Union decries ‘unjust bargaining environment’
A strong vote in favour of a new collective agreement between the United Steelworkers and the University of Toronto will see moderate wage increases and significant new contributions to the pension plan.
Going into negotiations, the 3,800 administrative and technical employees were in no doubt as to the climate. Local 1998 president Allison Dubarry summed up the confluence of government policy of no increases, the need to increase pension contributions to qualify for provincial assistance, a downward trend in public sector wage increases and a recent multi-million-dollar job evaluation as: “not only an unjust bargaining environment, but also an incredibly unforgiving bargaining environment.”
In the end, she expressed pride that both moderate wage increases had been negotiated and pension contribution hikes were smaller than at most Ontario universities.
Details of the agreement that ended the bitter, two-year lock-out at the Quebecor daily, the Journal de Montréal, can be found in this issue.
The first change is the length of the collective agreement, which has shrunk from 300 pages to 123.
The bargaining unit has shrunk even further, with only 62 full-time and part-time positions left out of well over 200 before the lock-out.
The new wage grid has eight classes, down from 14, and restructuring that sees salaries for journalists reduced in the first year. Raises in subsequent years are moderate.
There was no mention of special severance in the documents CLR saw. A previous agreement, rejected in October, included both enhanced severance and a non-compete clause.
