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Montra006c, February 6, 2002 - During a general meeting on Monday of this week, with a 60% majority vote, support staff of the Universit 0064u Qub0065c 004dontra006c, ratified a new collective agreement for three years which, among others, provides for the creation of 100 new support positions, 60 of which are slated for June 2002.

“The tentative settlement recommended includes important gains and meets most of our demands”, stated Roland Ct002c President of Local 1294 (CUPE-QFL). “During this period marked by cutbacks, the creation of 100 new positions is a significant victory”, he added.

Permanent Jobs

In the universities, as in the public sector, many positions have been abolished over the past few years. The creation of these 100 permanent positions will make up for over 70% of the cuts at UQAM since 1995. “We are the first university in Qub0065c to have its staffing increased by this much and we are very proud”, Mr. Ct0020added.

Other Gains Worth Mentioning

The new collective agreement contains many other improvements, some of which are worth mentioning:

  • In occupational health and safety, special budgets have been provided to improve work station. In the past, UQAM allotted $20,000 each year for the entire university. The new agreement provides a budget, for support staff alone, of $50,000 for the first year and $80,000 for subsequent years.
  • Casual workers will now benefit from a salary and medication insurance plan for which the employer will cover half the costs. This is a first in the Qub0065c university network.

“I think our members appreciated the efforts made by their Union during the bargaining”, concluded Mr. Ct002e “Once again, we demonstrated the benefits of unionization for support staff in the university sector and the benefits of our affiliation with the CUPE”.

With close to 100,000 members in Qub0065c, CUPE represents some 15,000 members in the education sector, including 6,000 in the universities, mainly working as support staff. Active in several other sectors of activity, including health and social services, municipalities, hydroelectricity, urban and air transport, communications, government corporations and public agencies in Qub0065c, CUPE is also the largest affiliate of the QFL.

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SOURCE: CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES (QFL)