On August 10 an email went to members at Cerwydden Seniors informing employees that they will have to put a $20.00 deposit down with the employer to receive a new FOB key for the entrance and exits to the buildings.

Our union firmly believes that you should not have to pay to come to work. We do not think that employees should have to finance the new FOB keys (even if it’s refundable upon return of the FOB), and we requested your employer issue the keys free of charge. Your employer refused.

For many employees, $20.00 represents about an hour of work under the collective agreement. Even with wage levelling in place, we know that this will create financial hardship for many people.

At the request of the union, your employer did agree to forgo the deposit for members who cannot afford to pay it. We encourage you to reach out to management to make alternate arrangements if you are in this circumstance. Please contact your bargaining committee or a shop steward if you are having difficulty making these arrangements with your employer.

As we are currently in mediation to try and reach a fair collective agreement with your employer, we had hoped that they would be more receptive to our union’s requests not to charge employees this unnecessary cost. However, they insist on placing this burden on employees.

If you have any other concerns, please speak to your shop steward or a member of the bargaining committee.

This notice was sent via email. If you did not receive it, you can log into the Member’s Portal at members.bcgeu.ca to update your personal email address. This will be especially important if we send information on essential services negotiations and job action, up to and including a strike vote. 

In solidarity,

Sheila Matthen, Staff Representative, Negotiations
Chad McQuarrie, Staff Representative, Victoria Area Office
Dwayne Ardell, Staff Representative, Kamloops Area Office

Download PDF of notice here

UWU/MoveUP