Labour College Survey

I am going to be a little selfish today. I have a project due in a couple of weeks and I am in need of survey responses.

If you could take 3 minutes out of your day and fill out this survey it would help with my Labour College project. I am trying to see if the labour movement is in need of a technological reboot. Where the union movement regroups and coordinates on a much larger scale.

Please go here. Labour College Survey Site

Thank you, and enjoy the summer.

This week, many of the Local 37 members who have been waiting four years to ratify the JEQ (Job Evaluation Questionnaire) will be given that opportunity. Being that I am on the Joint Job Evaluation Team I too am very glad to see this process come closer to conclusion.

Many people are not as excited as I am. Most commonly I have heard criticism surrounding what information that will not be shared at this ratification meeting. I am talking about the money. Financial gains or freezes will hit those working the jobs. It’s very easy to understand that what matters most to our members is the financial aspect of the JEQ over and above the procedure associated with job evaluation. I get it and I empathize because I too will be affected. In the bigger picture my bias is for a clear ratification of this piece of the JEQ. I should share why and if you can relate, I would urge you to vote in favour as well.

As much as I want to know how much I am going to make, it is the wrong reason to be voting for this stage in the process. What I am voting for right now is how the LOU will be applied to the collective agreement. After that everything else is just speculation and personal privilege. 

The resulting JEQ will in the long run will simplify and bring to the present a model by which to rate and rank jobs in our Local. By reducing the current pay bands we will start a return to a more seniority run structure where people are protected rather than a system where seniority is being stripped away for specialized work within the corporation. We will be able to stop a large misappropriate means of pay inequity between each member and have people all across departments being paid the same amount for the same or very similar work.

Keep in mind that the PAQ system has been in place for 30+ years. 30 Years ago computers were not even close to what we use them for today. Our tasks have been added upon and duties more commonly done by foreman are now being done in the field. The lines have been blurring and the PAQ system doesn’t value those changes.

For some voting no is an easy way to just stick it to the City. For others voting no is a protest for the information that is not being shared with the members. For others this is about retiring with their best 5 years. It could mean the difference between keeping a relief posting or giving it up entirely. The reasons for ratifying the JEQ are far from just the facts of the process. When peoples lives are involved, their situation muddies the waters. Clearly this process reaches further than just the JE process but in the end all that we are officially deciding is whether or not the system is better off with the JEQ as it was developed or if we are content with returning to the older out of date PAQ.

I am not a fan of the older system. From where I sit, the system as it is defined right now divides our members to such a degree we are fighting ourselves over pennies. Instead we should be working together on making this work place a better place and allow our own seniority to dictate where we are needed in the corporation. I have had to accept that HR will not divulge certain information like wages and band information, but to me the process is far larger than how it will affect me personally, it will help our members so many times more in the future so much more than it will affect me. At the very worst I will be red circled, and I will loose out on my next 3% raise and maybe a few collectively bargained raises in the future. From the data I have been given that works out to just over 300 members being red circled till January 2013 and under 50 members still being frozen after that.

I'm a numbers guy though, and in the beginning we were using a model of up to 33% red circling. To hear that the number is more like 8% till 2013 and less than 2% afterwards is unbelievable.It says to me that our members have been undervalued for many years, and finally they will get a little more in an economy that is used to barely meeting inflation when it comes to wages.

Keep in mind the numbers are not a reason that you should ratify this LOU. As a member you should look at how it will affect your future collective agreements and most importantly how your job is deemed valuable within the Corporation.

Thanks for your time, and make sure you attend one of the final ratification meetings.

JEQ LOU Ratification

Straight from the most recent email. This is the ratification schedule. Please pick one, make sure you go to the meeting, and cast a vote. Just a note, these are the open to anyone sessions. There are a few that are not listed because they are full.

The dates, locations and times for the information sessions are as follows:

July 17	Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment Plant  Administration Building - Boardroom 4302 15 Street SE	8:30 am End at 10:00 am
July 18	Waste and Recycling District 1 – Residential Collection / Spyhill Landfill Coffee Room 11308 69 Street NW	6:30 am 8:00 am End at 9:30 am
July 18	Spring Gardens Traffic (Sign Shop) Boardroom – Building G 840 32 Avenue NW	5:00 pm 7:00 pm 9:00 pm
July 19	Roads – Central Manchester - Building F (near the back of the building) 651 25 Avenue SE	6:30 am End at 8:00 am
July 19	Water Centre Bow River Conference Rooms 1 & 2 625 25 Avenue SE	8:15 am End at 9:45 am
July 19	Fleet Services Manchester Fleet Auditorium – Building R 651 25 Avenue SE	10:30 am End at 12:00
July 19	Glenmore Water Treatment Plant Training Boardroom 1668 56 Avenue SW	12:30 pm End at 2:00 pm
July 19	Waste and Recycling District 3 – Residential Collection / Shepard Landfill Coffee Room 6655 114 Avenue SE	3:00 pm
July 19	Southland Leisure Centre Cedarbrae Room 2000 Southland Drive SW	6:00 pm 7:30 pm
July 20	Water Centre Bow River Conference Rooms 1 & 2 625 25th Avenue SE	6:00 am 8:00 am 10:00 am

Follow the Money

Came across this today. Thought I would share it with you the Local member. Just to be clear, I'm not Liberal, but this message is an interesting one about what we think and what is happening. I may just buy the book.

Important Meeting

Because it is summer, Regular General Meetings will not be held in July and August. However on July 17^th there is a special called meeting on a notice of motion on the removal of the dues you and I pay on overtime and other items to the hall. Because it is a special called meeting, all that will be discussed is the union dues and how they are currently being applied to things like overtime. The motion is a lot bigger than I am presenting it. There is a feeling out there by some of the members that union dues deducted on things like overtime is too drastic. As an executive member, I would share with you my views on the subject. I know your gut reaction is to vote against paying union dues on overtime, but take a few long slow deep breaths and allow me to explain my perspective on the issue.

At this moment you pay 1.65% of your income in dues. 0.85% goes directly to the National body, which pays for services like our full time national rep, research, the national strike fund, and committee projects that defend programs like your defined benefit pension plan. The other half allows the union hall to function. It allows us to represent member when they are in trouble without the pressure of financial restraints. The funds are important, and we as union members have benefited from the years of collective bargaining agreements that CUPE has negotiated for us. One of those negotiations was overtime at 2X normal wage. Labour Standards sets the minimum at 1.5X normal wage. What we are talking about is roughly a $1/hr (@ $50/hr when an employee is working overtime) goes to the union hall. It’s very small in the bigger picture for employees,but what it means is very big for the union hall.

As an employee you may not know that your union dues are tax deductible. This for me is a good reason to give to the hall. It means money that goes to bettering us as a union will in part come back to me instead of going to taxes. I buy RRSP’s and give to charities, but the automatic dues deduction on my wages help my bottom line during tax season. I see the dividends down the road. It’s like giving to my pension. The forced deductions were hard at first, but after seeing what many years of investing in a collective body can do, I understood the importance of the deduction. The argument is a simple one for me because I have been part of the inner workings of the union hall and I know what 1.65% of my wages and yours allows us to do during the year. When our contract comes up for renegotiation your dues make sure the bargain committee is educated, and members are given to access to schools and processes that help us grow in the movement.

One thing we need to remember where ever we work in the City is that overtime is not mandatory (most of the time) and it is not guaranteed (For most of us). As a collective giving dues on our overtime, is a way of paying it forward to a body that represents us on issues work related and beyond.

Keep in mind that I haven’t input the taxes, and other deductions. If I was to have worked 40 hours of overtime at my current rate (@$29.91/hr) I would have $2392.80 (before taxes/deductions) and would have paid $39.48 in dues. Without the union I would have made $1794.60 and paid no dues. The difference before taxes is $598. I think that I can afford to give $39.48 for my extra $550. But I’m just one guy and one vote.

To me the dues I save don’t make much sense in my pocket. Now I know this argument is weak because at the moment I am an executive member and our union officers are not about to say to the City “We want to just return to the labour standard.” but as a union member, you have to take the time to realize that your collective bargaining agreement is filled with clauses that make your life better than what it would be as an individual worker. I’ll get off my pedestal but we as a labour force need to realize there is a bigger picture issue at work here. Greed is a part of all of us, but in order to advance as a whole we must stop arguing about the penny and a half we pay per dollar that goes to the union. Because that penny and a half has helped our overall quality of life.

The long and the short of it is I am against the notice of motion and I hope that after what you have read you are too. Either way democracy is going to take place July 17^th, 2012 at 7pm in the hall. Please attend this July meeting as it is very important to what you as a member might visualize where your union local is headed.

Green Shield is Here, Stampede Breakfasts

First off let me just congratulate all you new green shieldmembers. If you haven’t received your card in the mail phone up Green Shield. They are officially our service provider. Between now and the middle of July you can be entered into a draw for one of the two iPads! Which means you have a one in a couple thousands chances to win. It will take about a year to figure out if the move from blue to green was worth it. Make sure you voice your pleasure (or displeasure). MEBAC representatives have ensured us that they have been told this process will be as painless as possible but these next dozen months could be a potentially stiff transition (pun intended).  I am ready to submit my first contact prescription,so fingers crossed.

Stampede breakfasts will abound this year as the 100 year anniversary is days away. The union hall will be having a late breakfast from 9am – 12pm onSaturday July 7^th, 2012. We would love to see you there if you have the time come down and enjoy some food at the union hall.