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BCGEU Members at The Salvation Army Harbour Light - RATIFICATION DOCUMENT AND STRIKE INFORMATION - BCGEU


This bulletin will outline the changes proposed in the offer to settle from your employer that you will be voting on in the coming weeks. All information for the ratification meeting, vote, and potential job action is below.

IF THIS AGREEMENT IS REJECTED YOU WILL BE GOING ON STRIKE. FULL DETAILS ON STRIKE WILL FOLLOW THE DETAILS ON RATIFICATION.

The bargaining committee is not endorsing this settlement.

Due to the volume of information to communicate to you, this bulletin is very long! Please take the time to read all of it. The information in this bulletin is in the following order:

The deadline to have your ballot to BCGEU Headquarters to be counted is Tuesday, November 2 at noon. If your ballot is not received by this date, it will not be counted. 

Ratification meeting:

The ratification meeting will take place on Monday, October 18 at 8:30am – 10:00am via Zoom.

Ratification Meeting Information

Date: Monday, October 18

Time: 8:30am – 10:00am

How: Check your email or ask a member of the bargaining committee for the Zoom information.

To download the Zoom mobile app for Android click here.

To download the Zoom mobile app for iPhone click here.

To join a meeting from your internet browser, click here and enter the meeting ID and

passcode.

If you’re having trouble logging into Zoom, there is support for joining a meeting, and frequently asked questions.

 

Changes to your agreement:

The following is an explanation of ALL changes to your agreement in order from the ratification document. For a copy of your ratification document, click here. If you have further questions, ask a member of the bargaining committee, or bring them to the ratification meeting.

Administrative Proposals:

  • Gender neutral language: this change will make your collective agreement language more inclusive. The main effect is changing pronouns and gendered family relationships (“him/her” to “they”, and “mother/father” to “parent”). This change does not change how the collective agreement is interpreted.
  • Incorporate BCGEU formatting standards: the employer and the union agree that the collective agreement will be formatted according to BCGEU’s standards; the new agreement will look the same as the previous agreement. This does not change how the collective agreement is interpreted.
  • Remove references to MSP: since this program was eliminated by the provincial government, there will no longer be references to MSP (medical services plan).

Substantive Proposals:

  • Common-law spouse definition: this change follows from moving to gender neutral language and an understanding of gender as more than a binary. The definition of common-law spouse applies to everyone, regardless of gender.
  • Article 7.4 (Union/Management Committee): the collective agreement is now clear that the minutes of the Union/Management Committee meetings are sent to the Executive Director. While this was happening before, it was not a requirement under the collective agreement.

    The second change to this article is to add staffing issues as a standing item to the Union/Management Committee agenda. At every meeting, the members of the committee will have an opportunity to discuss staffing concerns and invite members from different departments to the meeting to speak to those concerns. If there is one or more departments that experience chronic staffing issues, the membership of the Union/Management Committee may be expanded so someone from that department has a permanent seat on the Committee. You can also bring up staffing concerns the same way you would bring up a health or safety concern, for example if you saw a tripping hazard.
  • Article 9.1 (Notification): it is now clear that either the union or the employer can submit a grievance or other matter to arbitration via email. “Facsimile” has been deleted since submitting matters to arbitration by fax is no longer used.
  • Article 12.1 (Job Postings and Applications): If there is a vacancy in a classification because a member of that department has taken a temporary position, then that vacancy will be filled within the classification by order of seniority. If no one who is already in that classification wants the position, then it will be filled with a posting. There will be no promotions without a posting and a chance for members to go through the competitive posting process. This will only apply to vacancies of six months or less.
  • Article 14.6 (Meal Periods): The right from the Employment Standards Act to have a meal break after 5 consecutive hours of work is now clear in your collective agreement. Please note, there is a new Memorandum of Understanding that outlines the process employees should use to be paid for their breaks at the bottom of this section.
  • Article 17.1 (Paid Holidays): this change makes it clear that employees who are not working, but earning wages either through sick or vacation time will also be eligible for paid holidays.
  • Article 18.1 (Annual Vacation Entitlement): Employees in their first partial and first full year of employment will now be entitled to 15 days of vacation, which will be prorated in their first partial year. Employees will move tiers of vacation slightly faster as well, moving to 20 days of vacation after eight years, 25 days of vacation after 15 years, and 30 days of vacation after 21 years.
  • Article 20.1 (Bereavement Leave): employees who experience a loss of a pregnancy may now access three days of paid bereavement leave. The relationship titles in this articles changed to make this article gender neutral, but no new family members are included.
  • Article 20.3 (Compassionate Care Leave): these changes reflect the updates to the Employment Standards Act, and change a typo to the article “Benefits on Leave of Absence”.
  • Article 20.7 (Full Time Public Duties): members who wish to stand for election to First Nations, Métis or Inuit elections may now also use this unpaid leave of absence.
  • Article 22.2 (Occupational Health and Safety Committees): The new language makes it clear that the occupational health and safety committee can change its terms of reference to include (or exclude) certain issues, subject to the regulations of the Workers Compensation Act. This change also clarifies that employees can raise health and safety concerns directly to the committee without reporting to a supervisor first (if they want to), and that doing risk assessments are part of the committee’s work.

    The second change is to remove the language that the employer would ensure sufficient staff are present when clients identified as being a risk to employees are being treated without incurring costs. This change increases the onus on the employer to ensure that enough staff are present when potentially violent clients are being treated, even if that incurs costs.
  • Article 22.9 (Hygiene): parasitic infestations are now included in the language on Communicable Diseases. Leave for employees who have contracted a parasitic infestation from an exposure at work are now entitled to leave without loss of pay for 24 hours after exposure to deal with their personal matters. The Harbour Light policy of reimbursing employees for costs associated with parasitic infestations are now included in the collective agreement.
  • Article 25.2 (Protective Clothing and Equipment): the annual allowance for steel toe protection boots required by loading dock employees, drivers and kitchen supervisors increases to $120. The allowance for kitchen staff for non-slip footwear increases to $80/year for regular employees and $80/2-years for casual employees.
  • Article 26.1 (Equal Pay): this change reflects gender neutral language and a gender spectrum (as opposed to a gender binary).
  • Article 29.4 (Pay in Lieu): pay casual employees receive in lieu of vacation and paid holidays will increase to 10.6% to be equal with the pay that regular employees receive. This includes 6% vacation pay and 4.6% for paid holiday pay. This change will be reflected in the agreement anywhere this article is referenced.
  • Article 29.5 (Casual Call-In): The most senior casual employee will now be able to break a block of shifts to accept shifts on days they aren’t working. For example, if a block of shifts is available on Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, the most senior casual employee could take one or two of those shifts, depending on their work schedule. This would only be allowed once; any other casual employee would have to be available to accept all the offered shifts going forward.
  • Article 30.5 (Pregnancy/Parental Leave): Temporary employees are eligible for pregnancy and parental leave, as per the Employment Standards Act, even if the leave would extend beyond their temporary position.
  • Article 30.6 (Vacation): temporary employees will now receive 10.6% pay in lieu of vacation and paid holidays to be equal with the pay that regular employees receive. This includes 6% vacation pay and 4.6% for paid holiday pay. This change will be reflected in the agreement anywhere this article is referenced.

    Casual employees who accrue vacation or overtime while working in temporary positions will have the option of taking banked time at the end of their position or being paid out in lieu of vacation and overtime. If a casual employee wishes to take their vacation time instead of being paid out, they need to tell the employer when they accept the temporary position. Any sick leave credits that casual employees accrue but don’t use will be frozen to be used if they take a regular or temporary position in the future.
  • Article 31.1 (Term): this agreement will be for two years, until March 31, 2023. This change will be made throughout this article.
  • Appendix A (Wages): PLEASE SEE THE RATIFICATION DOCUMENT FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF WAGE INCREASES. All wage increases are retroactive to April 1, 2021 and front loaded to have the highest increase in 2021.

The focus of the wage increases was to bring specific classifications up to a higher wage, while pulling the rest of the wage grid up with those classifications. The focus was on Housekeeper (formerly Janitor), Maintenance Worker, Dishwasher, and Shelter Worker 1. By percentage, the lowest increase is for Counsellor #3 ($1.6324 over two years, or 5.3% increase). The highest increase by percentage is Housekeeper ($2.7700 over two years or 14.6% increase.)

The employer proposed to fund this wage offer partially by standardizing probation rates to be $0.75 below the post-probation rate. Annual increases would apply to the post-probation rate, then the probation rate is calculated based on the new rate.

The employer will also offer a signing bonus of $75 to regular full-time and part-time employees, and $50 to casuals. This amount is lower than in previous years because the total increases to the wage grid are higher than in previous years.

  • Memorandum of Understanding 1 re: Article 14.6 (Meal Periods): This new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlines the process that employees should follow if they have too much work to complete while taking a break.

If you’re in a situation when you can’t take a break either because of workload or due to staffing, you should report it to your coordinator or supervisor who will EITHER postpone your break, direct you to work through your break and be paid, or direct to you remain on site to be available and be paid for your break. This MOU makes it clear that Coordinators and Supervisors have the authority to authorize paid meal breaks. Coordinators and Supervisors are also responsible for detailing the circumstances that led to employees missing their breaks.

This is a complete list of changes to the collective agreement.

Voting Information:

Ballots will be available at the Beacon office, kitchen staff room, and the front desk starting on the evening of October 18. Please speak to a member of the bargaining committee to get a ballot if you’re having trouble locating them. You will need a ballot, a secret envelope, a declaration ballot, and a return envelope.

How to fill out your ballot:

Filling out your ballot for ratification is the same as when you filled out your ballot for the strike vote:

  1. Vote on your ballot. Do not put any identifiable marks on your ballot.
  2. Place your ballot in the brown “secret ballot” envelope and seal it.
  3. Complete your declaration ballot: Write your full name where indicated and sign the declaration ballot. This must be done to ensure that only eligible employees have cast a ballot. When ballots are received your eligibility will be verified.
  4. Insert the “secret ballot” envelope into the declaration ballot and seal the declaration ballot. When received, the declaration ballot will be opened after your eligibility is verified, and the sealed "secret ballot" is included with all the other blank "secret ballot" envelopes before being counted.
  5. Place the declaration ballot in the return envelope, seal it, and drop it in a mailbox.

Bargaining Committee Member Saren Voisey will be the Deputy Returning Officer for this vote. She will be distributing the ballots at your worksite, and can collect your completed ballot to return to BCGEU to be counted. Please note that Saren can only collect your ballot if it is in a brown secret envelope sealed inside a declaration ballot. She cannot collect any loose ballots or any secret envelopes that are not sealed in a signed declaration ballot.

Sheila Matthen, Staff Representative, will be the Returning Officer for the vote.

BALLOTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY BCGEU HEADQUARTERS NO LATER THAN NOON ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2021 TO BE COUNTED

What happens if the agreement is accepted?

If the agreement is accepted (more than half of the votes cast approve the settlement), then the settlement will be ratified and will become the basis of your new collective agreement. All changes come into effect on the date of ratification, unless otherwise agreed.

One notable exception to this is the agreed wages, which will come into effect on April 1, 2021. The employer has already sent you an individualized calculation of your proposed new wage rate and an approximation of your retroactive wages.

What happens if the agreement is not accepted?

Following the strike vote of 85% on September 10, the union is in a legal strike position. You may have heard from the employer that the response to the strike vote was low. This is a tactic your employer is using to make the threat of strike seem less real. But make no mistake: your bargaining unit ready and able to strike should this settlement offer be rejected.

If this settlement is rejected, we have agreed to meet with the employer and the mediator for one more mediation date. However, your employer made it clear in mediation that they do not have any money left to add to your agreement, so job action will likely ramp up very soon after this settlement offer is rejected.

Information on Strike:

After meeting your employer for one final mediation date, if no agreement is reached, we will serve 72 hour strike notice to your employer. During these 72 hours, your employer may file for an essential service order. If they do, essential service levels will need to be agreed on before you strike.

The essential service order will set agreed to levels of staffing that must be maintained so the job action does not pose a threat to the health, safety, or welfare of your clients. The union’s goal will be to minimize essential service staffing, and given how short staffed you typically work, we are confident we will be able to achieve this goal.

Once essential service levels are in place, the union will serve strike notice again. There will be a designated scheduler who will determine who is working essential service shifts and who is on the picket line. We will set up a strike headquarters and other logistics on site to manage the picket line. No unionized employee will cross your picket line, unless the union makes an exception.

Strike pay:

BCGEU members are eligible for strike pay for days they perform picket duty. Strike pay will be 70% of your gross wages for the day up to a maximum of $100/day or $500/week. If your regular shift is 7.5 hours, then members earning over $19.04/hour will hit the maximum of $100/day. For example, if your regular shift is 7.5 hours, and you work as a Shelter Worker 1 at $20.42/hour, then your strike pay will be $100/day. If you work 7.5 hours as a Bus Person at $18.11/hour, then your strike pay will be 70% of your wages, or approximately $95/day.

Members who do not perform picket duty will not be eligible for strike pay.

Members working essential service shifts will be paid by the employer as per usual. However, you cannot earn more on strike than while working, so members who are performing essential service work will not picket that day, and vice versa. You can work and picket for a maximum of 5 days with pay. You can picket without pay any time.

Recap of Information:

  • The ratification meeting will be held on Monday, October 18 at 8:30am via Zoom. You can join with the Zoom information in your email, or by asking a member of the bargaining committee for the Zoom meeting information.
  • You can find the ratification document here or scroll up for a complete explanation of changes. The ratification document contains the complete wage table offered.
  • Ballots will be dropped off by Saren Voisey on the evening of October 18. Your ballot must be received at BCGEU Headquarters by November 2 at noon to be counted.
  • If this settlement offer is rejected, we are in a legal strike position and this is the most likely next step.
  • Strike pay will be 70% of your gross wages up to a maximum of $100/day or $500/week.

If you have any further questions, please speak to a member of the bargaining committee or bring your questions to the ratification meeting next week.

 

In solidarity,

 

Monty Qureshi, Bargaining Committee Chair
Saren Voisey, Bargaining Committee Member
Ken Mui Chung Yu, Bargaining Committee Member
Sheila Matthen, Staff Representative, Negotiations



UWU/MoveUP