Bulletin
IUOE 115 – Hours of Work Grievance Update
December 20, 2022
To: All MoveUP members at IUOE 115
We write to provide you with an update on our hours of work grievance.
Issues in Dispute: The Grievance and Background
As we discussed at the two membership meetings, the employer has improperly posted and filled several positions at 35 hours per week contrary to the collective agreement. Another position was posted the week of December 5-9, 2022.
The union proposed a resolution that provided for any MoveUP members who wished to increase their weekly hours to 35 hours per week the ability to do so. After some review, the employer considered the union’s proposed resolution and agreed to this idea.
However, rather than resolving the grievance on that basis, the employer decided to link the grievance resolution to the employer leaving the CIATU multi-employer group, and for the union to agree to a very limited list of items in bargaining.
The union has consistently stated adding these unrelated matters to the grievance complicated the abilities of the parties to come to a resolution, and that the union would need to review the employer proposal and to consult the membership.
Nonetheless, in good faith the union committed to review the employer offer which we have done and replied with an offer of settlement to the employer.
Union’s Offer of Settlement
The union took considerable time and effort to consider the employer’s offer. We conducted a legal review and held two membership meetings with you, and with the grievance held in abeyance (on hold) by mutual agreement during this time.
On November 30, 2022, the union wrote to the employer with an offer of settlement as follows:
- For the members who were hired at 35 hour per week contrary to the 32.5 hour per week limit under Article 7, and which led to the grievance, the union requests that the extra 2.5 hours worked per week by these employees be treated as overtime per Article 7.06. The overtime period will be from the time they began to work 35 hours per week to the date the grievance is resolved in writing.
- For the current members who work 32.5 hours per week and now wish to work 35 hours per week, those members will begin working the 35 hours once the grievance is resolved in writing.
- Once the grievance is resolved, employees who work 35 hours per week will not be paid overtime unless employees work more than 7 hours per day and/or 35 hour per week per Article 7.
For IUOE 115’s withdrawal from the CIATU multi-employer group, the union stated it would not be able to link a grievance resolution to the LRB Section 142 withdrawal, which the employer must make of its own accord.
For bargaining, the union confirmed that the membership is open to a more limited package provided there is the ability to distribute the agreed to monetary amounts between identified areas in the collective agreement along with some MoveUP mandated language that would be tabled as part of the union’s overall bargaining package.
The union further confirmed that it was actively engaged in its bargaining preparation and will form its bargaining committee, prepare, and finalize proposals, and be ready to bargain with IUOE 115 in January or early February 2023 once the LRB has approved the CIATU withdrawal for IUOE 115.
Employer Response
On December 2, 2022, the employer responded with a short letter indicating their disappointment with the union’s offer of settlement stating the union created “pre-conditions.” They requested a meeting and invited other MoveUP members to attend with Union Representative Daniel Storms for a “final opportunity to provide something meaningful for your members.”
Union Counterreply
As of December 19, 2022, we did not receive a reply to our December 5, 2022, letter. As a result, the union wrote to the employer at 3:21pm informing the employer the union was advancing the matter to arbitration.
Rather than replying or responding to the union’s offer of settlement whatsoever, (which would have met the needs of the employer, the union and you—our members), the employer instead replied with the following in an email at 4:06pm:
“The Employer has returned all MoveUp staff to a 32.5 hour week as of Monday December 12, 2022 and we are in the process of paying affected employees (including those no longer employed) overtime rates for the extra hours worked.
That should resolve the grievance. Feel free to contact our employees and confirm the information above.”
What This Means
Based on the employer’s reply, the employer is not interested in increasing anyone’s hours to 35 hours because we would not agree to their grievance offer of settlement, and they appear to want to dictate terms to the union and to you— our members.
This is despite the employer egregiously and flagrantly violating the collective agreement—something I know they would not stand for if their employers acted similarly under IUOE 115 collective agreements.
Taking this position is presumably to make the claim the union’s prevented you from getting more hours per week.
Make no mistake: the only one preventing you from working 35 hours per week is the employer.
Next Steps
For those employees who have worked 35 hours per week, the extra hours per week need to be paid at double time and not at straight time as you have been up to now.
Please check your past pay statements to determine the number of hours worked in excess of 32.5 hours per week, and be able to check your future pay statements to ensure the pay is accurate.
For those employees who wanted to 35 hours per week, but are not permitted to by the employer, I am disappointed the employer has decided to deny you this opportunity based on their December 19, 2022 email reply.
I want to also take a moment and thank all you who were able to attend the member meeting at the IUOE 115 auditorium and again at the MoveUP offices—where I was able to meet and engage with almost all of you.
For the grievance, the union will leave the grievance open for the time being to ensure the overtime is paid properly and accurately, and if there are further developments.
In solidarity,
Daniel Storms, Union Representative
Cheryl Popeniuk, Senior Union Representative