Bargaining Updates:
Embassy West Retirement Residence:
On April 24th 2024 the CUPE 503 Bargaining Team met with the provincially-appointed Conciliator and the Employer and bargaining reached an impasse. The outstanding matters for the new collective agreement will be referred to Interest Arbitration. The Parties are working on selecting an Arbitrator and a date for the Interest Arbitration to take place.
Sandfield Place:
On May 1st 2024 the Interest Arbitration date was held regarding the outstanding matters for this round of negotiations. On June 19th we received the Arbitration Award and a communication will be sent to our Sandfield Place members in the coming days with the details of the Award.
Ottawa Humane Society:
An Arbitration date to hear the outstanding items for this round of negotiations has been set for September 30th 2024.
Champlain HCCSS:
CUPE 503 HCCSS Members are currently in the ratification process of a Tentative Collective Agreement. A mailout through Canada Post containing a summary of the details as well as a Ballot. The Ballot must be returned in the postage paid envelope provided by Wednesday, June 26th, 2024 at Noon as the Province has given us until the 27th of June 2024 to complete the membership vote and report back.
City of Clarence Rockland:
The CUPE 503 Bargaining Team had 4 additional dates scheduled with the Employer June 11-14 2024. Progress has been slow at the table and frustrating for your bargaining team. Additional dates have been scheduled for July 28, 29, 30 and August 1st. A communication to our CUPE 503 Clarence Rockland members will be coming out shortly including details of an in-person meeting to discuss next steps, as well as a hard copy mailout through Canada Post to members home addresses.
Other Work Underway:
CUPE 503 Ottawa Paramedic Service Campaign “Too Long To Wait”
On Monday, May 20th 2024 to align with Paramedic Service Week CUPE 503 launched our campaign to amplify the voices of 503 Members working in the Ottawa Paramedic Service. The campaign includes a traditional and digital media buy as well as transit/bus shelter ads.
To add your voice to the campaign and send a message to Ottawa City Council & Ottawa-area Members of Provincial Parliament check out the Campaign Website: Too Long To Wait
CUPE Ontario Municipal Workers Survey
The CUPE Ontario Municipal Workers (OMW) Committee is conducting a province-wide survey of CUPE Municipal members.
Last year, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conducted a survey of municipal employees, and received 2400 responses. A number of the participants were not actually boots on the ground workers. The CUPE OMW Committee felt the results did not give an accurate portrayal of what we have been hearing from our CUPE membership. Over 60% of people who responded to the survey identified as being non-union. As well, the majority of those who responded to the survey worked in Administration and Corporate services and management positions within municipalities.
That led OMW creating their own survey to get a better sense of the reality of what CUPE members are facing when it comes to working in the municipal sector. It’s their hope that this survey will provide important data that they can use to help address the workforce challenges in municipalities, and recruitment and retention issues in the municipal sector.
The survey takes about 10-15 minutes to complete and can be found here: cupemunicipalsurvey.ca. The deadline is Tuesday, July 2nd 2024 for the survey.
Save the Dates:
Our next Hybrid General Membership Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 17th at 7pm.
Our Annual Golf Tournament at Manderley on the Green will be Thursday, August 15th 2024. Registration will open on Monday, July 15th 2024. Flyers for workplaces have been distributed to our CUPE 503 Shop Steward and Member Ambassador network to post in the workplace.
