Unifor Local 1996-O

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate, wishing your families a safe holiday

Easter 1996o

In Solidarity,

1996-O Executive,  1996-O Equity Committee

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Unifor is urging all provincial governments to immediately give workers paid time off to get vaccinated.

VANCOUVER—As British Columbia gears up to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to the general public, Unifor is urging the provincial government to follow Saskatchewan’s lead and give workers paid time off to receive the vaccine.

“It’s a no-brainer if you want to maximize vaccinations and minimize disruption to British Columbians, workers need paid time off to be vaccinated,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “No worker should choose between the vaccine and their pay cheque.”

Provincially mandated paid time off for vaccination would require legislation, and it’s something Unifor is demanding alongside a permanent provincial paid sick leave policy.

“There’s an urgent need to align workplace policy and public health policy,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor Western Regional Director. “The pandemic has taught us a cruel lesson: sick workers should be able to stay home and isolate or recover as needed without financial penalty.”

Unifor is asking the government to seek unanimous consent in the legislature to table emergency legislation for paid vaccination leave.

“Comprehensive vaccination is not something we can leave to a casual ‘after hours and weekends’ strategy as some businesses are already suggesting,” added McGarrigle. “We need as many people vaccinated as soon as possible to return to normalcy in B.C.—and that’s good for business too.”

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

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COVID-19 Information & Resources

Unifor’s Research Department is constantly updating its factsheets on income supports during the COVID-19 pandemic. Get the most up-to-date information here. https://www.unifor.org/node/18422?v=income-supports

Unifor has developed a number of fact sheets to help workers navigate the many new federal government programs to help Canadian struggling during the pandemic. Below you will find fact sheets on how Employment Insurance and new income programs apply to workers in various circumstances, from full-time workers to gig and seasonal workers.

These programs are being updated regularly, and Unifor is monitoring all these changes to keep these fact sheets up to date, so check back regularly.

Unifor FAQs: Income Assistance, Wage Subsidies, and Other Benefits

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Bell Craft Bargaining Update #11

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Campaign Update

Information Bulletin #11

3/16/2021 -Sisters and Brothers,

Your Bargaining Committee will begin conciliation with the Company next week via Zoom. Over the past two weeks, we have shared eight historical analysis documents about our past struggles. The series highlighted just how critical it is to fight for our future and laid clear that 21 years of concessions is enough.

Furthermore, the Company has filed to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, under section 87.4 of the Canada Labour Code, over our dispute regarding Maintenance of Activities in the event of a lockout or strike. This was an expected action, however it does not change the fact that the Company’s extreme concessionary demands could lead to a work stoppage, if there is not a significant change to their proposals and recognition of our priorities.

When there is a situational change we will communicate it to the membership whenever possible. Your continued support and solidarity remains critical as we move through the stages of the bargaining process.

In Solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee

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A win for equal pay more than 10 years in the making

The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of workers in a precedent-setting case about the method employers must use to maintain proxy pay equity for their predominantly female workforce.

The dispute arises from a group of nursing homes, referred to as the “Participating Nursing Homes.” The case was brought by the Ontario Nurses Association and the Service Employees International Union, who each argued that the homes have failed to maintain pay equity after it was initially achieved in 2005. Unifor, together with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, supported the Equal Pay Coalition’s intervention in the case in support of the unions.

“We often say that union membership is the strongest way to ensure pay equity. Nursing home workers’ victory in this case show that even when it takes a little more work, your union is still your best advocate in this fight for fairness,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.

The crux of the dispute was how to maintain pay equity for workforces that were 95% women, like nursing homes.

This case was first heard by the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal, which ruled against the unions in 2016. That decision was overturned by the Ontario Divisional Court on appeal. Now the Court of Appeal upheld the Divisional Court’s decision, ruling in favour of workers and their unions.

“Nursing home workers are not only majority women, but they are often immigrant women, and racialized workers. This win is a vital ruling in order to continue our fight for pay equity across these intersections,” said Naureen Rizvi, Unifor Ontario Regional Director.

Equal Pay Day in Ontario is April 7, 2021. That day will mark how far into the year the average women must work in order to earn what the average man earned in the previous year.

The nursing homes that argued against maintaining equal pay were advocating for letting women workers fall further behind in their pay. Initially, the homes denied that they had any obligation to maintain pay equity at all.

This decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal sets a precedent that will push even more women-dominated workplaces towards equity, by mandating that substantive pay equity is maintained through comparison to male work and wages.

Workers in Ontario’s nursing homes have long raised the alarm about low pay and dangerous working conditions.

“Ontario’s nursing homes should be a safe place to live and work, but this past year has revealed that the opposite is true,” continued Dias. “This decade-long refusal to maintain pay equity is a piece of that larger problem, and this win is part of the solution.”

Unifor is returning to the bargaining table with nursing homes across Ontario beginning in the fall of 2021 and into 2022 as various collective agreements reach expiry.

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