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Sisters, Brothers and Comrades
After many days of intense bargaining, your elected committee has concluded negotiations and come to a tentative agreement. Your bargaining team is recommending ratification. We are working hard on preparing the document to release to all members no later than March 28th. The information should be released to all members at the same time, and we therefore ask members to respect the fact that the bargaining team members will not be able to release specific details about the agreement until the document has been sent to all members. Watch your email and the OPSEU page on the Orchard for updates. We will hold a membership meeting on Wednesday April 4th from 6pm-7pm at the Hanlon Convention Centre (340 Woodlawn Rd W, Guelph) during which your bargaining team will provide a presentation to review the highlights of the tentative agreement and allow some time to answer questions. The ballot box will be open 6pm-9pm that evening for voting at the meeting site. The ballot box will also be available for members to vote from 7am-10am on the same day, Wednesday April 4th at the Guelph Regional Office at 400 Speedvale Ave W, Guelph. Members of the bargaining team will be available while voting is open to answer questions you may have. Thank you for your continued support through this process. As always we Stand Together for One Another. In solidarity, Your Bargaining Committee J. Beckett, Julie Chambo, Kristin Tokarsky, Merrilynn Downey, Stephanie Jenkins-Moss Another successful, engaging, and spirited GMM! Thank you to all who came out, participated in the elections, and engaged in wonderful discourse on the issues of the Local. And a special thank you to members who agreed to stand for positions. It's crucial to the work of the Local to have volunteers willing to participate and I thank each and every one of you. In particular, I'd like to welcome Teresa Wehrle as a new steward! I'm sure you're curious to learn about the outcome of the elections. I am absolutely thrilled to announce that Stephanie Jenkins-Moss is now the Local's Vice-President. In her role as Chief Steward, Stephanie has been very involved in the workings of the Local, grievances, and meetings with management. I am delighted to have Stephanie as a partner in holding management accountable to the Collective Agreement. Stephanie's new role leaves the Chief Steward position vacant. Here's a list of the roles and responsibilities of the position. Which steward do you think would be great at this job? Talk to them and encourage them to run at the next GMM. One of our two trustees, Nadine Vertes is resigning as trustee as of March 31st. Nadine, thank you for your service to the Local. The audit of the Local's financials is fundamental to fiscal responsibility and I thank you for stepping up and completing this. I'm also happy to announce that Cheryl Van Every joins Julie Bergwerff as our second trustee. Thanks Cheryl! Our Pay Equity team was in need of a new member and an alternate, as Luis Quinteros resigned from the committee last year (making the alternate a full member of the team) and Eileen Kilbride left the organization at the end of 2017. Keehan Koorn was elected as the newest member of the PE team and Susan Kilpatrick as the alternate. On behalf of the team (Shannon Tobin, Ruth Linnen and myself), I offer a warm welcome to you both. I think the membership has chosen very wisely and look forward to the perspective, experience and wisdom you bring. If you're still curious about convention, you can read about it on OPSEU's website here. With the number of signed members we currently have, Local 291 sends two delegates to convention and can send an alternate for each delegate. According to OPSEU's constitution, the Local President is an Automatic Delegate, leaving the second delegate to be elected (as well as two alternates). Kristin Tokarsky was elected as the Local's second delegate, and Stephanie Jenkins-Moss and Piri Roberti as first and second alternate respectively. It's going to be a great few days participating in the governance of the union. Communications Officer, Keehan Koorn announced that a survey about accommodations in the workplace will soon be sent to your personal email. The LEC is looking to gather information about how many of our members have asked for accommodations and have been accommodated, or refused. This survey will be confidential and no information provided in the survey will be acted upon; this is simply information gathering from a numbers perspective. Accommodations in the workplace are based on the grounds of the Human Rights Code and the employer has a duty to accommodate up to undue hardship. Accommodation must be fully explored, and the union should be a part of those meetings as the employer and the union have a joint duty to make sure that workplaces are free of discrimination and harassment. I would encourage every member that requires any kind of accommodation at work to contact a steward for support and information to ensure your rights are honoured. We appreciate you taking the time to complete and submit the survey and ask that you encourage others to do the same. The more we know, the better we can support and represent our entire membership. I neglected in my president's report to discuss two important OPSEU conferences that are occurring this year and so want to mention them now. The first is the Indigenous Conference. Being held in Little Current June 22-24, the theme of the conference is "Cultural Reclamation and Restoration: Weaving Culture Back Into our Blanket". Applications are due April 6th; further information and the application form can be found in this document: The second conference coming up is the Young Workers' Conference. Held in Toronto August 10-12, the theme will be "Back to Basics: Your Young Worker Guide". In OPSEU, young workers are those 35 and younger. Keep on eye on the webpage for more information, and on your inbox for the application forms to be sent out likely in April.
In closing, I want to repeat yet again how grateful the bargaining team is for all of your support, your cards, your messages and emails, your blue-wearing and bracelet-wearing. With your vocal support, we continue to represent your demands at the table. Our next dates are March 5th, 6th, and 8th and we can't wait to see all the pictures and tweets of you showing your solidarity as we Stand Together for One Another! It is an honour and a privilege to represent you and I thank you. In solidarity, Julie Chambo, President, Local 291 Dear Sisters and Brothers and Comrades, This message is to provide you with an update on the most recent events influencing the development of a pay equity plan for CMHA WW and OPSEU Local 291. The joint job evaluation committee, [Union and Employer representatives], has completed evaluating each male and female job class job information questionnaire. This is where our well-intended efforts have ended in a dispute. When there are disputes between the parties, either party may file a formal complaint through the Pay Equity Commission. The complaint would include a claim that there has been a violation of the Pay Equity Act. A Review Officer from the Pay Equity Commission would then be assigned to investigate the dispute between the parties, and determine if there are violations of the Act. CMHA WW has filed an application with the Pay Equity Commission of Ontario, Review Services, and a review officer has been assigned. A review officer will respond to the applicant (CMHA WW) and advise the representative Union, in this case OPSEU [when the employees are members of a Union] that an application has been filed. OPSEU is now known as the “respondents” to the application. As with all pay equity litigation, OPSEU assigns outside legal counsel to respond to review services, and the employer. We have been advised by OPSEU head office that we are in good hands and look forward to working with the staff assigned and moving forward to complete a pay equity plan for Local 291. Next steps…
We will continue updates as we move forward. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of your pay equity committee. In solidarity, Julie Chambo- President, Ruth Linnen and Shannon Tobin 
Dear Members,
We have just completed two days of monetary bargaining. This means that initial proposals have been exchanged between union and management and some items have been discussed. Generally speaking, the higher cost items are dealt with toward the end. We remain committed to your agenda as set out by you at the demand set meeting and we stand together for one another! We remain committed to bringing the lowest common denominator up and that gains for some do not result in losses to others. We appreciate your support and encouragement as well as the confidence you have entrusted in us to do this task. Each and every one of our members plays an important role in their own way toward the health and safety of the individuals served in the Waterloo Wellington region. For this reason it is paramount that our members have the supports emotionally, physically and financially to maintain the quality of service they provide. In solidarity, J. Beckett, Julie Chambo, Kristin Tokarsky, Merrilynn Downey, Stephanie Jenkins-Moss Hello Fellow Workers,
Thank you again and always for all of your support as we continue the bargaining process to negotiate our second collective agreement. There’s been some wonderful shows of BLUE, and the bargaining team has been touched by the cards and emails of support that you’ve sent. Since our last bulletin, we’ve met with the employer October 19th and 20th, December 13th, and January 8th and 9th. We’ve made good strides with the non-monetary demands throughout this time and continue forward with the process. Last week we met with the employer and we exchanged our initial monetary proposals. We’re meeting with them again today and tomorrow (January 15th and 16th) to continue negotiating your monetary demands. Thank you for continuing to wear your bracelets daily and your blue on bargaining days. Keep sending us pictures, and rallying your fellow members to wear their bracelet and wear blue. Stand Together for One Another!!! In solidarity, J. Beckett, Julie Chambo, Kristin Tokarsky, Merrilynn Downey, Stephanie Jenkins-Moss ******
Update 8 Dec 2017: In our continued efforts to represent you at the pay equity table, we have had to take the unfortunate step of filing to the Ontario Labour Relations Board an application regarding Union’s duty of fair representation. This application is a complaint that we as Local 291 have not been properly represented by our Union, OPSEU. In our circumstance, it was our understanding from our OPSEU pay equity reps at our last meeting on August 30th that they would be filing, on our behalf, an application to the Pay Equity Commission to address the issues that remain barriers to us in reaching an agreement with the employer regarding pay equity. Since our application was never submitted, we file this complaint of Duty of Fair Representation to uphold our rights as union members to submit an application to the Commission. ****** Pay equity successes at other Locals
What is the Pay Equity Commission?
What is the process of going to the Commission?
Why are we going to the Commission?
What we hope to accomplish
What can you do?
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(UPDATE Oct 11 - Info Nights have been CANCELLED) The local is hosting two events so members can be up to date around the Pay Equity process. Check out the posters below for the events. There will be one in Fergus and one in Kitchener - attend whichever one is most convenient for you. Refreshments and food provided. RSVP with the location you'll be attending by sending an email to Ruth Linnen at rlinnen@wightman.ca.
Our Joint Steering Committee would like to provide this update to OPSEU staff members on the Pay Equity process. As previously reported, we have been working diligently for over a year on this process to ensure that it is done as accurately as possible. The Joint Steering Committee (JSC), along with our respective pay equity advisors met on Wednesday, August 30, 2017 with the hope of being on a path to completing the Pay Equity Plan by early fall. Unfortunately, at that meeting the JSC came to the conclusion that we would be unable to reach consensus on the Pay Equity Plan and as per the Terms of Reference previously negotiated, the parties will be applying to the Pay Equity Commission for resolution of the matter. We will update the staff members with further information as it becomes available.
The Joint Steering Committee (JSC) |
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Communications Officer L291 Archives
March 2018
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