Fw: [Unionized Security officers] I have spoken with the CLC this morning. What I...

Jack Profijt, President OPSEU Local 278

Home 905-988-1068
Cell 905-321-2374
jprofijt@cogeco.ca

Union Buisness
Union Cell 905-650-7950
Union BBM pin 208CFF52
jprofijt.loc278pres@rogers.blackberry.net

---

From: "Jim Storin" <notification+awywmsyr@facebookmail.com>

Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:06:03 -0800

To: Unionized Security officers<opseulocal278@groups.facebook.com>

ReplyTo: Reply to comment <g+40rpnef000000eb5yoy002znz219zp7001jhmcm5lnv1yi46@groups.facebook.com>

Subject: [Unionized Security officers] I have spoken with the CLC this morning. What I...

Jim Storin posted in Unionized Security officers Jim Storin 28 December 09:05 I have spoken with the CLC this morning. What I have been advised was their offices are closed until Tuesday. On Tuesday they will be sending out a letter to ALL affiliate Union's advising that we are free from NUPGE and are available. After all interested Unions submit, they will all be given an oppotunity to do a presentation for us and then we will vote. The CLC will be working with us and walking us through this time and have assured me that they will have this completed as quickly as possible.I have also advised them of our concern with the employer sticking their nose in, he further assured me they have NO say in this process. I will advise you of any further developments when I get them.... View Post on Facebook · Edit email settings · Reply to this email to add a comment.

Fw: 1 p.m. Meeting

Please read
Jack Profijt, President OPSEU Local 278

Home 905-988-1068
Cell 905-321-2374
jprofijt@cogeco.ca

Union Buisness
Union Cell 905-650-7950
Union BBM pin 208CFF52
jprofijt.loc278pres@rogers.blackberry.net

-----Original Message-----
From: "Jack Profijt" <jprofijt@cogeco.ca>
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:12:39
To: Mike Grimaldi<chegrim@sympatico.ca>
Reply-To: jprofijt@cogeco.ca
Subject: Re: 1 p.m. Meeting

Thanks Mike, I apologize for the miscommunication.
------Original Message------
From: Mike Grimaldi
To: Jack Profijt
To: Smokey Thomas
ReplyTo: Mike Grimaldi
Subject: Re: 1 p.m. Meeting
Sent: Dec 22, 2011 2:05 PM

Jack:

Meeting was not adjourned --held both and waiting for 5. Clearly members want to change unions+we will facilitate the process. Smokey will call our National union tonight+we will notify the CLC to move forward with the justification process.

Mike
------Original Message------
From: Jack Profijt
To: Mike Grimaldi
To: Smokey Thomas
ReplyTo: jprofijt@cogeco.ca
Subject: 1 p.m. Meeting
Sent: Dec 22, 2011 1:46 PM

Good day,

Reports are the meeting was adjourned at 1:10, the reason for this is?

Jack
Jack Profijt, President OPSEU Local 278

Home 905-988-1068
Cell 905-321-2374
jprofijt@cogeco.ca

Union Buisness
Union Cell 905-650-7950
Union BBM pin 208CFF52
jprofijt.loc278pres@rogers.blackberry.net


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
Jack Profijt, President OPSEU Local 278

Home 905-988-1068
Cell 905-321-2374
jprofijt@cogeco.ca

Union Buisness
Union Cell 905-650-7950
Union BBM pin 208CFF52
jprofijt.loc278pres@rogers.blackberry.net

Letter to Membership From OPSEU

To the members of OPSEU Local 278 (Casino Security Officers)
 
With the cooperation of your Local President, we have scheduled meetings for December 22. The meetings will be held at  9am, 1pm and 5pm. They will be at the Americana Hotel on Lundy's Lane in Niagara. President Thomas and myself will both be in attendance. We believe that a number of issues need to be cleared up for the membership since so many false rumours are being spread. Clearly you have been given inaccurate information and that is why meetings with other unions have had to be cancelled more than once.
 
OPSEU has never ignored your local and has always responded to requests coming from your executive. We have recently found out (when I attended a Labour Management meeting) that a number of your grievances that were filed had NOT been sent on to OPSEU. Management suggested that at a May meeting with your leadership, they found 60 grievances that had not been forwarded and they now have dozens more. It almost appeared as if there was sabotage to create problems between the membership and your union.
 
OPSEU cannot resolve problems that we do not know about nor can any other union. Standing on the sidelines attacking your union rather than standing up for the membership in representation is not any kind of leadership. We will determine by the attendance on December 22 how the membership feels. If members do not come out, we will assume they are happy with OPSEU and have no issues to raise.
 
Solidarity
 
Mike Grimaldi 
 
Trustee and Regional Vice President 
OPSEU Region 2
 
Jack Profijt, President OPSEU Local 278

Home 905-988-1068
Cell 905-321-2374
jprofijt@cogeco.ca

Union Buisness
Union Cell 905-650-7950
Union BBM pin 208CFF52
jprofijt.loc278pres@rogers.blackberry.net

Short Up date.

Sorry for the really short notice, but monday Dec 12, there are two meeting scheduled. The first one is a meeting with our director, Trustee and myself. Not really sure what that one is for, but I suspect the will want to discuss our trustee ship.

The second meeting is an LMC meeting. This meeting will also involve our trustee. Some of the topics that will be covered are as follows.
Joint training for mental health issues.
Representation issues, officers not haveing stewards while in discipline meetings, or in accommodation meetings.
There are a number of outstanding grievances that the employer wishes to discuss.
This is just a bit of information to keep you guys up to date on a few things.

If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email.
Jack
Jack Profijt, President OPSEU Local 278

Home 905-988-1068
Cell 905-321-2374
jprofijt@cogeco.ca

Union Buisness
Union Cell 905-650-7950
Union BBM pin 208CFF52
jprofijt.loc278pres@rogers.blackberry.net

I am still the President

Over the last couple of weeks, especially since I have been off on vacation, there have been a number of different things said about who the president is, or if you even have one.

Initially I told many of you that it may come to pass that I may be removed as your President. I told you all this so there would be no surprises if this were to happen.  So, I will be clear, as far as OPSEU goes I am still the President of this local. Also, as far as the members go, I am still the president, by virtue of being elected. I have not been removed from that position despite the employers view to the contrary.

The employer was informed early on that union representation will remain intact, with regard to stewards. Until I am informed by OPSEU that I am no longer the President of this local I will continue  to act in that capacity regardless of what the employer thinks.

On a side note, I find it very ironic that our employer is using OPSEUS constitution to deny the members there right to be represented by their own President. In a way this actually puts the company and the union on the same side They are making a show of trying to abide by OPSEUS constitution.… how strange is that !!

Employee Communication

 

What follows is the text of what the employer intends to deliver to your homes. Take it for what it is and read it if you wish. The information in this letter is quite accurate and as stated in this letter it is your right to change unions. Even the employer recognizes this.

November 18, 2011

First Last Name

Address

Dear Name:

We understand that Local 278 was recently placed under Trusteeship by OPSEU and that there has been an internal process underway regarding union representation. We appreciate that there appears to be an effort to keep Security Officers informed and to involve them in this process. However, it is important to note that this internal process is not managed by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (“the Board”). Union Certification issued by the Board may only be amended by the Board in accordance with the Labour Relations Act.

It is our wish that all of our employees are informed about their legal rights and that decisions are basedon this knowledge. We have always said during certification campaigns that we see no reason for union representation, yet we respect our employees’ right to choose.

The Labour Relations Act provides two ways in which your existing representation rights may be altered:

1. Sections 7(4) and 63 provide that a “Displacement Application” or an “Application for Termination of Bargaining Rights” may be brought in the last 3 months of a Collective Agreement. These applications may be made by any union or group of employees where there is 40% support and, if properly filed, will lead to a secret ballot vote administered by the Board.

2. Section 68 of the Act allows the Board to confirm the decision of an existing trade union to “transfer" its rights in the last 3 months of a Collective Agreement. This process may or may not include a secret ballot vote at the discretion of the Board.

As your employer, we have no role in any decisions you may choose to make about how you wish to be represented, or by whom. We have a legal obligation, as long as you have a union representing you, to recognize that union as your exclusive representative and to deal with it on matters relating to your employment.

You may wish to visit www.olrb.gov.on.ca for the text of the Labour Relations Act, and review all the information provided by your Union and elected Executive. As appropriate under the Collective Agreement and the Labour Relations Act, we will try and answer questions that you may have.

We want to thank you in advance for your respectful behaviour and for respecting the rights of your coworkers during this discussion.

Changing Unions

Come out and make a choice for Change

There will be an opportunity for all of you to make a positive choice for
change.

* Where - Teamsters will be at The Royal Canadian Legion, 5603 spring
St, Niagara Falls ON,

* WHERE - CAW will be at the Casino Action Center 5546 Robinson St
Niagara Falls ON.

* When - Nov. 14th from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

* Teamsters and CAW will make their representatives available to
discuss their respective union.

* There will be an opportunity to make your vote on Nov.14th , voting
will be held at the Spring Street Legion.

* The voting station will be available all day.

These meetings and vote are to set in motion our mission to displace OPSEU
and join a new Union. Before us we have two National Unions bidding for our
members. As we are a democratic society we, as a membership, will cast our
votes to select the Union that we will have on the displacement ballet to
replace OPSEU.

Each member will have an opportunity to meet with each Union to ask whatever
questions they may have and then cast their ballet on that same day.

The ballet box will be counted on or about 1900 hours on November 14th and
each Union will be advised of the outcome.

In the event there is equal number of votes for both Unions, the Presidents
ballet will have been sealed and segregated and used as the deciding vote.

The unions expressed reservations about appearing in the same location, so a
compromise was made and the unions were separated to their respective
locations.

Information Up date Oct 5

 

Over the last week the local has conducted a number of meetings. We have had an Accommodation meeting an Executive meeting and a small Stewards meeting. I can tell you most of the things that were discussed at these meetings but for obvious reasons some things have to remain quiet. The most important reason for that is some things discussed revolved around specific officers.

Accommodation Meeting

On Sept 30^th we had an Accommodation meeting. At this meeting there were a number of topics discussed. This meeting was requested by the Employer and we discussed topics ranging from mental health issues to education for our members on what everyone’s responsibilities are when it comes to Accommodation problems.

Executive Meeting

On October 3 we had an Executive meeting. We discussed some larger grievances and how to proceed with them.

1. We discussed the direction the local will be taking in the coming years. For me two of the key points are transparency and communication. I believe these two things go hand in hand. The members have a right to know what is going on and to expect answers from the people that lead them. I hope to increase the use of the union boards and the media sites that I have set up to press these two points home.

2. We discussed a date for a general membership meeting before the end of the month there will be more to follow once we have confirmed the date and location.

3. We discussed mental health issues; I have tasked Joanne Sheehan to contact a professional in that field to possibly discuss the subject with us and possibly management so that we can have a better handle on the topic. This is a union initiative.

4. We discussed scheduling problems. Both Chief Stewards had suggestions on different scheduling ideas. So they have both been tasked to provide templates for proposals to be considered by the members and then brought forward to management. The deadline for the submit templates, please do so. Just keep in mind that scheduling remains the right of the employer and any template that is submitted can be rejected by them.

5. We discussed the resurrection of our security news letter. So if anyone would like to submit department or union related articles please forward them to Joanne Sheehan.

6. We also discussed grievances that are ongoing and how to best pursue others. I will not elaborate on this topic for obvious reasons

Steward Meeting

Following the Executive meeting we had a Stewards meeting. This meeting was quite small but still productive, it gave me a chance to meet and discuss topics with the ground soldiers of the local. Some of the points that I have passed on are as follows:

1. When dealing with grievances the employer should be going through the steward of record on the grievance to discuss the matter at hand. They shouldn’t be going directly to the president for every grievance.

2. I passed out some information on writing grievances. The information booklet I gave out also contains information on how arbitrations are decided and how Collective Agreements are constructed and interpreted by the Arbitrators.

Update

Just a quick update. Last night I sent the employer an email requesting a meeting of the Accommodation Committee. The purpose of this committee for those that don't know is to discuss on going officer accommodations. In advance of this meeting I have asked the employer for all articles, policies, and documents that the company relies upon to implement work, or shift accommodations. I have asked that all of these documents be provided to me at least 2 weeks before any scheduled meeting. These documents have been asked for before, but to my knowledge have not been provided.

I have requested this meeting in good faith, with an intent to move the local forward in a positive manner. The employer has yet to respond on this issue.

Many of you may be wondering as to why I have not posted a contact list of the new executive. Well the biggest reason is that my Executive Committee is not complete and changing. Keeping that in mind I hope to have one up shortly.

Also I must the thumbs up to my limited Executive and Stewards they are all doing an excellent job, under some difficult conditions. One of our stewards has already stepped forward for training. Luke Degraff will be taking basic grievance handling, a very valuable tool.
That's all for now, I'm sure there will be more to follow.
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UPDATE

The local treasurer Dave Haywood has resigned his position but remains a steward and for the time being I have made Rob Gale the Fallsview Chief Steward until such time that we can have an election. The local is organizing our first executive meeting for Oct 3 as well as a stewards meeting as well. Shortly after that we will be scheduling a General membership meeting.
Freedom is not Free

VTO grievance.

Just to let everyone know that there was Policy grievance filed on Sept 11 surrounding booking / assigning VTO days after Sept 17th. This grievance is currently going through the grievance process.
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Thank you

The first thing I would like to say is thank you.
Thank you all for showing your trust and confidence in the new team an myself. I also wish to extend my hand to the out going executive and say job well done.
The orderly transition of documents and union property, has already begun, and so far is going smoothly. I hope to have that completed by the end of next week. I have asked that the local news letter be started again, that should be comming out on a regular bases.

One of the areas that I will focus on is to create leadership within the Local Executive. A leaders job is not to create followers, it is to create more leaders, so that when my time as president is over there will be someone to take my place.

Another area that will be focused on is transparency of the local. There will be increased postings on the union board in the way of health and safety, financial and grievance reports. There will be a time table for this at a latter date.

Personal initiative of stewards will be encouraged when filing grievances, and there will be a push to get new stewards educated in the grievance process.

These are just a few of the ideas that I want to work on. I intend to build on the successes of the past and learn from the mistakes. So once again on behalf of the new executive I would like to say thank you.
Freedom is not Free

NO VOTE TOMORROW

JUST TO LET EVERYONE KNOW, THERE WILL BE NO VOTE TOMORROW. I SUSPECT THAT IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH LACK OF STEWARD NOMINATIONS. A FULL LIST WIL BE POSTED AT BOTH SITES IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

Im not sure if there is going to be an electoion this comming wednesday, simply due to the fact that im not sure how many people are running to be stewards However, in any case if there is one, I want everyone to get out and vote. I am not going to ask you to vote for me or any one else. I will ask you to vote for yourselves. Consider what you want and the type of union you want to have and then try to make it a reality. However, that does not happen by itself. It takes the force of will, and the first step in that process starts when you cast your ballot.

You must decide who can better serve your needs and intrests. We are all a team and we all have the same troubles at work and at home. We are all not that different from each other, we all want the same things. We all want respect and we all want to be treated fairly. So pick the people that will suport that, no matter who they are.

Just some information that people should have. I think I need to clear some things up here with regards to how things are supposed to work with in the unionized environment. Some people believe that when an executive is elected, they some how attain god like powers, that give them the ability to change the working lives of the Union members at will. If this was the case there would be no need to have negotiations or a CBA.
I will give an example. If the union president thought it would be a good idea to change the start times for day shift Full Time officers to 3am, he couldn't just go to the employer and say this is what the members want so let's do it. First the item would need to be placed on a meeting agenda, then debated by those in attendance at the meeting, and then voted on, possibly at the next General membership meeting.
Then if passed by the members, it moves forwards to the employer to be discussed at the LMC meetings that are held between the union and employer. If the company agrees to the unions proposal ( not the presidents) then the change would go into affect. If the company did not agree to the Unions proposal then it could be put on the demands list for the next round of bargaining. That is how things are supposed to get changed for the bargaining unit. It is not at the whim of the executive. If I had an idea that I think Is great, I can't just say let's do it. There is a process that needs to be followed independently of what the personal opinion of the executive is.
The executive should be there to work for the people not the other way around. The few service the needs of the many. If the many decide that issues do not go forward then it should be the union members that decide that, not the executive.

Related articles

• Common Sense Unions (tsobjective.wordpress.com)

Thank you to Bryon Grant for all the hard work he done in putting together the Baseball Tournament.

The tournament raised approximately $1500 for Juvenile Diabetes. That is over $2600 in 2 years.

It was a great time, the Niagara Detention Centre beat the Fallsview Mutts in the finals. The will receive a plaque to hang up in their workplace.

Thanks to Grand Central for donation of shirts, Elbow Room for the gift basket, Tom Raper from Good Life Fitness for the donation of a 6 month membership, the Silenzis Family for donating the bat, the concession stand volunteers, the umpires and all the players for making this event possible.
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Today the Union met with the Employer. We both submitted proposals and are working on an agreeable process for booking time off. We are going to be exchanging documents via e-mail. Once there is an agreement, it will be posted on the facebook page, the blog and at both sites.

ARBITRATION: JUNE 21, 2011

USE OF INDIVIDUAL DAYS:

The Union and the Employer have come to a settlement with conditions.

The Board used for this arbitration is to remain seized. What this means is that if the Union and the Employer cannot meet and come to an agreement the Arbitrator will give us a ruling immediately.

The settlement that we agreed on is as follows:

 

·        employees may at any time apply for individual VTO including at peak times

 

·        the Employer does not have a policy of a black out period for individual VTO

 

·        no application will be refused on the basis of a black out period

 

·        the decision of approval or denial is made entirely on availability and operational requirement as provided in the Collective Agreement

 

·        it was clear that this will apply this summer as in other times during the year

 

·        it was agreed there would be a meeting to put together a procedure to follow for scheduling individual VTO days

 

·        if that meeting is satisfactory to the Union grievances will be withdrawn       

 

·        the Union can ask Arbitrator to reconvene the hearing if it is not satisfied

Today was packed full. Started our day at 8:30

In the morning we went to a 3 hour workshop on Attendance Management.

This is a growing area of concern for many workplaces.

This is a subject that we have been talking to our employer about.

It was good to hear that we are not the only ones with this problem. We are also heading down the right path with the work on Attendance Management.

Over lunch we talked with the members from Windsor and Rideau. We discussed similarities that we have around issues and bargaining.

We all come up to bargaining around the same time. It will be very important to be able to work together around language.

In the afternoon they had planned Bullying and Harassment. We talked with the facilatator an changed the topic.

It was only the Casino', AGCO and 1member from another workplace.

We talked more on attendance management.

Then we moved into workplace issues and how to handle issues for members. We also where able to talk about the importance of grievances.

We had dinner with the members from the slots and have come up with a few ideas on how to support each other in the coming months.

We need to be progressive. I won't post the ideas, as we don't want to tip our hat to the employer.

Stay tuned for Sunday updates. It will be early to bed tonight and up early to meet with the other casino's to talk about bargaining language.
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BPS Conference broke us into Regions the electoral riding.

We had a presentation by Randy Robinson a Political Economist.

He talked to us about the different political opinion vs facts.

How the political environment effects bargaining and unionization.

How corporate tax cuts effects how we work and live

He also talked about how media is controlled.

We then heard from Marc Zwelling, vector Research.

He talked about elections and how to approach nominee's with issues. How to identify the big issues that are affecting our member and community.

How the deficit affects the working class and what corporate tax cuts are doing to Ontario.

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Today Rob Gale and myself are heading to Toronto for the Broad Public Service Conference.

Not to sure what to expect as we are in sector 20 the general sector. It is a mixture of a number of different workplaces.

We hope to meet with the other 2 slots and see if we have any like issues that we can grieve with the same language and talk about bargaining.

As you know Windsor Casino always bargains first, then we all follow. We need to look at language and put some of the same language on every bargaining table.

I will keep you posted through out the conference on what we are doing and talking about.
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EO List CN

There where a number of concerns about EO's not being tracked on the list.

The Union has had the employer review the list. The discrepancies have been fixed and the list should be up to date.

If you know of any that have not been tracked let me know.
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Please stay informed by reading this blog or going to the locals facebook page.

 

So we had the Labour Management Meeting.

I want to let you know now the Union argued what was brought forward and it is time we start to build solidarity within the Union and the Local.

1. Medical Department Changes:

The employer reviewed the changes that have already been put into place.
All medical files are in the Fallsview Medical Office and secure.

2. Peak Period VTO:

The employer reviewed the reduction of the available vacation spots.
They talked about how summer is the busiest time of year and how they need more Officers then.
There is a lot of time off that is not used outside the peak times.
Operational needs show us this and as a measure to correct it they reduced vacation spots.
Outside of vacation spots that are already booked the employer has chosen not to be as liberal with time off over the peak months.
- what does this mean-
The will not be approving as many individual days off this year as they did in the past years. So that adds up to less time off for all over the summer months.

4. Grievance and Arbitration Process:

Went over a few hiccups that we are having and met the Human Resources person that will be taking over for the one taking a leave

5 Dates:

The employer asked to be informed in a timely manner when Stewards need to have time off to attend arbitration and meetings.

Union

6. Training - Use of force and first responder:

The use of force training will be starting up again now that First Responder Training is done.

Not all Officer will receiving First Responder training

7. Avalon - removal of Officer outside of VIP area.

Employer going to review further

8. What is going on with the Podium at Fallsview?

The employer has received conditional approval and they are reviewing the conditions

9. Position Training:

Officers will receive some feed back as to if they will have the opportunity to train or not.

10. Posting days off and VTO spot:

The VTO spot will be posted.
The days off are being strongly considered - this is not a yes but it is not a no



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The employer has sent out the agenda, the Union has the oppertunity to add to the agenda.

This is what was recieved:

Employer

 

1. Review of previous minutes

 

2. Medical Department changes

 

3. Peak period VTO

 

4.  Grievance and Arbitration referral process

           

Union

 

1.      Training

 

2.      Avalon

 

This is what I am adding to the agenda:

 

Position Training

 

Booking time off

 

Posting of days off and vacation time

 

Shift Schedules

Days Off

I have asked if the days off Thurs/Fri will be posted as well as the member that just left vacation spot.

I will let you know as soon as I get a response.

 

 

For information on the election check out this site

http://www.rabble.ca/

I would like to thank Jack teaching me how to use the Blog and Facebook. I am going to use this tool to communicate with you and the rest of the Local.
If you have questions please let me know.
Joanne
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Convention ended at about 1230 hrs with no quorum. There where a few resolution that came to the floor. Any resolutions that are not passed got to the Executive Board meeting and are debated there.
For further information on convention you can visit the OPSEU web site at: www.opseu.org
On my way home after a long hard weel of Union work.
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Hello again from convention. After meeting and ensuring the people from AA. I met with a member with a disability that needs assistance at work.
This morning at 0800 Equity Seeking groups met to talk about resolution that are coming to the floor.
We will be putting the resolution that have to be passed on the floor first. The College sector can not bargain unless there bargaining resolution to bargain and how they will bargain is passed.
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There was a motion made on the budget and it was defeated. We then moved to a speaker against the budget. Then someone moved closure. There was very little debate and it passed. It is my opinion that no debate on the budget is not good for this Union, but they members have spoken and it will stay.
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At convention there is a silent auction to support the Social Justice fund.
I donated a bottle of maple liquor, a ceramic tile with a photo of the Point Albino Light House, a metal piece with a photo of the Pump House in the Niagara River and photo of mine framed.
I donated on behalf of our local.
No cost to the local. Our local raised $185 for the fund.
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OPSEU has decided to give the Humanitarian Award to Archie Sibeko.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_'Archie'_Mncedisi_Sibeko
Check out the link to find out more information on Archie Sibeko

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We broke for lunch prior to the results of who won the position for VP/Treasurer.
Eddy Almeida and Jamie Tocker are the Board Member who ran. Eddy Almeida won and it was a close vote.

Over lunch I attend the Rainbow Alliance Caucus meeting where we discuss LGBT health care and elder care.

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The speeches for president were interesting and dynamic. There where two candidates Nancy Prihdam and Smokey Thomas

Our president is Smokey Thomas

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I attended the Women's Breakfast this morning at 0730 hrs. At this they honour the Women in the Union that have impact on the lives of members in the Union.
The talked about the need to support a campaign called Shannon's Dream. This is a young women's dream to make education accessible to First Nations Children on the Reservations. Many of these Children have to leave their Family and Friends, they live in foster care to attend school.

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Convention just ended for the day.
We had further debate on the budget. They convention floor passed taking money from the strike fund and putting it into the general fund.
We had question and answer period with the candidates for President and Vice President.
The election will be tomorrow and as soon as I know the results I will post them.
My day is not over when convention finished at 1700 hrs I was off to another meeting. I attend the Disability Rights Caucus meeting. We discussed the direction of the committee as well as inform members of some of the history as to why there is the need for the caucus. From there I was off to meet the person hosting the AA meeting and ensure they have everything they need. I then met with a member to talk about issues of discrimination in their workplace and we are going to get together after convention to see how he needs to be supported. We are now doing set up for the Equity Hospitality Suite. This is a alcohol free event, it is a place for members to feel safe and have some food and conversation. That is it for now stay tuned for further up dates.
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IMG00019-20110407-1206.jpg

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Part Time College Worker vote on becoming Unionized with OPSEU. The ballot boxes where sealed and have been sealed for a few years. This is an attempt to stop them from unionizing a direct violation of legislation which allows the freely unionize. The members at convention protested last year and this year at convention. We need to show these members the needed support
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This morning the debate on the budget started and will start again after lunch. We had the nominations for President and Vice President
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My day started early meeting with a member that has a complaint under the harassment discrimination policy. Then I went onto an Equity meeting where we talked about the budget and resolutions that will be coming to the convention floor.
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Today is day 2 of convention there are over 1400 members attending representing more then 130,000 members in OPSEU. This will mark 100 years of OPSEU starting out as the Civil Service Association of Ontario.
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I have just had a lesson on how to use this and I have come to find out I am posting info for the local in the wrong spot so I am going to post what I have put up over the last few days
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Test

This is only a test of the broadcasting system beeeeeep
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Educational Reimbursement

A grievance was won at the first stage of the grievance procedure, the grievance was centered around the Educational Reimbursement.



27.10 Education and Training

a) Upon submission of a passing grade report and original receipts for Payment employees will be reimbursed by the Employer for work related courses or general interest courses of the employee s choice to be taken at an accredited educational institution (determined by

Income Tax status) to a maximum of one thousand five hundred

dollars 1500.00 per calendar year. An employee must complete

any necessary forms prior to commencing the course and to claim the reimbursement. No reimbursement will be paid if the employee s employment has ended before the refund is made.



What this means is that if you can claim it on your income tax it will be approved.

The most obvious places to get approval would be Colleges and Universities both in Canada and the US.

The not so obvious would be online courses. If the course is accredited with the education system of the country it is from, and it is considered to be at the “post secondary” level then there it should be approved.

See the form below that you would have filed with revenue Canada for tax purposes as a foreign student (i.e. a US course).



An example, a member registered for an online course to be a personal trainer. The institution clearly stated it was accredited with the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) the global leader in distance learning accreditation.



The employer originally denied the course stating that it was not listed on the Canada Human Resources and Development web site.

It was shown to the employer that all that has to be proved is that the course is accredited and can be filed on our taxes. Any questions please see a steward.

Out sourced Valet at the Hilton

We have all heard what happened to Valet department at the Hilton. Something like that always causes fear in similar businesses. Does the potential exist in some form? Possibly, But their are many safe guards in place that would help avoid this.

The last time I read, the Gaming Control Act it stated that there must be an operational security department in place prior to a facility opening. Second, Article 2 of the collective agreement gives geographic location in or recognition clause. Third during our last set of negotiations , the employer made it very clear that any attempt to out source security would be a serious violation of the collective agreement, not to mention labour law. They stated themselves that any attempt to do so would be An Unfair Labour Practice Charge. Further to that it would be a Without Cause Termination, something that would be very difficult for them to explain at the Labour Board.
There are other things as well, let me know if you want me to carry on.

Hope this helps a little.

Part Time Scheduling

OK I am going to weigh in on this whole part time issue, but first let me say that this is only my opinion and does not reflect any policy of the union or the employer. Also in no way does this indicate my personal opinion on the value of officers be they Full-time, Part-time or Contract. This is just my personal opinion of how I believe the Collective Agreement should be applied to this issue of Part-time scheduling. I apologize now for the length of this post.

The first thing that people need to remember is that seniority should be the overriding factor, in almost all applications of the collective agreement. The problem we see in our department is that seniority is used in the full time scheduling of shifts. When we do our shift bids it is done by seniority and that is how our days off are applied, that is how we get EO’s and book PTO and so on. In part time scheduling shifts are given out “as equitably as practicable using seniority”. The current method of distributing shifts equally from top to bottom so that all Part time officers have the same amount of shifts does nothing more than ignore seniority. The union and employer have interpreted this as being a “fair process”.

Let’s take a look at what this fair process really does. In my view shifts should be distributed from the top of the part-time seniority to the bottom giving the person at the top as many shifts as they can handle, to a max of 40 hours if they want them. Then the next person and so on all the way down the list until there are no shifts left. Will those at the bottom of the list be stuck for shifts? Yes they will. They should be no different than all the full time officers that are stuck on midnights, based on their seniority. In article 15.b of our CBA the operative term is seniority, not fairness. “Seniority” is recognized under the law, where as the employers idea of fairness is not. The biggest problem here is that seniority is applied differently for full time officers then it is for Part-time. If proper seniority were applied to part time scheduling, there would be no issue with lower seniority officers getting UI benefits. This is another area where they have successfully brought right in line with the rest of employers operation. They have brought us into the fold, something all of you indicated that you didn’t want, when we bargained our last agreement.

During bargaining the union and the employer both agreed that the preference would be for the creation of full time employment. That was clearly stated on more than one occasion. There for, it was clear in my mind, that if an opportunity for the creation of full-time employment was available, it would be considered.

Another side effect of this “Fair Process” is that it stagnates any movement in the full time ranks and prevents the Union pressing for more full-time jobs. If the union can show that there is a position available, and that it can be consistently filled with a Part-Time officer for an extended period of time, the union can then show that there is a position available for a full time officer. For example, if there is a part time officer that works 40 hours a week on a day shift for 20 weeks, the union would be able to prove on paper, that there is a position available for a full time officer. With the current scheduling process the union will never be able to show the necessity for the creation of full time jobs.

Also let it be noted that almost every other article in the collective agreement as governed by the proper application of seniority. As far as I can tell, the only one that doesn’t have seniority applied properly is the Scheduling Article.

There are many full-time officers out there that see this issue as strictly a part-time problem. I assure you, it is not. Let me point out, that if the “two for one language” were ever to be enacted and current full time officers find themselves in the part-time ranks. They would not be able to apply for UI benefits under the current method of shift distribution. If I went down to part time I would not be able to absorb the loss of 2 or 3 days per week. So by not getting behind these PT officers we are potentially harming ourselves in the long run. There are a number of articles in our Collective Agreement that should be used to their fullest extent possible to ensure that seniority for all members of the bargaining unit remains intact. All of us full-time officers would have serious objections if our seniority was not respected, so then how can we sit by and watch as a full third of our department is having their negotiated rights trampled.