Date: December 21, 2023
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
Our last communication with you was near the end of October when we met to discuss the impasse at bargaining and to take a vote for job action. As you know the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of job action. That step was taken because we were at a complete impasse. Bargaining stalled because of the Employer’s positions on wages and Statutory holidays. Their wage offer is below the funding increases, they haven’t provided anything to make up for implementing a wage increase during bargaining (which meant you didn’t get a vote) and they wanted to claw back some Stat time as well as not provide National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
As we discussed in October when we took the job action vote we still have to meet with the Employer for conciliation when we reach an impasse. We met with the Employer and the provincial conciliator on the 20th and 21st of December. Since we had no choice but to meet, we decided to come to the meeting to try and get a deal. We didn’t succeed but we did break through a lot of the log jam that has been holding us up. We are happy to report that as of the end of the conciliation meeting of the 21st of December the Employer has withdrawn their proposal to claw back extra Statutory holiday time you earn under this contract. We still have to reach and agreement on wages and we are still trying to get them to provide National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a holiday the same as they do for everyone else that works for LutherCare Communities. We have agreed to meet again in the new year with the conciliator to try and get a deal. That means that for now we have agreed not to engage in full scale strike action of any kind. However, it doesn’t mean we aren’t still mad and it doesn’t mean we aren’t going to put some pressure on the Employer in other ways while we wait for the next round of conciliation.
The statutory holiday should not hold up bargaining for a second. It isn’t fair to provide it to everyone else without conditions and say that you can only have it if you give up something else. The Employer has always provided the same increases in wages as they get in funding. Negotiations like that have never caused a break down in our relationship and they’ve always been open and straightforward. It’s a matter of mutual respect. We don’t want more than the Employer is able to provide but we do want them to honour that history and we won’t just let it go that they ran a bulldozer over the bargaining process. We are on the road to a solution, but we still need your help to get their attention and keep it. We will provide more updates soon. In the meantime, watch your email for notices of any meetings or activities to support bargaining.
Thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.
On behalf of the Committee, if you have questions about bargaining and/or your collective agreement contact the Member Resource Centre (MRC) by phone at 1-888-999-7348 ext 2298, by email at [email protected], or by using the contact form at www.seiuwest.ca.
Your participation in your Union makes us all strong!
In Solidarity,
The SEIU-West Luther Care Group Home Bargaining Committee
Arin Blair (Unit Chair) • Laura Fleming (Unit Vice Chair) • Staff: Kelly Reynolds (Union Representative) • Cam McConnell (Lead Negotiator)
Click here for a printable version of this Bargaining Bulletin