Think Tank Meeting Thursday June 7, 2007

The new CUPE 391Executive met last Thursday to:

• set meeting dates


• establish the roles of the new executive


• review committees


• update proposal to join Vancouver District Labour Council


• discuss new VESP agreement


• review campaign to save the Bindery


• set goals and objectives for the 2007/2008 term of office

Committees:

Anti-Contracting Out Committee

The need for this committee is obvious.  Please respond to Ed Dickson’s e-mail asking for member participation in this new committee.  Ed has suggested the week of June 18, or June 25th. around 6.00 p.m. at the union office. Wednesday or
Thursday of either week are the preferred days.

Grievance Committee

The proposed budget for this committee will be increased substantially to reflect current activities.  We have one arbitration being written up, dates set for two more and the maternity top-up grievance is at step four.

Grievances are being written with increasing frequency; as often as a violation of the collective agreement or past practice takes place.  This committee can always use new members.  Education is provided.

Union Contacts

Gerard Batty will continue to be the coordinator for the union contact list. Ed will be the liaison to the group. It was suggested that the union contacts have a meeting more regularly, and identify people who want stewardship training.

Proposed Pensions Committee

The arbitration over the part-time/auxiliary contributions has shown the Union that we clearly need to be more informed about our Municipal Pension Plan.  This plan is a joint trusteeship with the Employers.  Some of the issues being debated by the nominees of the board:

• Contribution holidays (the employer balks at paying their share of contributions when the kitty is deemed to be full.  The unions say: that is our money.  It can be used to improve benefits


• How the money is invested.  No companies with armament connections please.  e.g.General Electric is the 9th largest producer of arms in the world.


• No to P3 investment.  P3’s take work away from municipal workers and cost more to run.  The municipal workers invest in municipal pensions and make our future retirement safe.

We need to promote our young activists.  Education will be forthcoming.

Vancouver Employee Savings Plan

Peter attended the VESP handover. All investments are under the same agreement with the same access. The accounts will be moving from VanCity Savings to Canada Western Trust.  This will be in effect July 1. In October, more options will be coming. Formal notification will be forthcoming. The executive recognized CUPE 15 for spearheading the changeover, and for helping to clean up much of the language in the contract.

Vancouver District Labour Council

Joining this committee has been bruited about by the last three presidents.  The time to take a closer look at joining this organisation has come. VDLC offers much in the way of education programs and exposure to labour issues that affect us.  We will be asking Bill Saunders, the president of VDLC to attend the next General meeting

Goals and Objectives of 2007/2008

• Successful completion of contract negotiations


• Implementation of a public advocacy campaign


• Create new affiliations with other labour organizations


• Redefine union-management relationships




• Improve communications with and representation of members

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Today, the Bargaining Committee met again with the Employer. Discussions have been going no where and there has been no significiant movement on any single issue. Therefore, the Union has cancelled next week’s meeting with the Employer, and will be filing for mediation at the Labour Relations Board.

It is hoped that a change of venue with the assistance of a neutral mediator will help get productive talks going, so a fair settlement can be achieved.

The Bargaining Committee will meet again on Tuesday to strategize and plan our next steps in the process.

More updates will be forthcoming as we know more. Please watch for them.

On behalf of the Bargaining Committee,

Ed Dickson, Bargaining Chair

Alex Youngberg, President, CUPE L391; Laura Safarian; Aliza Nevari; Doug Klohn; and Marya Gadison

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We know that many of you are anxious that the CUPE 391 Executive hasn’t announced any kind of organized response to the recent decision to close the Bindery. Your Union Executive has not been silent on the issue. We have in fact been occupied with planning our response to the sad news of the loss of our Bindery.

Since the decision to close the Bindery included provisions for relocating the effected staff members, in order to not jeopardize their chances of landing good comparable positions, we have decided to not plan any major protests at this time. However, we are asking all CUPE 391 members to consider writing a letter to our Library Board to state your disappointment in their decision. Also, please encourage any members of the public to also write letters to the editors of our major newspapers and to the Library Board expressing their concern over this recent decision.

Keep in close contact with your Union for further news on our continued campaign to keep the Bindery open and prevent further job loss. Once we have seen the LMT’s “Implementation Plan” (to be presented to the Board at the June Board meeting), we will reveal further actions for our CUPE 391 members. In the meantime, next week we will be providing all CUPE 391 members with black pins to symbolize our mourning over the loss of the Bindery. The pin should be available early next week and we ask that all members proudly wear these pins while working at VPL.

For details of the Board meeting of May 30th and a breakdown of which Board members voted for the Bindery and which members voted against the Bindery, see the following:

At 4.30 p.m. on May 30th, 2007, over 150 people met in the Staff Lounge with a twofold purpose: to the save our bindery workers jobs and to save the bindery.  We succeeded in the one, but failed in the other: or have we?  The Library Board voted 7-6 not to accept option 2 (reduce staffing through attrition and reduce work of Bindery), then voted 7-5 to close the Bindery.

Click on these links and contemplate the consequences of what happens when Union Management relations become focused on power struggles.

Tune into 102.7 FM Co-op Radio at 11.25 a.m. today, the Redeye programme, for an interview regarding the current state of affairs with the Bindery.