An agreement in the Save-On-Foods contract reopener has been reached between the union and the employer after a marathon bargaining session that lasted through the weekend. The agreement is unanimously supported and recommended by the union negotiating committee. More information will follow shortly.
Month: May 2018
Community Health bargaining seeks to end neglect
UFCW 1518 met this week with the Health Employers Association of British Columbia (HEABC) in Vancouver to review priorities and begin negotiations. Bargaining proposals were tabled Thursday morning to achieve a new collective agreement with about 2000 members in working community health.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Secretary-Treasurer Kim Novak. “After 16 years of neglect of the community health services that are so core to British Columbia’s health care system, it’s time for change. I’m pleased that we have now entered into a more positive negotiating climate, with an employer that understands the value of our community health workers.”
Bargaining proposals will push for increased funding and benefits and seek to address the critical issues of recruitment and retention, as well as precarious work schedules. Both parties also acknowledged that building a more robust community health sector is essential for accommodating an aging population.
UFCW 1518 bargains as part of the Community Bargaining Association, along with other unions including BCGEU, HEU, HSA, CUPE and USWA. The CBA represents about 16,000 employees working in community health around the province.
The existing contract between the CBA and HEABC expires on March 31, 2019, with bargaining scheduled to continue for approximately five weeks.
Community health bargaining seeks to end 16 years of neglect
UFCW 1518 met this week with the Health Employers Association of British Columbia (HEABC) in Vancouver to review priorities and begin negotiations. Bargaining proposals were tabled Thursday morning to achieve a new collective agreement with about 2200 members in working community health.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Secretary-Treasurer Kim Novak. “After 16 years of neglect of the community health services that are so core to British Columbia’s health care system, it’s time for change. I’m pleased that we have now entered into a more positive negotiating climate, with an employer that understands the value of our community health workers.”
Bargaining proposals will push for increased funding and benefits and seek to address the critical issues of recruitment and retention, as well as precarious work schedules. Both parties also acknowledged that building a more robust community health sector is essential for accommodating an aging population.
UFCW 1518 bargains as part of the Community Bargaining Association, along with other unions including BCGEU, HEU, HAS, CUPE and USWA. The CBA represents about 16,000 employees working in community health around the province.
The existing contract between the CBA and HEABC expires on March 31, 2019, with bargaining scheduled to continue for approximately five weeks.
Update Magazine takes home Ed Finn Award
UFCW 1518’s Update Magazine took home a prestigious award at the Canadian Association of Labour Media Awards last week.
The first issue of the rebranded Update won the Ed Finn Award for Excellence in Writing for Print for the feature story: Dangerous Homes: Exploring Violence in Homecare Work. Ed Finn is a trade unionist and journalist with a long and illustrious career in labour media.
The story, written by communications assistant Diana Perez, explored the daily violence and unique occupational health and safety hazards experienced by about 2200 UFCW 1518 members working in community health.
“This award is a very important acknowledgement of the work of our communications department,” said Secretary-Treasurer Kim Novak. “Our members face extraordinary challenges, from aggressive pets and loaded guns in the home to physical and sexual abuse from patients suffering from dementia. They work alone in people’s homes, without the support of security guards, colleagues or managers that exists in facilities. But our members are so passionate and dedicated, they are rarely deterred, despite safety risks.”
Secretary-Treasurer Novak said health and safety improvements for community health workers are paramount. “We need to get to a place where everyone understands that violence on the job is never acceptable, ever.” Increased funding is essential to retain community health workers and keep them safe at work, she said.
Bargaining for about 16,000 community health workers, including UFCW 1518 members, began this week. “We will certainly be pushing these priorities at the table,” said Secretary-Treasurer Novak. “After 16 years of neglect, it’s time to make our health care system safe for workers and patients.”
Safeway: Where we are (and how we got there)
UFCW 1518 continues to prepare for its upcoming meetings with Special Officer Vince Ready to deal with the union’s appeal for assistance in negotiations with Sobeys. President Ivan Limpright appealed to the Minister of Labour to intervene when negotiations with the company stalled in March.
‘”Our goal remains the same: to negotiate a fair and reasonable contract that protects our members’ job security, entitlements and rights. It’s really simple,” said President Ivan Limpright.
“Even though our members didn’t create the many problems that Safeway is facing, they know how to fix them. Unfortunately, we are dealing with a company that is fundamentally disrespectful to the people who built Safeway,” Limpright explained. “Still, my hope is that Sobeys will engage in the mediation process in good faith and with a desire to resolve our outstanding issues.”
UFCW 1518, Mr. Ready and Sobeys next meet on May 28 and 30. Read on for a chronology of events leading up to the current dispute with Sobeys.
A chronology of Sobeys’ mismanagement of a once-great BC grocery store and our efforts to save it.
- May 4, 2018: Mediation with Special Officer set for May
- April 10, 2018: Special officer orders Safeway stores to remain open until July 5
- April 3, 2018: Government appoints Special Officer in Sobeys dispute
- March 19, 2018: Union appeals to Minister of Labour as Sobeys bargaining falters
- March 8, 2018: Union presents solutions, Sobeys offers no response
- March 1, 2018: Sobeys bows to union pressure as bargaining continues
- February 21, 2018: Union files another complaint against Sobeys as transfer talks stall
- February 9, 2018: Sobeys declares war on Safeway workers, collective agreement
- January 23, 2018: Sobeys announces 10 store closures on eve of negotiations: Union won’t be bullied
- January 19, 2018: Bargaining committee gets to work; Sobeys cancels first meeting
- January 17, 2018: Sobeys picks fight with Western Canada workers: UFCW locals stand in solidarity
- December 18, 2017: President Limpright announces bargaining committees
- December 14, 2017: A message from the President: We will fight Sobeys
- December 14, 2017: UFCW 1518 wins against Sobeys at the LRB – again
- December 14, 2017: Sobeys goes to Labour Board instead of working with members
- December 04, 2017: Sobeys violates contract and loses at arbitration – twice
- December 04, 2017: #MembersFirst conference focuses on solutions
- November 08, 2017: Trailer Party at Safeway!
- October 12, 2017: #MembersFirst: Major foods bargaining outreach launched
- June 13, 2017: Sobeys threatens 20 Safeway stores with Quarterly Review
Mediation with Special Officer set for May
UFCW 1518 had its first meeting with Vince Ready, the Special Officer appointed by the provincial government after negotiations with Sobeys stalled last month. The purpose of the April 24 meeting was for both the union and the employer to identify and prioritize the outstanding issues.
“We proposed that the Special Officer first mediate, and if necessary arbitrate, our First Right of Refusal grievance,” said President Ivan Limpright. “In the event of permanent store closures, the union can purchase those stores. But Sobeys denied our request, so we filed a grievance.”
UFCW 1518 further suggested that Mr. Ready mediate the union’s illegal lockout complaint, which alleges that Sobeys illegally locked out more than 600 members at the 10 Safeway stores targeted for closure. The BC Labour Relations Code defines an illegal lockout as “closing a place of work, a suspension of work or a refusal by an employer to continue to employ a number of…employees in order to compel the employees to agree to conditions of employment.”
Because the store closure announcement came just before the union and company were set to begin negotiations for the reopener of the collective agreement, it can only be viewed as a threat intended to intimidate members, weaken the union’s position and further Sobeys own cause at the bargaining table, added Limpright.
If the union is successful in either complaint, store closures would be prevented.
Finally, UFCW 1518 suggested that while these issues are being dealt with, Mr. Ready could mediate, and then if necessary, arbitrate the various grievances arising from the store closures. As expected, Sobeys’s position was that the Special Officer first needs to deal with negotiations for the reopener of the collective agreement as well as it for its discount banner, FreshCo.”
Mr. Ready scheduled May 28 and 30 to learn more about each party’s proposals in the Safeway negotiations as well as the nature of the illegal lockout application, after which he will attempt to mediate both issues.