THE ISSUES

Many problems that occur at work can be resolved when you get together with other employees and meet with the employer to negotiate. With a collective agreement in place, you will be able to resolve these common issues as well as:

Wages

As you all know, the Corps gave what they call a generous increase of 1.2% to Ottawa Commissionaires. This is actually a 15 cent an hour raise. According to the Corps, this raise covers the cost of living in Ottawa. We all know this is far from the truth when you consider the rising price of gas, housing, food and everything else in Ottawa. The cost of living by far exceeds this raise.

When workers have a collective agreement, annual pay increases are negotiated in advance between the employer and employees. Employees get to decide on whether or not to accept the increase. This is not the case at the moment with the Corps.

Paid leave

Paid leave means to have a right to Statutory Holidays like New Year’s day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day.

Paid leave also means to have a right to:

• Paid sick leave
• Paid bereavement leave
• Paid parental leave – for the birth or adoption of a child
• Paid maternity leave
• Paid Preventative Withdrawal of Work and Assignment of Pregnant or Breast-Feeding Worker
  

Seniority & Job security

Seniority, the basic concept that the more senior members have greater power, has always been an important matter for workers. When seniority rules, favouritism and employer decisions being made arbitrarily can be avoided. If the Corps were to issue lay-off notices, the Corps would have to lay-off the last one on the seniority list (the employee with the least time in as a Commissionaire).

Seniority also decides who gets first choice for vacation leave and available jobs.

Job security, another important issue to any worker, is protected by a collective agreement. Workers negotiate that there be no contracting out of their work.

Pension plan

With the number of veterans joining the Commissionaires decreasing, a pension plan is becoming even more important. Funding your own pension is pretty difficult when you get a salary increase of 15 cents.

A pension plan is co-funded by the employer and the employee and would provide Commissionaires with a stable income when they retire.

Insurance

Most unionized workers have vision and dental coverage through their insurance plan that will defer some of the cost of glasses and dental visits. With this coverage, you can save quite a bit of money over the year.