KINGSTON, Ont. – Conciliation talks between Local 4877 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and South East Community Care Access Centres (CCAC) are scheduled for September 17 and 18, in a last hope to reach a new collective agreement.
Chris Bromfield, Chair of Local 4877’s Bargaining Committee, still hopes to reach a fair deal and avoid any job action that could jeopardize services to the community. “Our members are serious about the remaining issues and I’m glad to say that our Bargaining Committee can count on strong support from the membership”, said Ms. Bromfield.
Disappointed by this process and looking for a fair deal, members of CUPE Local 4877 are providing strong support to their Bargaining Committee. At a special meeting held on September 2, they voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action if the Employer fails to take the negotiations seriously and offer a fair deal.
As Bromfield underlines, this does not mean that a strike is unavoidable. “The priority of our members is to keep doing their jobs and continue helping the people of South Eastern Ontario who are in need of their services. But in order for us to work in decent conditions, some important issues need to be addressed at the bargaining table. We still hope that a conciliation meeting will allow us to avoid strike action, however given the way this employer has dealt with discussions so far, we are ready for the worst case scenario.”
“Management is not interested in talking about fair wages and benefits instead they want to have a multi-tiered system that values the same work at different rates of pay depending on location. They did not want to address the issues that were important to us, such as benefits, sick leave, and wages. This is a very unusual way of bargaining and an irresponsible attitude that could leave to a disruption of services.”
Conciliation talks are scheduled to begin on September 17.
CUPE Local 4877 represents around 100 workers at South East CCAC, ranging from Team Assistants to Administrative Support.
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For more information please contact:
Chris Bromfield, Bargaining Committee Chair, CUPE local 4877: 613-548-3047
Luc Tittley, CUPE communications: 416-910-2389