We Are On Strike

College Support Staff are on Strike Effective September 1 at 12:01 a.m.

Still at Table

Still at the table with 3.5 hours to go!   Encouraging news from our Team.

Still at Table

Rod Bemister, Chair of our Bargaining Team, posted on our Facebook group that they are still at the table talking.  Stay tuned... I will post updates as we receive them

Smokey Thomas's Notes from Today's Press Conference

Warren (Smokey) Thomas President OPSEU August 30, 2011 CAAT Support Contract Negotiations CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Good afternoon. My name is Smokey Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. OPSEU represents more than 130,000 workers in the Ontario Public Service, the broader public service, hospital professionals and other agencies of the provincial government like the LCBO. We also represent staff at Ontario community colleges, including those who provide support services at our colleges and academic staff. They are represented by two separate bargaining units. As you likely know, contract negotiations are continuing between negotiators for college management and representatives of more than 8,000 of our members who work as support staff inside the colleges. Thank you for attending this news conference. I’m joined at the table by Rod Bemister, chair of our bargaining team. I called this news conference so that we can provide you with an update on the status of negotiations. In less than 48 hours our support staff members will be in a legal position to withdraw their services. At 12:01 a.m. Thursday they could walk off the job, if we fail to reach a contract settlement. This is a situation we haven’t witnessed in 32 years – the one and only time college support workers in Ontario took strike action against their employer. Since that strike in 1979, we have successfully negotiated about 10 consecutive collective agreements with management without resorting to job action. It’s an enviable record we would like to keep intact this year. But that won’t be possible until negotiators for management get down to the serious business of negotiating a settlement before our contract expires tomorrow at midnight. Let me provide you with a bit of background Back on June 7 the two sides exchanged contract proposals. Ours was a comprehensive document running to something like 60 or more pages. It included proposals to defend and support decent, family-supporting jobs in the colleges and also to recognize the right of part-time staff, who are currently not unionized, to have their voices heard in the workplace.” In return, management tabled a bare bones document that included concessions and claw backs that sought to strip away many of the achievements we had negotiated in previous rounds of bargaining. The two sides then scheduled several dates when negotiations were supposed to have taken place. We met on those occasions but, frankly, nothing was achieved, let alone settled upon. Suddenly it was mid-August and management had nothing to offer but the same concessions and claw backs they first proposed in June. All this time our side showed up at these so-called bargaining sessions ready to get down to the hard job of reaching a settlement, only to find out that management had nothing to offer but more concessions and more claw backs from our members. Clearly this was unacceptable to our side. Then, on August 23, management released its monetary package to us. Our bargaining team asked for a few days to look it over. But instead of negotiating those terms with our bargaining team, management elected to release the monetary package directly to our members last Friday by email and by way of the news media. I’ve been involved in the bargaining process for more than 30 and if there’s one lesson I’ve learned it’s this: negotiating through the media is no way to reach a settlement. Notwithstanding this tactic by management, we returned to the table yesterday hoping progress on a new contract could be achieved. The prognosis is not good. My negotiators tell me that management continues to drag its feet on many of the proposals our members put forward almost three months ago. Some so-called ‘housekeeping’ items have been agreed upon, but not much beyond that. At this rate, I’m not optimistic that a settlement can be reached by tomorrow’s deadline. Let me be clear: we have no interest in withdrawing our services at community colleges. As we are fond of saying, contracts are never settled on the picket line; they’re settled at the bargaining table. But, unfortunately, management has given little indication they’re prepared to do the heavy lifting that’s required to reach a settlement. That’s regrettable. It’s regrettable because of the anxiety it is certain to cause students and their parents. It’s regrettable because it may delay our community colleges from preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow. And, it’s regrettable because it needn’t have come to this brinkmanship on the part of management. Let me conclude my comments on this note. Our members have adopted the slogan ‘Good Jobs Today … Good Jobs for Tomorrow’ to guide them through the bargaining process. What that means is that while we have one eye on the nitty-gritty of negotiating a new deal for our 8,000 members today, we have our other eye focused on keeping good jobs for youth in the future. If we cave in to the concessions and claw backs that management is putting forward in this round of bargaining, what does that say about the quality of employment for future graduates of Ontario’s community colleges – many of whom will find employment within the college system itself? What management’s position on this round of bargaining says to me is that there will be even more part-time work, at lower wages and reduced benefits for future graduating classes. Those are not the conditions under which we build a strong and prosperous province. It’s a benchmark too low for my liking. As it already stands, more than half of those employed in community colleges are part-timers. Is that the sort of Ontario we want to build? An economy where more and more of our graduating students have little more to look forward to than part-time, temporary and precarious employment with little in the way of job security or benefits? So, yes, we now face a strike deadline of about 36 hours from now. We are bargaining hard to reach a deal before then. But we are also bargaining for the jobs of tomorrow … for our students in post-secondary education today. It’s in nobody’s interest that we give in to contract demands from management that will only harm the working conditions of future graduates. Thank you for your attention. Rod and I would be pleased to take your questions

Our Team's Response

Management tries bargaining behind our back

Late on Friday the colleges finally did what we expected they might do all along – they tried to circumvent contract talks altogether by bargaining with you directly.

They did so by issuing a press release to the media. They deliberately avoided allowing your team to study their proposals and respond accordingly. Their approach speaks loudly to their disrespect for the negotiating process.

When we visited the colleges’ in June, ahead of the strike vote, we firmly suggested to you that this day would arrive. We told you then – and we’ll repeat it today – your bargaining team would not bring back an offer to you unless it was one that satisfied your demands.

What the colleges delivered on Friday definitely does not meet your demands.

Let’s look at their offer:

1st Year - 1.5% will give you lump sum in the first year, 2nd Year - 1.5%, the lump sum from the first year would not be part of your 2nd year salary. This means you will lose the 1.5% lump sum from the first year, and it will be replaced by this 1.5% increase, the third year - 1.75%. Your total increase then would be 3.25% over 3 years or an average of 1.083% per year

Management has repeatedly lectured us on the economy and the fiscal restrictions they allegedly face. But when we asked management about the surpluses that various colleges enjoy, they told us not to be distracted by those large surpluses (a.k.a. HUGE PILE$ OF CA$H).

Time off for the Union Negotiating Committee. At first glance this appears to be a gain. In reality their proposal takes away from your team’s ability to prepare for bargaining and restricts the team’s ability to visit with you to inform you about bargaining and to discuss your concerns about a strike vote or an offer. They would like you to be kept in the dark about what is happening in bargaining. In other words, they want to use ambush tactics like they used today to inform you about their proposal.

Time off – union representatives. The colleges want to limit your right to union representation by demanding an increase in costs to your local.

Compressed Work Weeks. The colleges continue to hold onto this item -- a right that very few of us would actually see. If you work on the frontline you will not be able to work a compressed work week. The college would also like to extend your workday. Nor is there any mention of protecting the days you actually work and no mention of what the shift schedule could be. We believe the colleges already have this under Article 6.1.4.

Flexible Hours of Work. Management is trying to take away your right to have a say about your work schedule. Currently you can cancel any arrangements for flexible hours of work with two weeks notice. They want to remove that provision so that once we have agreed on flexible work hours those hours can only be changed by the college – regardless of your personal circumstances.

Special Allowance. The colleges want to change the date the allowance is paid to the pay period after Sept 1. This move is an obvious attempt to intimidate the membership during bargaining years and coerce us into accepting contracts that fall short of your demands.

Probationary Period and Part-time Service. In their Aug. 26 release management claims their proposals will not create a two-tier workforce. Their document still contains a demand to increase probationary period for new employees after September 1, 2011 to 12 months instead of six. To add insult to injury, they also want to eliminate any credit you would receive for part-time hours worked prior to full-time employment.

Arbitration. The colleges want to take away some of the discretion arbitrators currently have under the new Colleges Collective Bargaining Act 2008. Currently that discretion allows an arbitrator to rule that a case can proceed even if there are questions about whether the grievance was filed in a timely manner. Removal of that discretion would have significant impact on your grievance rights.

Benefits – Private duty nursing. The colleges want to reduce entitlements for private duty nurses by capping the allowable expense to $25,000 annually. The amount is currently unlimited.

The Colleges are also making a big deal about our serving them Notice to Strike. What they fail to tell you is that Notice to Strike is required by law and that we provide them with a Notice to Strike no later than five days prior to a potential strike. The colleges would have preferred that we wait until after Aug. 31 thereby ensuring we would not be able to strike on Sept. 1

The colleges claim they want to negotiate. If that is the case why did they not give us time to respond to their proposals? They handed them to us at 12 noon on Aug. 26 and we clearly told them we would get back to them on Monday, Aug.29, our next scheduled bargaining date.

Contrary to management’s statement, we do not see this as “working together at the table.”

This is little more than an attempt by the colleges to bargain behind our backs.
Your team is committed to delivering a decent contract to you by midnight, Aug. 31. Don’t be distracted by management’s attempts to circumvent your team and the bargaining process. More than anything, don’t let them scare you into accepting an unsatisfactory offer.

OPSEU Petition

OPSEU College Support staff bargaining team has today, August 25,given notice to strike on September 1 if there's no deal by midnight, Aug 31. You can help put pressure on the colleges to negotiate a fair deal for these 8,000 workers. Stand up for good jobs in Ontario today and in the future!

Send a message now! Click on here - http://www.opseucaatsupport.org/

and then onto the image which says: STAND UP FOR GOOD JOBS. SIGN THE PETITION

Your message will go to all college presidents throughout Ontario.

Thank you for your support!

In Solidarity,

OPSEU

Communications Dept.

Media Release re College Contract Offer - August 26/11

College contract offer avoids bargaining process: OPSEU

(TORONTO – August 26, 2011) – The decision by management for Ontario’s community colleges to table a contract offer by way of news release represents a deliberate attempt to circumvent the bargaining process, the chair of the union’s bargaining team said today.

“Contracts are settled at the bargaining table and not through the news media late on a Friday afternoon,” said Rod Bemister, chair of the bargaining team for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union that represents more than 8,000 college support workers at the province’s 24 community colleges. “This move by management smacks of desperation on the eve of possible job action by our members.

“We look forward to resuming negotiations on Aug. 29 as previously scheduled.”

On Aug. 25 the union advised college management that it would withdraw the services of support workers on Sept. 1 unless a contract agreement was reached by Aug. 31.

The move by college management to make its contract offer through the news media is symptomatic of the way it has approached bargaining from the start of negotiations in early June.

“Regrettably, negotiators for management have treated the bargaining process as a nuisance from the start,” said Bemister. “We expect that management will return to the contract table on Aug. 29 with the clear intent of negotiating a deal with the union.”

More information:

Rod Bemister, Chair, CAAT Support Bargaining Team, 416-779-0669

Greg Hamara, OPSEU Communications, 647-238-9933 mobile

Notice of Strike - Media Release

College support workers file strike notice

(TORONTO – August 25, 2011) – The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has filed notice with the College Employer Council that more than 8,000 college support workers will walk off the job Sept. 1 unless a contract settlement is reached with management. “The strike notice we filed with the council representing management is required under terms of the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act,” said Rod Bemister, chair of the bargaining team for the support workers. “The Act states we must give five days notice and we are doing so.” The union, which represents administrative staff, IT specialists, maintenance workers and others at the province’s 24 community colleges, will be in a legal position to walk out at 12:01 a.m., Thursday Sept. 1 if talks between both sides fail to produce an agreement. Bemister said little progress is being achieved at the bargaining table and questioned whether the slow pace was a deliberate tactic by management to provoke job action on Sept. 1. In the meantime, he urged students to contact their college presidents and demand that a deal be reached before the strike deadline. “There must be a strong message from each college presidents to their negotiators that a deal must be reached before the strike deadline,” said Bemister. The two sides are continuing talks today and have scheduled three days of negotiations beginning Aug. 29. The main issues for the union include job security, benefits and wages. More information: Rod Bemister Chair, OPSEU College Support Staff Bargaining Team 416-779-0669 Greg Hamara OPSEU Communications 416-443-8888 ext 8777 office 647-238-9933 cell

Wear Red to Work Day

We will have our next "Wear Red to Work Day" on Monday, August 29th. 

Please also wear your "Everyone Needs Support" buttons that day.

Picket Sign Making Pizza Party

We are having the Local 137 Picket making party in Windsor next Wednesday, August 24th at the OPSEU Windsor office after work. Please make every effort to attend, even if you can't stay long.

Date: Wednesday, August 24

Time: 4:30 p.m.

Location: OPSEU Office, 3005 Marentette (behind Sears at Devonshire Mall)

While bargaining time is not a fun time, Local 137 picket sign making parties always are, as most of you veterans can attest to!

It's an opportunity to get together with your colleagues in a fun, informal setting, have a few laughs, make some amazing picket signs, and eat pizza. What more could you ask for - hope to see you there.

Pizza & pop will be provided.

For members on Facebook,  the CAATS Bargaining Mobilizing Facebook group has been "opened" up for the members.  Please feel to join.


http://www.facebook.com/groups/208340839200630/