Week two report from Niru

OSSTF/D35 WLUSA, Collective Bargaining 2011 Update

End of week two (June 27-30)

Go here for a PDF version of this article.

This week we had one or two items that did manage to surprise our team; more details on this next week. Nevertheless, this week has been an extension of last week. We have built on and have had various discussions around each of our proposals.

Our package of articles, in our opinion, form in this round a core of our most important concerns, and need to be addressed in a collective fashion. I am happy to report that debate on these items have been healthy and productive. There are no surprises here: internal job postings, hiring procedure, priority placement, displacement, and, most importantly, seniority rights; all core priorities for you, our principals.

This week was also the starting point for two articles that are monetary and certainly a top priority for you. As we prepared for this round of bargaining, your guidance and input, as always, established for us our priorities and helped us formulate our position on these crucial benefits. I'd like to quote from our staff survey conducted in December 2010:

“Pension should be maintained as is, not creating a two tier system. The best solution would be for Universities to be exempt from the pension rule.”

“In good economic times the staff and the university enjoyed pension holidays. Why is the University asking its staff to bear the entire burden of this temporary shortfall in this economic downcurve?”

“I am not an expert on pensions but I know that I will need a stable income when I retire. I can barely afford to make ends meet today, my current benefits help my family cope with all our medical needs, these benefits will be even more important for me when I retire. Please protect my benefits and my pension.”

These selected comments from our OSSTF D35 WLUSA staff survey, articulate a common theme expressed by a majority of members who have in effect helped us formulate our position on our pensions and our benefits.

The University has not surprised us and has stuck to its position on pensions as articulated to us in their various postings online and via e-mail to staff. So you will not be surprised when I tell you that their offer is a two-tier system with reductions to retiree benefits and a defined contribution model for all new hires.

As we celebrate Canada Day and enjoy this wonderful long weekend with family and friends. I ask you all to consider these facts. We all live in a wonderful, peaceful, caring nation called Canada. This affords each and every one of us freedom of speech and the right to choose our own path in life. We are fortunate to live in the province of Ontario, which is one of the most progressive and modern in its application of labour rights. We are privileged to be working for an employer that has since 1995 afforded us the right to bargain collectively. We need to take time now to reflect on these benefits and rights that we all enjoy and pause to give thanks to those that came before us, those who had the wisdom to be progressive and fair so that future generations may have safe working conditions and fair compensation.

It is no secret that I consider Laurier my home and all of you my family. This is a fact for me — it will never change. In the time we spend working with colleagues we get to know each other very well. Many of us spend more of our waking hours at work than with our own families. This sense of community and caring is central to our working rights and conditions.

So I ask you as friends to reflect deeply on the progressive nature of Canada and our labour rights in the province of Ontario and in the caring sense of community and family we cherish at Laurier.

Yours in Solidarity,

Niru

Collective Bargaining Committee (CBC) Chair

OSSTF D35 WLUSA