Beacon Hill Lodge - Local 80 - Bargaining Brief

Updated: Sep 16, 2021
Approx. Number of Members: 129
Current Contract Expires: March 31, 2017
MGEU Staff Negotiator: Loren Findlay
Elected Bargaining Committee Members: Shannon Bland - President Alexis Carlton - Vice-President

LATEST BARGAINING NEWS

The Beacon Hill Lodge - Local 80 Bargaining Committee resumed negotiations with the employer in mid-July 2021. Discussions with the employer re: non-monetary items such as contract language and working conditions is now complete.

Bargaining dates are scheduled in October and November 2021 to begin monetary discussions. 

Overview of bargaining so far

Members of Beacon Hill Lodge - Local 80 had the opportunity to share their ideas and proposals for improving their collective agreement at a bargaining proposal meeting in December 2016. 

The Bargaining Committee then reviewed these proposals and worked to pull them together into a package to submit to the employer. 

However, by the end of 2017, even though all HCSS agreements had expired and MGEU Bargaining Committees were ready and eager to get going, negotiations had not begun. Employers — including Beacon Hill, Poseidon, Golden Door, and St. Norbert — were unwilling to schedule bargaining dates.

One issue was that in 2017, the government announced they wanted HCSS workers in each health region to be covered by one union and one collective agreement — but did not proclaim the legislation (Bill 29) until May 2018. During that time, the employers at the private PCHs refused to come to the table until they knew for sure that their employees would not be involved in representation votes. Once the Bill was proclaimed, the MGEU pressured private employers to finally sit down and begin negotiations -- however, they said since public sector negotiations would be delayed due to the Bill 29 union representation votes, private sector bargaining could not begin either.

The union representation votes that delayed all health care sector bargaining wrapped up in late August 2019 and members moved to their new unions in December 2019. 

The MGEU and the Beacon Hill Lodge - Local 80 Bargaining Committee remained committed to getting on with negotiating a new contract for Local 80 as soon as possible.

After the votes concluded, the MGEU met with the Local presidents of private PCH Locals and, because so much time had passed, it was agreed to schedule new proposal meetings. A Beacon Hill Lodge - Local 80 meeting was held in March 2020, but then the pandemic hit and public health restrictions delayed meetings with the employer. 

The Beacon Hill Lodge - Local 80 Bargaining Committee once again collected bargaining proposals from members, both on-line and through the mail. The deadline to submit proposals was Friday, October 30. The Bargaining Committee then worked to pull together these proposals into a renewed package to present to the employer. 

Bill 28 and its impact on Bargaining in the private PCHs

In 2017, the government also announced that they would not consider giving any public service workers any general pay increase for the first two years of their new contract. This would include all HCSS members who work in public PCHs.

The employers of the private PCHs continue to tell the MGEU that since there is no money for the public PCHs, the private PCHs will not get funding either.

This is not fair. So along with other Manitoba unions, the MGEU formed the Partnership to Defend Public Services to challenge the government in court they’re doing goes against Canadian laws – all workers have the right to negotiate a fair contract, including their wages. 

The trial was held over a few days in November 2019. MGEU President Michelle Gawronsky took the stand as the 4^th PDPS witness. Economists, other labour leaders, labour relations experts, as well as several MGEU staff were also called to testify.
 
All of this testimony added to the body of evidence placed before the judge, which already includes 37 affidavits and more than 100 pages of agreed upon facts.
 
In January 2020, the PDPS and the Government filed their written arguments with the court. Final arguments were heard over three days in February.

On June 11, a Court of Queen's Bench judge ruled in favour of the unions, agreeing that Bill 28 violated members' rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Since then, the union has been working with MGEU lawyers to review the Judge’s 236-page ruling and determine next steps.

As part of the trial, the parties are returning to court to pursue additional remedies, such as damages and recovery of court costs. MGEU lawyers are preparing for these hearings and trying to secure dates for the fall. The government has advised that they are considering appealing the court ruling. 

The government had until the end of January 2021 to submit supporting documentation for its appeal and the Partnership to Defend Pubic Services (PDPS) (which includes the MGEU and other public-sector unions) then had 30 days to file material in response. The government's appeal is expected to be heard in court this spring.

While this goes forward, dates in November 2021 have also been set by the court for the second part of the Court of Queen’s Bench trial, to determine any additional remedies that go beyond having Bill 28struck down. Meanwhile, the MGEU and the other PDPS partners continue to focus on trying to get back to the bargaining table. 

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