Unifor Atlantic Communication Locals Bulletin – June 8, 2021

COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT

Our current Collective Agreement with Bell Canada expires on December 31st of this year.

As stated in our last bulletin, all proposals for the upcoming round of bargaining with Bell have been received and compiled into a file of priority issues as submitted by the membership.

The bargaining committee will be meeting later in June to begin the process of finalizing the document to be presented to Bell in the fall.

UACL SURVEY

We would like to thank all of you who took the time to fill out the online survey that we forwarded to members with questions pertaining to bargaining items. The results of the survey are being used as another tool to assist us in developing a position on the issues

MOBILIZATION

As most would recall, during negotiations for the current Collective Agreement in 2017-18, Unifor ACL had a mobilization committee in place which directed events showing support for our bargaining team at different intervals in the process.

For this upcoming round of bargaining, we will be renewing the mandate of this committee including the objective of communicating directly with the membership, through personal contact information, the dates and times of any event which is planned, as well any important communications from the bargaining committee.

This contact information will also be used if online voting is required at the time of ratification of an agreement.

Please provide contact information when asked by members of the Mobilization committee in order to be fully involved and informed during negotiations. Any personal information gathered will remain with your Local

BELL CENTRAL CRAFT BARGAINING

The Unifor craft Locals of Bell in Ontario and Québec continue in Bargaining discussions with the Company with the goal of reaching an acceptable collective agreement. Again, we are watching this closely and invite you to do the same by accessing Bargaining updates online at: www.unifor.org and searching Bell Craft Bargaining.

VACCINATIONS

On April 29, Unifor ACL Council met with Bell (virtually)for the first of 2, Semi-Annual Corporate meetings in 2021.

The issue of vaccinations was discussed at length and Bell is allowing members 2 hours of company paid time to receive a vaccination for Covid 19.

To receive credit for this time it is understood that proof of vaccination is all that is required. No additional information need be supplied such as Type of vaccine.

If the member received the shot on their own time, it is not necessary to supply your manager with any information.

UNIFOR ATLANTIC COMMUNICATIONS LOCALS BIENNIAL MEETING

On May 4-5, 2021, the Unifor ACL conducted our first ever virtual Biennial meeting.

The Biennial is held every two years with delegates attending from the 4 Atlantic Communications Locals (401, 410, 506, 2289), and consults on all aspects of the operation of the ACL.

We were appreciative that Jerry Dias and Chris MacDonald (Unifor National) took the time to both speak and field questions from the membership in attendance on a wide range of current issues.

ACL by-laws also require elections for 4 of the executive board positions (immediately below). These positions were uncontested and filled by acclimation.

• Cullen Bolger – Council Chairperson
• Lee Pearce – Council Co-Chairperson
• Faith Chaisson – Council Treasurer
• Susan Rice – Council Recording Secretary

The remaining members of the Unifor ACL Executive Board are;

• Jeff Nelson – President Local 401
• Sandy Brideau – President Local 506
• Jennifer Pauley – Member at Large
• Stéphane Lamoureux – Member at Large
• Roch LeBlanc – Unifor National Rep

QAR ARBITRATION (QUALITY ASSURANCE REPRESENTATIVE)

This Arbitration took place on October 21-22, 2020, and we are happy to report we have received the long-awaited decision from arbitrator Demont.

The arbitrator’s decision confirmed what the Union had always asserted and what we believe the Collective Agreement language clearly stated;

“The Employer is not permitted to use calls remotely recorded to coach individual employees unless and until they have been scored”

CST – SMALL BUSINESS CUSTOMER

After many discussions with the Company in an attempt to settle this matter, including mediation and under the advice of our Legal Counsel, your Executive has concluded that the matter will need to be debated at the bargaining table this fall.

The main issue: What a CST should or should not be doing as part of the definition of “Small Business Customers” as described in “Appendix A” of our Collective Agreement?

SAFETY

At last week’s quarterly Atlantic Joint Consultative meeting with Bell, the Union raised concerns that we have been hearing from members of various CHSC and LSHC committees regarding the level of “Buy in” on the part of Bell in these committees.

Past members of the various BellAliant Health and Safety Committees have stated that the new Bell structure leaves much to be desired and appears to have lowered in priority what should be its primary goal; The Health and Safety of our members and Bell’s employees.

For information regarding corporate health and safety committee and local health and safety changes please go to; https://uniforacl.ca/

ACHCCS (ATLANTIC CANADA HEALTH CARE COALITION SOCIETY)

If you have yet to sign up for your discount cards as members of the ACHCCS please go to the Unifor ACL website and enroll. The link is below.https://uniforacl.ca/

COACHING FOR SUCCESS / PERFORMANCE ROAD MAPS

On May 20th, 2021, the leadership of the Unifor ACL agreed to sign off on a MOA regarding the grievances related to “Coaching for Success”.

Through dialogue held with the company last year, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), built by the company with much input from the Unifor ACL was finalized. In November, it was concluded by your Executive that pending a positive experience with the Annual Performance Reviews of the membership, an exercise that was completed as usual in February, a green light would be given to the final signing of the MOA.

As you will read (see attachment), the main components of the transaction are the full and final settlement of the two Policy Grievances (related to Coaching for Success and its former version the Performance Roadmap Model) in exchange for:

• The now already completed removal of Stacked Ranking in the measuring of performance;
• An improved and clear Communication of Performance Objectives to members;
• Greater attention paid to the Quality of Management coaching;
• Clear Communication of the program to the Union;• And the settlement of Individual Grievances filed by the Union, more specifically:

• The settlement of 35 individual grievances of active employees via the removal of the said action plans;
• The withdrawal of 5 individual grievances of departed employees;
• The closure of all identified grievances of the same nature dated prior to December 31st, 2020.

Your Council Executive is proud to have been the first group to jump into this battle and declaring war on the company for imposing a system that was flawed in so many ways. We spent a considerable amount of money in mounting this legal battle with Bell Canada, but we are satisfied with this conclusion.

We would like to thank, our National President Jerry Dias, his Assistant Chris MacDonald, and the former Director of Telecommunication Tyson Siddall for their contribution to our efforts to sanitize this toxic culture that the company introduced many years ago.

MOST IMPORTANTLY

Contact your shop steward if you believe there are violations of the collective agreement in your workplace.

In Solidarity: Jeff Nelson; Lee Pearce; Sandy Brideau; Faith Chaisson; Susan Rice; Jennifer Pauley; Stéphane Lamoureux; Cullen Bolger; Roch Leblanc