Bulletin
Enterprise – Bargaining Unit Work and Managers
June 30, 2020
To All MoveUP Members at Enterprise
Your Committee has been monitoring and addressing the practice of management performing bargaining unit work. We raised this issue from the time that layoffs were announced pre COVID-19 back in February. We have been repeatedly assured by upper management that managers and supervisors will be told not to do our work. Despite these assurances we are not surprised to hear that management is continuing to encroach more and more on our work.
Business has picked up over the last month. Unfortunately, it is nowhere near what it would be in a normal year. However, the increase in rentals has created more work to be performed and this has also created more opportunities for management to jump in and do our work.
Your Committee just completed a heated and pointed conference call with senior management about both the issue of management doing bargaining unit work and the need to properly staff the workplace. We also addressed the embarrassing issue for Enterprise of having to turn away customers who have made reservations only to arrive and find out that cars are not available for rent. These customers are obviously going to competitors and it will likely not be easy to get them to return.
We once again reminded management that it is particularly upsetting for us to see our work being done by non-bargaining unit people when so many of our members are laid off.
The employer asked us for specific examples, and we were able to provide some examples. We also committed to providing more examples and calling out the behavior when it is happening. Senior management’s commitment was to address the behavior as it is happening or immediately after.
The language in the Collective Bargaining Agreement states:
6.01 Exclusivity Of Bargaining Unit Work
Duties normally performed by employees within the bargaining unit will not be assigned to or be performed by non-bargaining unit employees except to overcome immediate, short term cases of absenteeism, emergencies, training and peak rental periods when bargaining unit employees capable of performing the work are not available.
Going forward we are asking members to raise any examples of bargaining unit work being done by management immediately so that the issue can be addressed. As the language says there are exceptions where our work can be done but these are very limited exceptions. Your Committee feels that this strategy will best enable us to monitor and hopefully end this unacceptable practice.
Union membership always pays off in terms of better wages and benefits. It also pays off during extraordinary situations such as COVID-19. During these difficult times your Union has worked hard to ensure that both your collective bargaining rights and safety have been protected. Valuable information on the pandemic continues to be available here. We will continue to update this page as new information becomes available.
If you have questions about the above or anything else please contact you Union Representative Shawn Lakusta at slakusta@moveuptogether.ca.
In Solidarity,
Christy Slusarenko, Vice President, Combined Units
Shawn Lakusta, Union Representative