2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement Highlights

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Below are the highlights of the changes to the Collective agreement, see this post regarding voting information. If you have any questions, their will be opportunity to clarify at the voting locations.

Term: January 1, 2015 – March 31, 2017

Monetary:

  • Wages will increase accordingly
    • April 1/15 – .85%
    • October 1/15 – .85%
    • April 1/16 – .85%
    • Oct 1/16 – .85%
    • Increases to the salary schedule shall be retroactive to April 1, 2015.
  • Reimbursements for meals – ‘In emergency situations, or when in-town supporting situations such as hospital stays, the employee shall be reimbursed with receipts to a maximum of $46.00
  • Vision care will increase to $250 every two years effective April 1, 2015
  • Article 30.01 (reimbursement of employees who reside outside the province of Ontario for Health Benefits under the Employer Health Tax) was struck from the contract

Non-Monetary:

  • Language changes to ‘tighten’ the interpretation of 15:05 (timing with regards to changes in the schedule). Changes of a short duration and ‘permanent’ changes were addressed
  • New clauses that reflect changes to the Employment Standards Act i.e. Crime-Related Child Death or Disappearance Leave, Family Caregiver Leave, Critically Ill Child Care Leave and the definitions of a ‘child’ and a ‘crime’
  • Article 31.07 (Sleepover staff) was struck from the contract
  • Transport program and Letter of Understanding with regards to the Transport position were struck from the contract
  • Letters of Understanding for both Appendix F (Sick leave usage on Paid Holidays) and Appendix G (Re: Joint Health and Safety Committees) were struck from the contract
  • Language changes to the Article 15.12 (reduced work week) were made to ‘tighten’ the interpretation and process to apply/maintain reduced work weeks
  • Language changes to union activities for conference leave, leave to hold office in National CUPE, union boards and communication between YSB and the union were enhanced
  • Changes to 4.08 (Joint Health and Safety Committee) to reflect changes in legislative requirements
  • SCHEDULING – Instead of YSB determining the ‘floating stat’ day for FT employees between Christmas and New Years, YSB will add one ‘float’ day to the Employee’s vacation bank as of January 1st each year. Casual and ERP employees will be required to complete availability electronically on YSB scheduling program (JXP).  Failure to submit availability will result in no shift assignments. With regards to Article 15.10 and Casual/ERP employees not having grievance or arbitration rights due to lack of work or the employee’s unavailability to work or 6 or more consecutive offers of work consistent with their statement of availability whichever comes first –  new language includes ‘no call back within 2 hours will be deemed a refusal for shifts within the employee’s identified availability’. No Time off request can be cancelled within 36 hours. With regards to base rotation Scheduling Guidelines, the scheduler or employer, upon request, shall provide the employee a copy of the current list of available shifts however the new change is that the employer does not have to provide a copy of the schedule prior to their selection time.