Bargaining Updates:
CUPE 503 Members in the City of Ottawa Inside/Outside Collective Agreement:
Your CUPE 503 City of Ottawa Inside/Outside Bargaining Team returned to the bargaining table with the Employer on Friday, January 23rd 2026. During that date your Team responded to the Employers package with a counter offer. The Employer did not respond by the end of the day and communicated to the Bargaining Team they would continue work on their response and would provide it the week of February 2nd. That week ended without a package being provided to the 503 Team. The week of February 9th President James Watson followed up with the City’s lead negotiator and was informed they were continuing to work on the response package and it would be forthcoming. As of Tuesday, February 17th your Bargaining Team has not yet received a response package. Your Bargaining Team is focused on negotiating the best possible deal that is achievable this round of negotiations. While this timeline is taking longer than expected the goal is to not leave anything on the table when it comes to gains for our members. Your Team knows what has been achieved when it comes to monetary gains in other Ontario CUPE Municipal Collective Agreements that have been freely negotiated across the province and so far the Employer’s offers are not reaching that bar. As was previously communicated, the Union did file a No Board with the Ministry of Labour in September 2025 to keep the process moving along and the Parties have agreed to an Arbitrator in the event we can not reach a tentative agreement for the members to vote on. The Arbitrator is well respected and experienced however, with that comes limited availability of dates and October 6th 2026 will be the Interest Arbitration date if a tentative agreement can not be reached at the table. Your Bargaining Team is ready to bargain and will provide an update when the Employer provides their counter offer that is outstanding since January 23rd 2026.
Sandfield Place Long Term Care:
A second bargaining date was held on December 12th 2025 between the Parties and additional dates are required to address the new long-term care facility being opened by the Employer. To keep the process moving forward the Union did file for a No Board and the parties have agreed to October 26th 2026 as an Interest Arbitration date and your Bargaining Team remains ready to return to the table to continue negotiations.
CUPE 503 Members at TD Place:
On February 11th, 12th your 503 Bargaining Team met with the Employer to commence negotiations for your Collective Agreement that expired December 31st 2025. Additional dates are scheduled for March 4th, 5th and 6th 2026. We will provide an update after these dates to the membership.
Forest Hill Long Term Care:
The Interest Arbitration date has been set for March 25th 2026 for a new Collective Agreement for Forest Hill members.
Embassy West Retirement Residence:
A third arbitration date was held on October 14th 2025 between the Parties, this concluded the presentations from the Union and the Employer. We have not yet received an Interest Arbitration Award from the Arbitrator and this timeline is exceeding the usual timeline of within 3 months. We will be following up through our legal to determine what the expected timeline is to receive the Interest Arbitration Award.
Ottawa Humane Society:
Notice to Bargain has been received from the Employer for the Collective Agreement that expires March 31st 2026. The Union is starting to prepare for next steps that will include a survey for the members to complete and establishing a Bargaining Team for this round of negotiations. More details to come.
Save the Date:
Our Next Hybrid General Membership Meeting is Tuesday, March 17th 2026 at 7pm.
The CUPE 503 Golf Tournament is scheduled for Thursday, August 13th with a shotgun start at 1pm at Manderley on the Green. Registration will open Monday, July 13th at 9am at the CUPE 503 Office.
Your CUPE 503 Executive