The City of Estevan won’t have to worry about negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 726, which represents the city’s unionized staff, for nearly three more years.
As reported in last week’s edition of the Mercury, the two sides finalized a new three-year CBA on Jan. 4, which was just days after the previous CBA expired. The new agreement will expire on Dec. 31, 2018.
City employees will receive a six per cent wage increase over three years, with a 1.6 per cent jump this year, a two per cent hike for 2017 and a 2.4 per cent jump in 2018.
“We think it’s fair because of the way the economy is right now,” said Glenys Baerg, who chaired the negotiations for the city.
The accepted wage increase was offered by the city.
“We were going to ask for a little bit higher than that, but we know with the economy the way it is, and the oil the way it is, that there are a lot of people out there who don’t have jobs right now,” said Baerg. “They got laid off or their hours cut.”
Baerg hopes the public won’t be upset that city employees will be receiving a raise while the economy is slumping. City employees work hard, she said, and this year’s raise will cover increases in the cost of living.
Mayor Roy Ludwig, who chaired the negotiating committee for the city, said the city also had to be cognizant of the current economy when they entered the negotiations, but they also felt the talks were fair and the wage increase was reasonable.
“Given the fact that there is inflation out there, and you try to keep up with inflation, this agreement is fair in that regard,” said the mayor.
There are some other changes in the new CBA, most notably for employees going on maternity leave. Previously a staff member had to go on employment insurance immediately after their maternity leave began, without any benefits.
But if the employee agrees to return to work for at least six months after the maternity leave ends, the city will pay up to 90 per cent of their wages for the first two weeks of the leave, while providing full benefits throughout the leave.
“We have a lot of young people coming up, and the ones that have had babies, it was a concern that they had, that it was a lot of cost for them,” said Baerg.
Ludwig noted it’s becoming more common for employees to receive benefits during their maternity leave.
Also, employees with at least 25 years experience will now receive six weeks of paid vacation per year.
Only 22 CUPE members voted on the deal, and 15 were in favour. The agreement needed support from the majority of the members to be ratified.
The city’s negotiating committee was unanimous in their support for the pact.
Both sides characterized the negotiations as amicable. While Baerg was involved in negotiations for the first time, Ludwig has been part of numerous negotiations involving the city and its staff members.
“We had good discussions and good communications between the two groups, and as a result, the negotiations went fairly well,” said Ludwig.
Three negotiating sessions were needed to reach a deal.
Baerg hopes the two sides can work closely together to make the city a good place to work moving forward.
