June 9, 2026
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
On March 13, 2026, the Bargaining Committee called a General Membership Meeting to get direction and a mandate from the membership. The membership was asked to participate in a strike vote following the membership meetings that were set up throughout the day. The meetings were held away from the Stonebridge facility at a nearby hotel to assure member confidentiality, privacy and full participation as options were discussed to move bargaining forward.
The membership meetings were well-attended and the membership voted nearly unanimously in favour of a Strike Mandate.
On March 30 and March 31 (Day 2 and 3), the Union resumed bargaining with the Employer. The Employer was unwilling to withdraw any of their “take away” and/or “new language” proposals, so very little progress was made to advance negotiations. The parties booked additional dates to reconvene giving the Employer time to review the Union’s proposals with their principles and return with a different attitude. Dates to reconvene bargaining were set for May 21 and 22 and June 8 and 9.
On May 21 and May 22 (Days 4 and 5), the Employer’s standoff continued as the Employer was unwilling to withdraw their proposed language that would change the newly imposed Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Union clearly indicated that our focus was on wages, a wage grid, date-of-hire seniority, and having the Employer recognize the differences between work in the “Garden” and work in the “Arbor”. No progress was made in convincing the Employer to remove these many “take away” proposals that would weaken the current language in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
On June 8 (Day 6), the Employer returned to the table with a package that included a full response to the Union’s monetary proposals. The Union was pleased to see that the Employer had withdrawn their “take away” language proposals.
The Union responded to the Employer’s package by providing their “offer to settle” as there were outstanding non-monetary items that were unresolved. The Union also responded to the Employer’s monetary position on General Wage Increases and identified there were still several issues that are important to the membership that have not been resolved.
On June 9 (Day 7), the Employer provided a complete response in another Employer “offer to settle”. The response included little to no movement on the significant monetary issues put forward by the membership to the Bargaining Committee. The Union reconnected with the Employer and have
advised that we are at an impasse and will be providing the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety with a Notice of Impasse and will be awaiting the Ministry’s instructions regarding the next steps.
If you have collective agreement questions or issues, contact the Member Resource Center at 1-888-999-7348 ext 1, email [email protected], or complete the Contact Us form on our website, www.seiuwest.ca.
In Solidarity,
The SEIU-West Stonebridge Crossing Bargaining Committee:
Ivy Krueger-Booker • Christine Derkach • Staff: Tracy Goodheart (Union Representative) • Larry Buchinski (Lead Negotiator)