As you are all aware by now, the last round of mediation was not successful. During this entire round of bargaining, there has been no real bargaining effort on the part of the CRA. They have repeatedly come to the table unwilling to move away from their Treasury Board mandate. There has been no true negotiation in regards to the monetary issues that affect us.
Management believes that the Union does not speak for its members and that you will accept any offer they bring forward. They are certainly following the Treasury Board mindset of protracted negotiations in the expectation that their employees will be willing to settle for less.
I believe it is time for UTE members to stand together and tell Management, Treasury Board and the government of the day that we deserve to be treated with respect and appreciated for all that we do for the Canadian Public. We have been vilified in the press, by our employer and right-wing think tanks. Yet we are never thanked or appreciated for all the work that we do (except once a year when we are treated to cake or hot dogs that we pay for, and Tony Clement usually takes that opportunity to state that the public service is bloated and wasteful). We are their scapegoats.
You are constantly asked to do more with less: less training with fewer resources; fewer co-workers; constant monitoring; and continually increasing work performance standards and required knowledge. Yet, you are not worthy of fair negotiations to see small improvements to your benefits and wages. You are being told you must accept what other groups have accepted. They won’t even tell you what the offer is for the third year, as they must wait for the Treasury Board lead.
Why would we give up current benefits for the sole reason that everyone else has? Your severance benefit is worth 2% per year and they want you to accept an offer of .075% to give it up. A short-term gain for a long-term loss. Keep in mind that accepting a bad offer now would put us right into bargaining again, where they can further attack our other benefits, such as sick leave.
I believe that you deserve to be treated fairly, now and in the future. We are the people that work for Canadians. We put in a fair day’s work and are proud of the job we do. We deserve to be properly compensated and respected. We must defend the benefits that have been hard-won by previous co-workers while also protecting future generations. Nothing has ever just been given to us and the decisions we make now will affect our children and grandchildren.
Let’s stand up and tell management to return to the table willing to negotiate properly and fairly. We deserve better.
Robert Campbell
National President, UTE