Settlement at Journal de Québec
CUPE members at Le Journal de Québec have voted 96 per cent in favour of a tentative agreement reached July 2 with Québecor.
Leadership of the three locals involved in the 438 day work stoppage had recommended their members vote for the deal.
The agreement ends the longest contract dispute ever at a french-language daily in Canada.
Some highlights include:
• Agreement goes for five years from signing date
• 2.5 per cent per year salary increases
• Classified ad services brought back to Québec City (from Kanata)
• 37.5 hour, four day work week (37.5 hours over five days for classified ad employees)
About 280 employees of the Québec City tabloid were on strike or locked out since April 22, 2007, the first work stoppage to hit the paper since it started in 1967.
NB liquor board workers get pay equity
CUPE 963 members will see their wages increase by as much as 42 per cent as a result of a pay equity agreement reached with the New Brunswick liquor board.
“Significant wage inequities existed for several female dominated jobs as well as for permanent part-time workers,” said CUPE Job Evaluation Officer Diane Ouimet. “The settlement corrects all inequities and achieves internal equity.”
The settlement gives most of the local’s 299 members wage increases from 5% to 42%.
In all the settlement will put $1.6 million more into members’ pockets over the course of the current collective agreement, which expires in 2010.
CUPE fights cuts at Saint Peter and Paul
CUPE 4890 members and their supporters chanted, sang and marched in an information picket at Sts. Peter and Paul Residences in Scarborough June 26 to protest cuts to shifts and hours.
“These cuts are going to hurt seniors,” said CUPE National Representative Jim Morrison.
Management’s new regime would leave one worker alone between 9 and 11 p.m. to ensure that 22 residents who experience incontinence are diapered and dry for the night.
CUPE looks to facts as Nova Scotia ponders ten P3s
CUPE Nova Scotia President Danny Cavanagh says it’s time Nova Scotians got the facts about so-called public-private-partnerships.
The province hired Partnerships BC to write a report about ten P3 projects.
CUPE Nova Scotia has launched a new website, www.P3Facts.ca which exposes outfits like Partnerships BC.
Stop Fort McMurray community P3, Moist says
Far from solving the problems of rapid growth, Alberta’s plan to create a privatized subdivision in Fort McMurray will create a “Frankencity” Paul Moist says.
Unchecked growth, fueled by the ever-expanding oil sands industry, has created real problems for Fort McMurray, Moist said.
But what’s needed is public planning, investment, and oversight to bring the situation back under control.
“How will a corporate-built and corporate-run FrankenCity solve the issues of accountability and community control that top the long list of problems in the city,” Moist said.
CUPE opens new office in Cornwall, Ontario
CUPE inaugurated its new office building in Cornwall, Ontario last week.
The office will house local staff as well as meeting facilities for members.
“The work CUPE members do every day makes Cornwall a better place to live,” Paul Moist told members on hand for the opening. “This building is yours and I hope you take advantage of it.”
Claude Généreux said “the purchase of this new building shows clearly that we’re here in Cornwall to stay.”
HEU joins campaign to keep long term care on Vancouver Island
HEU launched a campaign against the Vancouver Island Health Authority’s recent decision to close 350 public long-term care beds and layoff more than 250 workers.
The BC Health Coalition has launched a campaign to appeal to the provincial minister to overturn the decision.
To sign the petition, visit:
http://www.bchealthcoalition.ca/content/view/199/82
:te/cope 491