Bargaining Equality: a workplace for all
Bargaining Equality Pamphlet
Mar 8, 2004 10:44 PM What do child care, duty to accommodate, health and safety, discrimination, parental leave, pensions, pay equity and violence have to do with one another?
Introduction to Bargaining Equality
Mar 31, 2004 10:43 PM CUPE has a long and proud tradition of fighting for equality for all our members. We've taken on the struggles faced by women, members of colour, aboriginal members, members with disabilities, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transsexual members.
Section A: A Workplace that Reflects the Community
Mar 31, 2004 08:36 AM Many of our workplaces do not reflect the diversity of the communities in which we live. Groups that are traditionally not represented - or under-represented - include women, workers of colour, Aboriginal workers, workers with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers.
Section B: Child Care
Apr 1, 2004 08:36 AM CUPE has long been a leader in the fight for a national child care program. In spite of promises by many governments, Canada still does not have a national strategy. About 70 percent of women with young children work outside the home. For many of these families, the lack of affordable, quality child care is a major source of stress that makes balancing work and family responsibilities difficult and sometimes impossible.
Section C: Discrimination
Apr 1, 2004 08:32 AM Equality-seeking groups have historically been subjected to discrimination in employment. Before employment discrimination was against the law, employers routinely refused to promote women into better paying and more secure positions. They fired pregnant women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and refused to hire Aboriginal people, persons of colour and persons with disabilities. While equality-seeking groups are still discriminated against in many workplaces, we now have the tools to fight back. These tools include the collective agreement and human rights law.
Section D: Duty to Accommodate
Apr 1, 2004 08:33 AM We are all temporarily able-bodied. As we grow older, the likelihood increases that we will develop some form of disability from hearing loss, poor eyesight and back problems to the more debilitating forms of disability such as asthma, heart disease and cancer. Persons with disabilities, and women with disabilities especially, are far more likely than the able-bodied to be unemployed and under-employed. Of the more than 1.9 million women with disabilities in Canada, three-quarters or 75 per cent are unemployed. For many women and men with disabilities the tragic result is often a life of poverty.
Section E: Equality and Health & Safety
Apr 1, 2004 08:35 AM The increasing number of equality-seeking members in our workplaces means we need to take a closer look at health and safety issues.
Section F: Family Responsibility and other Leaves
Apr 1, 2004 08:34 AM Balancing work and family life has become a critical issue for many CUPE members. Across the country, about 70 per cent of Canadian women with young children are in the labour force. More than 15 per cent of families with children are lead by single parents, the vast majority of them women. Balancing work and family can be doubly challenging for members of equality-seeking groups. Two-thirds of full-time employed parents with children report they are not satisfied with the balance between their home and family life.
Section G: Harassment and Violence
Apr 1, 2004 08:37 AM Just about anyone can be subjected to harassment and violence at work. But equality-seeking groups including women, workers of colour, Aboriginal workers, workers with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers are far more likely to experience harassment and violence because of the discrimination they face in society.
Section H: Maternity and Parental Leave
Apr 1, 2004 08:37 AM Maternity leave provisions under the Federal Employment Insurance (EI) program are paid to a maximum of 52 weeks. This includes the two-week waiting period, 15 weeks maternity leave, and 35 weeks parental leave that can be taken by either parent.
Section I: Pensions and Benefits
Apr 1, 2004 08:37 AM After wages, pensions and benefits are the biggest monetary items in a collective agreement. Usually, the specific provisions of a pension or benefits plan are laid out in a plan booklet, not the collective agreement. This is why it is important to include details about pension and benefits rights in your local’s agreement.
Section J: Wage Discrimination / Pay Equity
Apr 1, 2004 08:37 AM Employers don’t give fair value to women’s work and jobs done by other designated groups. Unions can change that at the bargaining table.
Getting equality to the bargaining table and winning it
May 1, 2004 12:47 PM With her local readying proposals for upcoming bargaining, Tracey Pinder went to a recent social services conference in Ontario determined to learn everything she could. A workshop about CUPE’s new Bargaining Equality tool delivered what she needed.