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At the February CIF meeting the company provided an overview of the recent management changes in Network, Field Services, and Customer Operations / Experience. Tim Knolla attended as the new Director of Customer Care, and will be replacing Helena Cain as the Company representative for the Atlantic Customer Care Operations on the CIF committee.
It was decided at the December CIF meeting that the meeting format for future CIF meetings would focus primarily on both collective language in the current CA and possible new language for the next CA.
There was a lengthy discussion around the current situation that the company is experiencing, regarding the unpredictable market conditions and backlog of consumer FibreOp orders in certain areas of Atlantic Canada. The current collective agreement does have several articles that could be used to resolve or lessen the impact with this situation. The Company and the Council agreed to take away several possible ideas and see if they are workable solutions to this current FibreOp issue.
Since this CIF meeting in February, the Council and Company have agreed to a trial 60 day Memorandum of Agreement that would allow for Unifor members from Bell Technical Solutions to assist with the Nova Scotia consumer FibreOp workload issues. As part of this MOA, the Company agreed that there would be no reduction in hours or overtime opportunities for the existing Bell Aliant CST and Pool CST workforce during the MOA period. Also included in the MOA, was an agreement that a reciprocal loan opportunity could be offered to the Bell Aliant workforce, in the event that Bell required resources outside of Atlantic Canada.
There was also a discussion around amendments to the current CA language and some possible new language articles. The CIF committee agreed to move up their next meeting to an April timeframe to further discuss these items. The CIF format is designed around a continuous bargaining process that the Company and Council are committed to, while working toward an intermediary non-monetary package prior to the expiration of the current collective agreement on December 31, 2017.