WINNIPEG After almost a year of trying to settle their first contract, CUPE members who work for Ten Ten Sinclair, which provides transitional housing and permanent independent living for people with disabilities, are saying theyve had enough. Tomorrow the 159 workers will hold a public information picket to protest the log jam in negotiations.
Our members are very frustrated and angry, CUPE President Howard Ruben says. We just want to get down to bargaining wages and finish negotiating an agreement. We havent had a raise in years, yet after a year of negotiating we still have not even had a wage offer from the Employer. In fact, since August we have not been able to get them back to the bargaining table.
The workers personal care attendants, housekeeping, maintenance and clerical employees decided to join CUPE and become union members last year, after years with no salary increases and benefit reductions. CUPE representative Ann Robins says, these workers are badly underpaid compared to others performing similar work.
At Ten Ten Sinclair, the starting rate for personal care attendants is only $8.24 an hour. Other workers doing similar jobs that are also funded by the Regional Health Authority are paid $11.69 an hour or more. Wheres the fairness, Robins says.
Robins says the attendants must know complex medical procedures and be able to meet the needs of whomever they are assigned to at any time. Many of the tenants who live at 1010 Sinclair the address of the projects main apartment complex or one of the six other buildings operated by Ten Ten Sinclair, are significantly disabled, some quadriplegic as the result of car crash injuries. They require a wide range of health and personal care needs 24-hours a day.
- WHAT - Picket by members of CUPE Local 4376
- WHERE - 1010 Sinclair, head office for Ten Ten Sinclair Housing Inc.
- WHEN - Tuesday, October 16 from 8 a.m. 5 p.m.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is Canadas largest union representing more than a half-million women and men across the country. In Manitoba, CUPE represents 24,000 members in health care, education, municipalities, social services, child day care centers, utilities, libraries and emergency services.
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For more information, contact:
Howard Rubin, President CUPE 4376,
phone: 339-6132
Ann Robins, CUPE representative,
phone: 942-0343 ext.213 or cell no. 941-1241