Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone - Local 454 - Bargaining Brief

Updated: Jul 28, 2021
Approx. Number of Members: 20
Current Contract Expires: first contract
MGEU Staff Negotiator: Wesley Whiteside
Elected Bargaining Committee Members: Jeff Fehr (president) Kevin Kennedy (chief steward)

LATEST BARGAINING NEWS

Recently, Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone - Local 454 Bargaining Committee applied to the Manitoba Labour Board to settle the provisions of a first collective agreement.  As part of this process, the Bargaining Committee and the employer were able to finally reach a tentative agreement with the of aid of mediator on July 27, 2011.

A ratification vote, along with an information session, will be held in early August wherein employees will be able to vote whether or not to accept the agreement. 

Overview of Bargaining So Far

Members of West Lake-Gladstone - Local 454 had an opportunity to put forward their ideas and proposals for their first collective agreement at a January 20, 2020 Local meeting.

Shortly after this meeting, the Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone - Local 454 Bargaining Committee served the employer with a notice to bargain in February. We exchanged proposals with the employer in June 2020 and started negotiations in July.

For the first several months, negotiations mostly dealt with non-monetary items — which includes establishing contract language for things like working conditions.

Although some progress was made at the table, talks around monetary (wages and benefits) could not begin until the two sides agreed on some significant outstanding issues, including hours of work for both office administrative staff and the utilities and public works staff.

The Committee's goal has always been to preserve and improve the benefits the Local already has in place, while establishing the protections that only a collective agreement can provide.

Although the Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone - Local 454 Bargaining Committee and the employer finally moved to monetary items (things like wages and benefits) in June and the Bargaining Committee advanced a position that they believed was fair and reasonable, a number of challenges at the table remained. The employer in fact put forward proposals which would result in an overall reduction in wages and benefits over time, rather than improvements.
 
In an effort to reach a fair agreement in a timely way, the Bargaining Committee decided to apply to the Manitoba Labour Board to settle the provisions of the first collective agreement. This means that the Bargaining Committee continued to negotiate with the employer, but if they were unable to reach an agreement within certain time frames, the Labour Board, as a neutral third party, would finalize one.  

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