Dear Sisters and Brothers of CUPE Local 1431,
First, let us say how much we appreciate everyone who was able to attend our joint information meeting on April 15. We know how hard it is to get to meetings and that there have been lots of meetings and information coming your way in the past few weeks. There will be much more in the coming weeks, but that’s because your support is vital in this continued fight we have with our employer. We were also pleased to have CUPE National Pension Researcher Kevin Skerrett and CUPE Atlantic Communications Rep. John McCracken with us at the meeting.
We gave the members in attendance a quick update on the outstanding items for both locals. While there remains a gap in proposals between the union and the employer on wages and monetary items, our greatest battle is the protection of our Pension Plan.
Our Pension Plan is part of our total wage package. It is the wages that we are currently earning and have deferred to future payments. It is our mandate to keep it as whole as we possibly can, while being mindful that the plan, in the employer’s words, has to be ‘sustainable’. The Actuary that we hired in the spring told us that the plan needed a small tweak to be sustainable. We have worked with the employer to make smaller changes that we can live with and stand behind. We have shown that these changes will save Halifax Water millions of dollars in the next 10-15 years. This was not good enough for the employer, and their latest offer to the union was potentially as devastating to our promised future compensation as their initial proposal that we fought off. This is completely unacceptable.
Stay tuned to hear more from us about membership mobilization activities and events in the days ahead. For ongoing member updates, visit our closed Facebook group Your Water & Wastewater – Our Work. Together, in solidarity, we will be successful in this round of negotiations!
On behalf of your Executive and Bargaining Teams,
In Solidarity,
Heather Corkum
President, CUPE Local 1431
heather.cupe.local1431@outlook.com