Lunch Hours & Breaks – Statement from Local 506 Executive

Hello Sisters & Brothers

First and foremost, the Executive of Local 506 wishes to acknowledge and congratulate you on your continuous dedication to your work. The pride and excellence you exhibit in a job well done each and every day, making our bargaining unit strong and proud!

We wish to bring to light an issue that, yes has always existed, but is becoming an increasing concern for you, our Members.

The issue at hand is taking your proper fifteen minute breaks and your lunch hour during the course of your work day. In stating this, three top reasons come to mind as to why this is so important.

1. Your Safety
2. Canadian Labor Code and your rights
3. Working through helps our employer set unrealistic goals which end up put upon YOU

Your safety on the job is of the utmost importance! Whether you are a technician who is outside driving or an inside clerical worker, breaks and lunch are there in order for you to properly rest, de-stress and allow for proper nutrition and washroom usage.

Canadian Labor Code. Sisters & Brothers, the code is there to protect you. It is code that you must be provided two fifteen minute breaks over the course of your shift. It is a violation to not take them. We are fortunate in that we work for an employer who recognizes this and will either schedule your break or you may work in an environment that allows you to go at your own discretion. The same goes for your lunch hour period. Remember, we have many who have come before us and fought for these rights for very good reason!

Lastly, but certainly not the least, in fact it may be one of the MAJOR reasons to take your lunches and breaks. If we continue to work through our breaks and lunches, we only encourage our employer to implement upon us unrealistic stats to achieve. We all have been there. Even more so with the new technology of Fiber Op and our understanding that it is a critical piece of our work. We feel the pressure to perform. We want our customer to be serviced at all cost. We take pride in our work and do not want to leave until we have completed our task. All of these reasons, and more we are sure, are extremely admirable. However, you cannot allow them to overpower your rights.   If we have Members who are willing to forgo breaks and lunches, it increases their number of jobs completed, number of orders issued..etc. The company looks at this and determines EVERYONE’s stats to meet, by numbers that end up being inaccurate. Stats that are so crucial to how your work day is performed. Whether it is your EWT, or KPI’s and volume of orders, you our Member, ends up paying a further cost for your own dedication!

We ask that you take these things into strong and serious consideration. We want to do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. But we also want our employer to have true and realistic measurements that we work by. This will continue to be an even more difficult struggle if our Members are giving up their breaks and lunches to accommodate workload.

We would welcome any Membership feedback. In particular if you are experiencing pressure from any areas of our business, whether that be from your direct manager or by other means that we may be unaware of. Please contact any of the Regional Chairs in your respective areas or your Local 506 Table Officers.

In Solidarity,

Your Local 506 Executive