Unifor ACL Bulletin – September 29, 2021

Vaccination policy

UACL members have reached out to the union with concerns regarding Bell’s COVID-19 Vaccination Policy communicated to employees on September 1st, 2021. In Bell’s COVID-19 Vaccination Policy, it is stated that non-compliance can result in “…corrective, disciplinary or administrative actions, up to and including termination of employment.”

It is Council’s position that we will defend our members to the best of our ability who are disciplined by Bell for lack of compliance with its vaccination mandate. That defense will be the grievance process. 

That being said, we want members to completely understand that any possible action taken on their behalf will most likely not be settled in the short term and may result in a lengthy or permanent displacement of employment with Bell. 

Unifor National has communicated to us that it is their opinion that challenges to mandatory vaccine policies will not likely be successful in the courts.

Bargaining Update

The Bargaining Committee met on June 21-22^nd, July 26-27^th, August 6^th & 18^th, and September 23, 2021, to review proposals submitted by members.

The Bargaining Committee will meet with Bell the week October 14 to exchange proposals.

 Members of your bargaining Committee are:

• From Local 401 – Jeff Nelson & Christina Mill
• From local 410 – Lee Pearce & Adele Jackman
• From Local 506 – Sandy Brideau & Stéphane Lamoureux
• From Local 2289 – Cullen Bolger & Wendy Bradley Reynolds
• National Rep – Roch Leblanc

Working from home

We have received many calls and emails from members upset over meetings that are taking place with their managers detailing who is designated as able to work from home and who is not.  The Union has had no input in these decisions. If any member has concerns, please raise the issue with your manager.

MOBILIZATION

Where, as mentioned above, we will be commencing bargaining next month, it is important that members supply email addresses (other than Bell’s) to their union locals so that they will receive information and updates as negotiations take place.

TEMPORARY REASSIGNMENTS

For some time, the Union has been receiving temporary Reassignment notifications from Bell shuffling members from one classification to another because of obvious reasons of staff shortages.

We would like to remind members that some of the rules around this are:

1. Temporary reassignment to another classification will be for a minimum of 1 tour.
2. As a reassigned employee you are to perform only the work of the classification you have been reassigned to for the period indicated.
3. You will be paid the appropriate rate of pay of the classification to which you have been reassigned so long as it is not less than the rate of pay of your current classification.

Any questions should be directed to a shop steward or your local Union office.

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