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LONDON LOCAL 566
November 3, 2011 - 10:00
RSMC Negotiations 2009 / Bulletin
RSMC Negotiations Bulletin No. 38
The Union has recently received the interest arbitrator’s final decision concerning the negotiations between the parties under the terms of the initial collective agreement. In his award the arbitrator made the following rulings:
TRANSITION COMMITTEE – status quo with current language.
PAID COURT LEAVE – members will be entitled to paid leave when they are required to serve on a jury.
PAID VACATION – members will be entitled to four (4) weeks of vacation leave after the completion of ten (10) years of employment.
STAFFING – vacant positions are to be filled by seniority from applications received from members working within seventy-five (75) kilometres of the vacancy. Both route holders and On Call Relief Employees within the area of eligibility will be entitled to submit applications for the vacant position, although route holders will be given the first opportunity.
CHILD CARE FUND – a yearly amount of $260,000.00 will be placed in the Child Care Fund established through Appendix “L” of the Urban Operation collective agreement.
CORPORATE TEAM INCENTIVE – the employer’s Corporate Team Incentive will be applied to RSMC members effective December 31, 2011 – there will be no retroactive application for the 2011 calendar year.
APPENDIX “A” – the employer’s proposal to increase Appendix “A” was granted - payments to become effective on December 1, 2011.
ON CALL RELIEF EMPLOYEES – the Union and the employer may, through consultation at the local level, create additional On Call Relief positions if the local situation requires such additional positions.
MATERNITY AND ADOPTION LEAVE ALLOWANCE – effective October 26, 2011 members who are entitled to unemployment insurance benefits pursuant to either Section 22 or 23 of the Employment Insurance Act, or benefits from the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, will receive an allowance that will “top-up” their wages to 93 % of his or her weekly wage.
DRUG PLAN – effective December 1, 2011 members will become entitled to a drug plan with the employer’s contribution being 95 % and members paying 5 %. Members will also be able to opt out of the Plan, in which case they may not opt back in for a period of twelve (12) months. The entitlement also applies to spouses (including “common law spouse”) and dependent children. Unfortunately the Plan will not apply to On Call Relief Employees or those route holders whose Schedule “A” provides for less than twelve (12) hours of work per week.
SHORT TERM DISABILITY PLAN (STD) – in spite of the vigorous opposition of the Union the arbitrator awarded the employer’s proposed STD effective December 1, 2011. One of the features of the employer’s proposal is that the number of personal days per year is raised from two (2) to seven (7).
TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE – in consideration of the awarding of the STD the arbitrator adopted, for the most part, the language proposed by the Union concerning technological change. As a result, the employer is required to negotiate with the Union about the introduction of technological changes that may impact RSMC members and to eliminate any adverse effects arising from the introduction of such technological changes.
RECONCILIATION FUND – although both parties had accepted in principle the establishment of a reconciliation fund, they had not agreed on the amounts to be placed in such fund. In his award the interest arbitrator indicated that any monies remaining after the implementation of the other parts of his award would be placed in a reconciliation fund for future pay out. Fifty percent of such monies would be paid out as a “lump sum” while the other fifty percent would be applied to a wage increase, with fifty percent of this amount to be split amongst all members and the remaining fifty percent being allocated to improve the wages of the lower paid routes. Although the amount of money put in the reconciliation fund depends on events that cannot be foreseen the Union believes generally that there may be in excess of $ 19,000,000.00 to be distributed once the parties have completed their reconciliation of the financial cap mid-year in 2012.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
The Union believes that the arbitrator could have made additional changes to the collective agreement that would have improved the relationship between the parties and provided the RSMC membership with necessary and positive changes to their working lives. Nevertheless, the parties are entering a new period of negotiations early in November and the Union will use those negotiations to ensure that the employer treat the RSMC membership in a fair and just manner, commensurate with the duties they perform for the employer as part of a national mail sortation and delivery system and their status as unionized employees.
In solidarity,
Donald Lafleur
4th National Vice-President and Chief Negotiator