As you may be aware, the Union has filed policy grievances on the failure of the employer to implement some of the newly negotiated language of the Collective Agreement.
Copies of these grievances can be found here: (CHQ-25-122) and (CHQ-rouge-25-44), and the bulletin can be found HERE.
We attempted to resolve these grievances with the employer last month. We acted in good faith and gave them time to review our concerns. We attempted to work with them through mediation and resolve these issues. Unfortunately, the Company did not come to the table with any means to move forward or with an eye to a resolution. The Union is now moving this on to the next step which is arbitration.
The responsibility of the implementation process is one that the employer bears. Having said that, if both parties meet and have discussions and work out potential drawbacks and hurdles the process becomes much smoother.
In 2015, the Union and the Company formed joint committees to tackle these sometimes complex issues. After this round of negotiations the Company chose to not work with us collaboratively. Their approach was to advise us of what their timelines would be with no input from us. It is patently clear that there are areas where we cannot agree with their imposed timelines of implementation.
As we have done throughout this process, we will keep you advised. We are available if the company chooses to embark on an inclusive process to have the negotiated Collective Agreement language implemented. They have negotiated this language and we simply ask that they honour their end of the bargain and do so in an efficient manner.
In solidarity,
