Down the Rabbit Hole

A Special News Bulletin from Your Union, UFCW Local 401

Is Excel Management Living in a Fantasy World?

Are employers like Excel sending vulnerable workers down a rabbit hole of exploitation?

Union negotiations are underway for employees at the Gerard Raymond Centre, and are soon to commence for Grand Manor and Balwin Villa. What do employees want? Quite simply, employees want a fair raise.

Unfortunately, at the Gerard Raymond Centre, the employer is not offering a guaranteed wage increase at all in 2024, 2025, 2026 or in 2027! It’s shocking that during a cost of living crisis — where employees can’t afford housing or groceries and have to hold down two or three jobs — Excel does not see a fair wage increase as a priority.

Your work is, in part, publicly funded. The Alberta government is offering thousands of Alberta public employees a raise, but Excel is refusing to do the same. At the Gerard Raymond Centre, Excel bosses have recently said that they will give employees a $500 signing bonus (before taxes and deductions) but they still stubbornly refuse to provide a raise.

Incredibly, this remains the position of Excel bosses at the Gerard Raymond Centre even after they have agreed that there is an affordability crisis.


Why do Excel bosses seem set on running employees off their feet without fair compensation?

It is all very shocking. You do important work caring for others, and nobody should be more sensitive to issues of mental health than Excel.

And yet employees at Excel find themselves in the midst of a mental health crisis, as the inability to pay their bills keeps them awake at night and sends their anxiety and stress levels through the roof.

It all brings to mind the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland: an image of constant stress and a race against time. And no wonder: apparently, Excel is about to put on a big fundraising party with an Alice in Wonderland theme!

They have money to do things like this, celebrating a fantasy. They have hired an expensive lawyer to do their bidding in trying to keep wages down. And yet they would have you believe they can’t find money for a wage increase.

It would seem as though Excel has lost its way, and they really are living in a world of fantasy and denial, ignoring the very people that have made their work possible.

We know the challenge facing us. The question is: what do we do about it? See below for more information.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO FIGHT FOR A RAISE?

You do special and important work, taking care of vulnerable people. But that doesn’t mean Excel has a right to exploit you. There are three crucial things you can do to fight for a fair raise.

1. Get Involved in Your Union.

As individuals, you have little power. Excel will seek to exploit you and to divide and conquer. United through a union and acting in solidarity with each other, you can exert pressure on your employer. United, you bargain; divided, you beg.

2. Join the National Defence Fund (NDF).

Many Excel employees have asked their Union to join something called the National Defence Fund. This is a special strike pay fund that will give you $500 a week, tax-free, if Excel forces you to go on strike. Workers are joining this fund all over Alberta.

It only costs $2 per week to join the NDF. Joining sends an important message to your employer and their lawyers: a message that you will be strong, and that they should bargain seriously with you. In other words, they can’t hope to resolve issues like the Queen of Hearts in Alice and Wonderland with a simple cry of “Off with their heads!”

3. Stand Up For Yourself.

We know that you are loyal employees who care deeply about your work. But standing up for yourself is a proper and moral thing to do. Simply put, you are entitled to be fairly paid.

If Excel is not prepared to take care of you during a time like this, then they should be ashamed of themselves. After all, they are supposed to be in the caring business.

Gerard Raymond Centre negotiations are ongoing. But Grand Manor employees and Balwin Villa employees will soon join their coworkers in demanding fairness during this crisis of affordability.

If Excel bosses continue to follow the Mad Hatter reasoning we’ve seen so far, admitting there’s an affordability crisis but simply refusing to do anything about it, we have many courses of action open to us if we act as a strong, united Union. Stay strong and stay tuned for more news as we fight for a fair deal for Excel employees!

WHAT A FAIR RAISE LOOKS LIKE

President Thomas Hesse (centre) joins the Excel GRC bargaining team. From left to right: Emily Machura from 401’s Legal Department, Bargaining Committee members Lisa and Debo, and ULRO Shauna Robertson.

President Thomas Hesse of UFCW Local 401 recently joined our Excel bargaining team at the Gerard Raymond Centre to provide a clear idea of what a fair raise looks like.

Click here to see a video message from the President and the Excel GRC bargaining committee.

Over the course of a year, a 10% wage increase effectively comes out to sixty dollars a week, the price of the bundle of groceries you see on the table here. Excel management simply cannot pretend this is an unreasonable proposition.

As President Hesse puts it, the three tests of a wage increase are: “Do employees deserve it? Do they need it? Can the employer afford it?” Your situation passes all three tests.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to hold Excel management accountable.

In solidarity,

Your Union
UFCW Local 401

Click here to see the print version of this new bulletin.

Posted on: October 23,2024