Excel Society and UFCW 401 Negotiations Important Bargaining Update

Contract Negotiations Break Off

As you know your Union Bargaining Committee is currently in negotiations with your Employer, for the renewal of your Union Contract. The two sides have met for bargaining since June of last year and have worked through the bulk of the outstanding non-monetary items, and are now discussing money related items.

We were recently scheduled to meet on March 7th, 8th, and 9th, 2018 and had hoped to have an offer in place to bring back for you to vote upon. However bargaining broke off on March 8th, 2018 as we were unable to convince the Employer to move off their position of no wage increase to all employees for the term of the contract. Essentially the Employer is offering nothing in the way of improvements to your wage and compensation package, and in fact seek only to freeze or roll back your entitlements. This is difficult news for your union bargaining committee to accept because as you know, you are already making far less than what others are making in other centres for doing the same type of work!

Your Union Committee has broken off talks and our intention is make application for Government assisted Mediation. However, as you may or may not already know, your industry is defined as an “Essential Service” and although you now have the legal right to Strike according to the Supreme Court, there are specific rules, regulations, and other hurdles in place governing how we get to that point. As we explore all of our options, we will continue to keep you posted on the developments going forward.

Please ensure that the Union has all your current contact information so that we can keep you informed and as always, if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact your Union Representative.

Posted on: March 19,2018