This bulletin update is to inform the membership that due to personal injuries our National Rep Roch LeBlanc sustained in an accident, bargaining that was scheduled for July 12-14 was cancelled.
Regular scheduled bargaining with the company will resume on September 12-15,2017.
Your bargaining committee met with the employer on May 25 and 26. We managed to move through some straight-forward items, and in the coming meetings are prepared to tackle more complex demands.
Our next meeting date with the employer is on July 11.
If you have questions or concerns, you can send your questions directly to a bargaining committee member and we will do our best to provide an appropriate response.
To Members of Unifor Atlantic Communication Locals:
On April 25, union representatives and the employer met for the first time to begin negotiating a new contract. Your union team, who are listed below, sat down with Bell negotiators to exchange initial proposals.
Negotiations for this collective agreement won’t be finished for several months, but at each stage, the team of elected representatives of your union will update you on progress.
This message is a follow-up to the Unifor ACL posting on January 25, 2017, encouraging all union members to lobby their Federal MP to vote against the regressive Bill C-27:
Through the efforts of the labour movement we are making headway in repealing Bill C-27, but the fight is not over yet. A lot of our members contacted their Federal MP's or the Minister of Finance and received the following Liberal Party "standard party" message in response to their concerns:
As you are all aware, last week Bell announced that they are terminating our OPEBs effective April 1, 2019, thereby effectively entering into bargaining without meeting with the Unifor ACL bargaining committee.
Therefore the Unifor ACL Executive on behalf of the bargaining committee, will be informing the Company to release all union members who are currently in an acting manager role and to not place any more members in these temporary roles.
On Tuesday February 28th, Bell demonstrated its apathy toward its workers by sending out a poorly worded and confusing email to "all Atlantic team members eligible for post-retirement benefits " announcing they are terminating the OPEBs (Other Post-Employment Benefits) or as they refer to them PRB (Post-Retirement Benefits) after April 1, 2019. Bell did this without any discussion with Unifor ACL (Council), and at a time when we are supposed to be starting negotiations for a new Collective Agreement.
Unifor ACL contends that all work performed by our unionized members for Bell is valuable and should be compensated as such.
We also recognize that Bell continues to adopt systems, processes and institute staffing models that puts impractical expectations on our members.
In order to try and reach these goals, it has come to our attention that some members are doing one or more of the following: not taking breaks, skipping or shortening their lunches, coming in early, or leaving late.
Unifor ACL would encourage all members to read and act on the following, as well to forward this information to any retirees they know whether unionized or management, as this has the potential to affect them as well.
In accordance with Article 13 of the Unifor Atlantic Communication Locals (Unifor ACL) By-laws, the 6th Biennial Council Locals Meeting will be held on May 15-19, 2017 at the Hampton Inn and Suites, Halifax Nova Scotia.
A block of rooms have been reserved for the nights of May 15-18, 2017.
The resolutions committee will meet on Tuesday May 16th at 9:00am.
At the November 30, 2016 Bell Aliant Joint Consultative meeting, there was a discussion regarding reimbursement of doctor's certificates / notes for union members returning from incidental absence. It was confirmed by Bell Labour Relations representatives at that meeting, that the Company will continue to follow the current practice developed after Unifor ACL raised this issue in the past.
Unifor ACL wishes to thank all members who participated in the recent Union survey. The participation rate was at 58%.
The results of this survey will be kept confidential and used by the Unifor bargaining team to help with its preparation for the upcoming collective agreement bargaining sessions with Bell.
Four $100 prizes (1 per province), drawn from the members who submitted the completed survey.
The $100 cash draws have taken place and congratulation to the following winners.
1) Does the Bell Omni Flex plan still require a doctor's prescription for massage, chiropractor or physio treatments?
No, a doctor’s prescription is not required.
2) Is there a cap on the dollar value associated with purchasing hearing aid(s) and if so how much? It is also assumed that the coverage is for a maximum of two hearing aids?
The coverage is up to $1,500 per person every 48 months. It is reimbursed at 80% or 90% - dependent on the medical option the employee selects.
Since 2008, the Company and Unifor ACL (formerly CEPACC) have used the interest based process to negotiate and resolve differences through the Common Interest Forum (CIF). The process and participation in CIF has helped to create and maintain a respectful relationship between the parties that has resulted in the negotiation of four (4) collective agreements.
The Council would like to acknowledge that we have received several complaints regarding the disrespectful treatment of our members by the new short term disability contractor, Manulife.
Some of those complaints include inappropriate comments, lack of compassion to a member’s medical condition, threats of pay being withheld and even unauthorized release of confidential medical information.
Further to Unifor ACL’s bulletin to the membership on July 12, regarding Blueprinting.
It has come to the attention of Unifor ACL that Bell continues to roll out these attacks on the value of work into our workplaces,
The most recent incident of this has been in Blueprinting some of the Central Office routines of the Network Tech work. Unifor ACL strongly protests this devaluing of work and the processes inability to recognize the complexities and vital nature of this work.
The Council has received many calls from concerned members regarding the recent Bell communication sent out on March 30th pertaining to the negotiated Bell Aliant DB / DC pension plans. The Council shares many of these same concerns and also have questions regarding the information sent out in the Bell notification message.
Unifor Atlantic Communication Locals “Council” has recently had the Blueprint Process brought to our attention.
The “Blueprint” program involves mapping and breaking down a job or task. One of the potential fallout of such process is job simplification; the identification and segregation of complex and simple tasks.
The Unifor ACL “Council” will be holding information sessions in preparation for the upcoming discussions with Bell regarding our next collective agreement.
The sessions will be held in all four Atlantic Provinces during the month of June. The scheduled information sessions will centered on these three issues:
Medical benefits
Employee Discount Plan (EDP)
Pensions
This will also be an opportunity for the membership to express their opinions on all other possible items for the next collective agreement.
