On October 6, OPSEU announced that your Central/Unified PAHO negotiating team has entered into preliminary agreements with the employer for both the central collective agreement applicable to all OPSEU members in the Ontario Public Service (OPS) and the single collective agreement that covers all PAHO members outside the correction unit. October 27, 28 and 29 will be held in all regions of the province. The dates and times of ratification votes in Region 5 are shown below. Please also provide this information to your stewards and members and encourage each OPS member in your premises to take the time to vote. For information on the preliminary agreements and copies of the agreements themselves: 1) Go to the main page of the OPSU negotiations on the OPSEU website and check out regular updates 2) Click on the links below to download the following documents: For the first time, we have a new language in our collective agreement on workers` rights over union representation. The current collective agreement for all PAHO workers expired on December 31, 2014. · A new procedure will be used for all new cases of maladministration, in accordance with Article 22.13.2 of the collective agreement, which deals with issues relating to essia in several departments. · The trial period is nine months. This was amended to increase a worker`s probation period to 12 months, but only by mutual agreement between the worker, the union and the employer. “Our teams have made it clear at the negotiating table that we will not accept the massive contractual concessions that the employer requires,” Thomas said.
“But we also made it clear that we were there to negotiate an agreement, not a strike. The government completely ignored our position and initiated the process that will ultimately lead to a national shutdown. We now have two jobs ahead of us. The central/unified team will begin negotiations on the nearly 1,400 SEA agreements. The aim is to ensure that all agreements are fully compliant with the legislation applicable to this process. It won`t be a quick process, but there is no prediction for exactly how long… Or how much… these negotiations will continue. OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas shared Barnes` ambivalence about the results. “Our members have ratified the agreement, but they have lost all confidence in a government that has no respect for PAHO staff or the valuable work they do. On October 6, 2015, Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of OPSEU, announced that the Central/Unified negotiating team had reached a preliminary agreement with the Ontario government. Employees of the Ontario Public Service (OPS) have been without a collective agreement since December 31, 2014.
Finally, two members of your negotiating team are not in favour of ratifying the interim agreement. They are Dylan Lineger (Local 410) and Glenna Caldwell (Local 302). · The collective agreement was supplemented by a standard agreement on the allocation of workstations: “I am pleased that we have concluded this preliminary agreement with OPSEU. This agreement shows that if the partners commit to cooperation in the negotiations, the outcome can be both fair and reasonable for our employees and in line with our financial plan,” the minister said in a statement. In this edition of the Talk Update Table, all new provisions of the preliminary agreement are presented in detail. If you have any questions, please contact OPSEU at the opsmob@opseu.org. Thomas also commended the members and local representatives for their invaluable support and all participants in the negotiations for their assistance in the best possible agreement.