WOOD BUFFALO – CUPE Local 1505 President Rina Seppen issued the following statement in response to media reports concerning the re-instatement of a Manager of Facilities Services at the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
A letter obtained by the media addressed to the Mayor was not in fact drafted by CUPE 1505 nor endorsed by the union.
There was a workplace petition signed by 98% of our members in a department concerning the Manager of Facilities Services. Workplace petitions are common tools used by our Local to express the feelings of members to our employer in an effort to resolve issues.
There will always be some issues of disagreement between CUPE and Wood Buffalo. However, there has been a marked improvement in relations between the parties over the last year. Even when disagreements occur, we have been able to discuss our differences in a productive manner. We have little desire to air these issues outside of our internal processes, which include the ability to use a third party to resolve differences.