CUPE 15 Members vote 96.5% NO!
by Paul Faoro, President
In last month’s Members’ Voice I reported that the Community Health Bargaining Association (CBA) and the Health Employers’ Association of BC (HEABC) reached a tentative agreement in late December for a renewed collective agreement. While our union is a part of the multi-union CBA along with several other unions including the Hospital Employees’ Union, Health Sciences’ Association, United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union Local 1518, and the B.C. Government Employees’ and Service Union, the BCGEU is the lead union as they represent the largest group of workers – nearly 8000.
The negotiations that led to this tentative deal came on somewhat unexpectedly as there appeared to be a desire by the BCGEU and several other unions to get a deal completed by the end of 2009. After several days of bargaining, including a 36 hour marathon, a deal was reached. However, our CUPE representatives at the table could not support it and strongly voted against it due to several conditions that were agreed to that can only be described as take aways or concessions.
Upon a comprehensive review of the tentative deal by our Executive Board we fully agreed with our bargaining committee representatives, and subsequently recommended to our members that they reject the deal. Well, reject the deal they did by a 96.5% margin! Our members were critical of the proposed changes to the Long Term Disability Plan and other changes to the current benefits plan. In addition, members felt a general wage increase should be part of the deal. CUPE members in Locals 4816 (Fraser Health) and CUPE 3495 (BC Persons with Aids Society) also voted overwhelmingly against the deal. All of the other unions in the CBA are currently voting on the agreement and time will tell if it will be approved.
I am still not clear what the rush was to get a two year deal that has no general wage increase, no new money for benefits, and no major improvements in employee rights. An overview of the agreement is available on the CUPE 15 website. In my mind, a bad deal is always waiting for you at the bargaining table so there shouldn’t be a panic to get it. There could be another agenda at play by some other unions in the CBA, and it may become evident in the coming months. I hope there isn’t one as the 14,000 members in the CBA deserve an agreement that is fair, respectful and values the important work delivered in every community across British Columbia.
