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As striking Carleton University support staff picketed for the second day, university administration urged the union to return to the bargaining table.
CUPE 2424, the union representing about 850 campus administrative, library and support staff, failed to reach an agreement after last-minute contract negotiations broke down in the early hours of Monday morning, sending hundreds of members to the picket lines, where they remained Tuesday.
Union president Jerrett Clark said a dispute over language in the employee pension plan is “the most significant” issue leading to the impasse.
“The university is proposing to completely remove existing collective bargaining language in our collective agreement around pensions – language that has existed there for about 40 years, since our very first collective agreement,” said Clark.
“We acknowledge the university is not proposing to change the (pension) plan,” Clark continued. “We fear, based on certain amendments that the university has managed to push through historically, that what they are proposing, and by removing our collective bargaining language and protections, that it could open the door to that very kind of change.”
University interim president Alastair Summerlee said university negotiators have not proposed changing the pension plan – from its current defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan — and said the union’s demand for “greater control over the way the university manages its pension plan” would be “unfair” to other labour unions on campus. Summerlee said the university offered a “competitive” salary package and improved benefits.
“But the union persisted with its demand that it wants greater control over the way the university manages its pension plan,” Summerlee said in an interview Monday.
CUPE 2424 did not return a request for a comment on the administration’s claims.
Summerlee said the campus will operate as usual during the strike.
“The (strike’s) impact mostly is the uncertainty,” he said. “We are open, we are operating classes, we are continuing to have all our facilities open and available to students. Obviously there are administrative things we won’t be doing, because most of CUPE employees are involved in the administration of the university and the operation of the library.”
The library remains open, Summerlee said.
“At the moment, other than the disruption of getting in and out of campus, there isn’t an impact on the students, and that’s obviously where our focus has been,” he said.
While Clark said union members have a full understanding of the issues that led them to the picket lines, Summerlee urged union negotiators to resume talks.
“I’m hoping that when the members understand the extent of the commitment we were prepared to make, and know what their representatives walked away from at the table, they will ask them to come back to the table because this has to be solved at the negotiating table.”
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
查看原文...
CUPE 2424, the union representing about 850 campus administrative, library and support staff, failed to reach an agreement after last-minute contract negotiations broke down in the early hours of Monday morning, sending hundreds of members to the picket lines, where they remained Tuesday.
Union president Jerrett Clark said a dispute over language in the employee pension plan is “the most significant” issue leading to the impasse.
“The university is proposing to completely remove existing collective bargaining language in our collective agreement around pensions – language that has existed there for about 40 years, since our very first collective agreement,” said Clark.
“We acknowledge the university is not proposing to change the (pension) plan,” Clark continued. “We fear, based on certain amendments that the university has managed to push through historically, that what they are proposing, and by removing our collective bargaining language and protections, that it could open the door to that very kind of change.”
University interim president Alastair Summerlee said university negotiators have not proposed changing the pension plan – from its current defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan — and said the union’s demand for “greater control over the way the university manages its pension plan” would be “unfair” to other labour unions on campus. Summerlee said the university offered a “competitive” salary package and improved benefits.
“But the union persisted with its demand that it wants greater control over the way the university manages its pension plan,” Summerlee said in an interview Monday.
CUPE 2424 did not return a request for a comment on the administration’s claims.
Summerlee said the campus will operate as usual during the strike.
“The (strike’s) impact mostly is the uncertainty,” he said. “We are open, we are operating classes, we are continuing to have all our facilities open and available to students. Obviously there are administrative things we won’t be doing, because most of CUPE employees are involved in the administration of the university and the operation of the library.”
The library remains open, Summerlee said.
“At the moment, other than the disruption of getting in and out of campus, there isn’t an impact on the students, and that’s obviously where our focus has been,” he said.
While Clark said union members have a full understanding of the issues that led them to the picket lines, Summerlee urged union negotiators to resume talks.
“I’m hoping that when the members understand the extent of the commitment we were prepared to make, and know what their representatives walked away from at the table, they will ask them to come back to the table because this has to be solved at the negotiating table.”
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
查看原文...
