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St. Amant Inc. (Support) - Local 92 - Bargaining Brief
Updated: Feb 23, 2021
Approx. Number of Members: 730
Current Contract Expires: March 31, 2017
MGEU Staff Negotiator: A. J. Hunter
Elected Bargaining Committee Members: Matthew Swirsky
Jacob McConnell
LATEST BARGAINING NEWS
Since the St. Amant (Support) - Local 92 collective agreement expired, a number of factors have prevented negotiations from starting, including the government’s wage freeze legislation, the health care representation votes and, most recently, the global pandemic. Since so much time had passed, the Bargaining Committee gave members another opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas about how to improve the collective agreement. The deadline for submitting proposals was Friday, October 30. Please stay tuned for a meeting (as public health guidelines allow) where members can vote on the latest proposals.
Overview of Bargaining So Far
The St. Amant Support Bargaining Committee held meetings to gather
ideas and proposals for improving the collective agreement on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.
The Committee then reviewed these proposals and worked to put them together into a package to present to the employer.
As of December 31, 2017, even though HCSS collective agreements had expired and the St. Amant
Support - Local 92 Bargaining Committee was ready and eager to get
going, negotiations had not begun. Employers were unwilling to
schedule
bargaining dates.
One issue is that the government said they wanted HCSS workers in each
region to be covered by one union and one collective agreement — but
they did not tell the unions or the employers exactly how this will
happen, or when.
Once the votes were finally over with, members of St. Amant Inc. (Support) - Local 92 had an opportunity to once again put forward their ideas and proposals for improving their collective agreement at meetings held on June 23 and 24, 2019.
In the mean time, the MGEU began working on the issue of wage freezes.
This legislation, known as Bill 28 or The Public Services Sustainability Act, is not fair.
So the MGEU formed, along with the other unions, the Partnership to Defend Public Services. In the fall of 2019, this Partnership challenged the government in court because what they’re doing goes
against Canadian laws — all workers have the right to negotiate a fair
contract, including their wages.
On June 11, 2020, 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.
On August 17, 2020, the Pallister
government announced it would be appealing the judge's decision. The government is expected to
submit supporting documentation for its appeal by the end of January 2021 and the Partnership to Defend Pubic Services (PDPS)
(which includes the MGEU and other public-sector unions) will then have
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.