.cupe104.ca and fill out the MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION FORM so we have their email.

PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH YOUR COWORKERS.

 

We hope to see you.

In Solidarity,

Your CUPE 104 executive
Kathleen, Robbin, Myles, Robb, Cyrus, Marc-Étienne, Alex, Brandon, Randy and Ron.

Executive e-mail addresses: https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/

Main page: https://104.cupe.ca/
Membership Form: https://104.cupe.ca/membership/