Professionals Making A Difference
Your SMS bargaining committee is recommending that a package of proposals, as outlined in the following summary, be presented to the SMS employer bargaining committee for negotiating a new collective agreement.
Please review the summary of proposals outlined in this memo and provide your comments by end of day, Tuesday, April 20th. Please direct your comments to smccannell@pea.org. Your bargaining committee will meet on April 23rd to review all of your comments prior to finalizing the proposals that will be tabled with the employer on May 12th. Bargaining dates have been set throughout May and June and have been set to accommodate various school activities.
In drafting the package, your bargaining committee reviewed and considered all membership input on collective bargaining issues, including the online bargaining survey and information received from members throughout the past three years. Members made it clear that wages, sick leave, equivalencies, and benefits are the priority issues for this round of bargaining.
Not all of the issues that members raised will be reflected in our proposals. In deciding which issues should be included, the bargaining committee had to weigh a number of factors, including the priorities identified by members, and whether a suggested proposal addressed a prevalent and substantial problem. In the bargaining committee’s view, the following summary of proposals constitutes a reasonable, defensible and consistent basis for negotiating a new collective agreement with the employer:
Your bargaining committee is counting on your support to achieve our bargaining goals. We believe that there is strong argument that SMS should provide reasonable increases in compensation (wages and benefits) in this round of bargaining. Please see the attached presentation from our April 6th membership meeting that outlines a number of SMS collective bargaining considerations, including how compensation rates at SMS are relatively low. Key considerations regarding SMS compensation are that:
The last round of collective bargaining was settled through mediation at the Labour Relations Board and the settlement was based on the recommendations of the mediator, as opposed to necessarily reflecting the preference and priorities of the previous PEA bargaining committee. Your 2010 bargaining committee is firmly committed to doing everything possible to reach a negotiated settlement with SMS that everyone can live with. SMS has already communicated to the PEA that finances for future increases will be limited. They have also expressed appreciation for the significant positive impact the previous settlement (which provided increases of 0%, 0% and 2%) had on improving the school’s finances. The SMS assertion of limited finances is similar to that made in previous collective bargaining rounds and in fact is a common approach employers use to diminish employee expectations for wage increases.
Your bargaining committee is committed to keeping you informed of developments as they arise and you can expect ongoing bargaining bulletins. SMS PEA members’ continued support and engagement in the collective bargaining process is appreciated in our effort to achieve a fair and acceptable collective agreement settlement. Please continue to bring forward your ideas and thoughts to any of the PEA bargaining Committee.
Attached Files
SMS Bargaining Committee:
- Sonny Wilson
- Ross Alden
- Nan Lefebure
- Anita Mivromichalis
- Scott McCannell, PEA Labour Relations Officer
