Dear Members,
A significant amount of work continues on the implementation of the Collective Agreement. As always, if you’re waiting more than two weeks for a follow-up from us, please bump your email so we can ensure work is underway on your question or concern. Please take a look below at the updates that we have available regarding Collective Agreement Implementation.
If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with us at executive@ecpbc.ca.
2023-2025 – Collective Agreement Final Version
We are pleased to announce that after 17 rounds of edits and revisions, the new 2023-2025 edition of the CUPE 8911 – E-Comm 9-1-1 Collective Agreement is now available here:
At the end of the virtual General Membership Meeting on November 26, 2023, we will hold a Q&A session for members who would like to discuss the changes in the Collective Agreement and how the new provisions are applied and answer general questions.
The next General Membership Meeting is on Zoom, November 26, 2023, at 1930hrs.
REGISTER NOW: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkdeuupjMpH9eqgZAshOA41Cxc-vjShGnf
Job Evaluations & Report Agent Section 54 Adjustment Plan Negotiations
Work continues on several Job Description discussions with the Employer:
- Inventory Stock Clerk
- Building Engineer
- Payroll Benefits Coordinator
- GIS Technologist 1
- GIS Technologist 2
- Purchaser
- Senior Procurement Specialist
Work in this area will continue over the next few years. As part of the settlement of the last Collective Agreement, the Employer will update virtually every job description in the organization and create a job evaluation maintenance program by December 31, 2025.
Work is approaching a conclusion in the Report Agent Adjustment Plan negotiations and job description discussions. Different features of the plan include protection of affected employee’s pay steps, how CPIC Acting Pay will be paid (including an extension of this pay to July 5, 2023), and protections for employees on leave.
We will be holding information meetings by Zoom. If you are an affected former Report Agent, please register for the following information meetings below:
- December 3, 2023, at noon:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsc–rqD4pGd0DrcKl_rIZOvGI8IiqhwFc - December 5, 2023 at 8pm:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvcu6gpz0pGNxF1TmfboZuH-FRhYn4nv8D
Pay Issues
We continue to work through a handful of pay issues from ratifying the new collective agreement. If you are still waiting for pay issues to be sorted out, please fill out this form by November 24, 2023, at noon:
https://forms.office.com/r/VtArEkE5Xn
Auxiliary Seniority List
There has been significant effort put into implementing and clarifying the application of the new Schedule B Part B Article 9 Auxiliary Seniority provisions in the Collective Agreement. The Employer is taking a firm stance and will not calculate retroactive seniority for members who were auxiliaries but became Regular Full-Time before the ratification of the Collective Agreement. This is due to several reasons, including incomplete and inconsistent records/systems and concerns that retroactive calculations may not be accurate.
Further, there were additional details that needed to be sorted out about how Auxiliary Seniority will be calculated and transferred between RFT/Aux classifications:
This is to confirm the parties’ agreement regarding the calculation of Auxiliary seniority as agreed to in Schedule B Part B Article 9 Seniority.
The parties agree that Auxiliary Seniority will be reported in hours, whereas Regular Full-Time will continue to be reported as a seniority date.
Auxiliary Seniority hours will include all hours paid at a Straight Time rate of pay or at the Public Holiday Premium, including hours of paid leave, and will exclude all hours paid at an overtime rate of pay.
The parties further agree that when converting Regular Full-Time into Auxiliary Seniority Hours, the Employer will calculate the years worked from the seniority date up to the new auxiliary status and then multiply by the full-time yearly hours of the employee’s Group (2009 or 2088 hours) that the employee belonged to immediately before converting to auxiliary status.
When converting Auxiliary Seniority hours to Regular Full-Time seniority dates due to a change from auxiliary status, the Employer will divide the total Auxiliary Seniority Hours by the full-time yearly hours of the Group to which the employee is joining (2009 or 2088 hours) and calculate a Seniority Date using 365 days per year.
See the signed agreement regarding the calculation of Auxiliary Seniority here:
https://www.ecpbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-11-02-Agreement-to-re-Auxiliary-Seniority-Calculation-FINAL-and-SIGNED43.pdf
The Auxiliary Seniority of those who have transitioned to RFT since ratification has been prioritized for vacation selection. Work will then begin on calculating the auxiliary seniority of current auxiliary members. This will be a significant project for our benefits and payroll team and will take several months to complete as each auxiliary employee’s seniority calculation is done manually and requires significant time for each employee. Once done, the hours-based seniority list will be posted and distributed to all members.
Reminder: Psychological Support Benefits
The Union and Employer have signed an agreement that provides six free sessions to all employees until the end of the 2023 calendar year from a list of practitioners participating in the program.
This is an additional benefit to the already implemented increase in extended benefits coverage for Psychological Support services, which now stands at $4,000.00 per calendar year. This enhancement provides additional coverage until the upcoming extended health deductible reduction to $25 and reimbursement increase to 100%, which take effect January 1, 2024.
Furthermore, the agreement provides six free sessions from the list of participating practitioners for members not covered by the extended benefits plan. This benefit will be available to those members not covered by the extended benefits plan each calendar year starting from January 1, 2024, until the ratification of the next collective agreement.
The current list of practitioners participating in the program is as follows:
- Alex Abdel-Malick: https://www.portmoodytherapy.com/book
- Jess Ram: https://jessramconsulting.com/
- Lindsay Faas: https://thrive-life.ca/contact-us-thrivelife-counselling/
- Kevin Lutz: kevlutz@telus.net; 778-877-9101
- Samantha Young: https://peacockhaven.ca; samanthayoung@peacockhaven.ca
- Vancouver Island Psychological Services: https://www.vipsychology.ca; 250-727-7060
The full details of the agreement can be found by Clicking HERE.
For those members who are looking to use their extended health benefits, there is a directory of occupationally aware healthcare professionals who have undergone occupational awareness training to work with first responders: https://www.firstresponderhealth.org/directory
Furthermore, Pier Point Counselling would like to extend a 20% discount to any E-Comm team member and their family members. To find out more about the team, please visit their website: https://www.pierpointcounselling.ca/team. To benefit from this offer, please reach out to hello@pierpointcounselling.ca and provide your E-Comm ID number. The offer also extends to immediate family members in your household and is based on the honour system.
Further Updates & Conclusion of Collective Agreement Implementation
There will be at least two more Collective Agreement Implementation Updates about the different benefits plans and sick leave changes which are coming up in the new year. We want to thank all of our members who have worked incredibly hard with no additional resources to quickly implement the positive changes in the new Collective Agreement.
In the meantime, please make sure you register for next General Membership Meeting. Members voted to pause the CUPE Local 8911 Facebook Group at the last General Membership Meeting. This pause will be reviewed at the upcoming General Membership Meeting. Please reach us at executive@ecpbc.ca for any general union requests, queries, or concerns. We look forward to be doing more membership engagement soon.
In solidarity,
Donald Grant
President
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