Granville Island bargaining update

The CMHC Granville Island bargaining team, consisting of Tony Barrow, Sandy Scott, Steven Chen, Verda Cook, and Maxime Thibault-Gingras met with the employer February 18-20 in Vancouver to begin bargaining a new collective agreement. The current collective agreement expires March 31, 2020.

The team tabled a package of non-monetary proposals designed to improve working conditions as well as new collective agreement language requiring management to consult with the union when contracting work out and to demonstrate why contracting work out for special projects is preferable to hiring or training new employees.

The employer tabled a significant amount of non-monetary proposals, many of which were housekeeping items that did not affect the substance of the collective agreement or were legally required.

While the bargaining team was able to agree to over 20 of these proposals, the employer did not accept any of the union’s proposals.

At the end of the session, the team sent a clear message to the employer that during the next round of bargaining, scheduled for April, management must come to the table prepared to address monetary issues, including a fair wage increase.

Approximately 60 members of PSAC/UNE Local 20378 work on Granville Island, performing a wide variety of administrative, maintenance, and public outreach duties.