October 7, 2011
DirectWest Ratification Results
Number of ballots that ACCEPTED the contract: 41
Number of ballots that REJECTED the contract: 8
Spoiled ballots: 0
September 29, 2011
Please find below Tentative Agreement between CEP and DirectWest, the Ratification Rules and the Ratification Meeting Notice.
April 14, 2011
The bargaining committee met with the company on Wednesday, April 13th. We received language regarding Layoff allowances which is similar to SaskTel's and the committee will review it at our next bargaining caucus on April 27th.
We've made some progress at the table and will meet with DirectWest again on May 10th.
March 31, 2011
Strike Vote Postponed
Yesterday, your CEP National Representative and CEP Local 1-S President met with the company and made significant gains with regards to successor rights language. Further, we’ve agreed to address the issues of layoff language at our next meeting on April 12th.
Accordingly, the Strike Vote scheduled for April 4, 7 and 11 will be postponed.
We will be providing further updates after our next bargaining meetings, which are scheduled for April 12 and 13. Stay tuned for more information.
March 17, 2011
There will be a Question and Answer meeting on March 24 from 5:15 - 6:30 p.m. at the Gord Kuhn Meeting Hall at 3525 Pasqua Street.
This will be an information meeting about Bargaining and next steps for future action.
Please attend.
March 15, 2011
We met with the company on March 9 and provided them with language on almost all the remaining non-monetary proposals.
We have reached agreement on only a few minor proposals.
The company has stated that they are not interested in providing any language with respect to layoffs and that they believe the provisions of the Labor Standards Act are sufficient. They have not offered to provide us with Collective Agreement language on successor rights, however they did reference a "letter of intent" regarding the sale or divestiture of DirectWest. We have yet to see the contents of this letter, but we are not hopeful that it will offer the protection our membership deserves.
The company does not appear to be willing to work with us in any substantive way on any of our proposals - particularly those regarding compensation or hours of work.
Your Union Bargaining Committee is very concerned about the status of negotiations. We will be holding a round of membership meetings to discuss Collective Action for next steps. More detailed information will follow. Tentative dates are April 4th in Regina and April 7th in Saskatoon. Please mark your calendars.
We welcome your comments and concerns around collective bargaining. Please feel free to contact the CEP Local 1-S office at 586-7271. We regret that we are unable to respond to emails regarding bargaining due to the lack of privacy associated with email services.
The next general membership meeting will be held on March 28th, at 7:30pm, at the Gord Kuhn Meeting Hall, 3525 Pasqua St in Regina. All members are encouraged to attend, and a DirectWest Bargaining update is provided at each meeting.
We hoped to meet with the company on March 22, 24 and April 7, however they were not available.
Our next scheduled bargaining dates are April 12 and 13.
January 27, 2011
Your CEP Bargaining Committee held meetings in both Regina and Saskatoon this week to update employees at DirectWest on the current status of contract negotiations. The meetings were very well attended in both locations, and we would like to thank the membership for their contributions and input.
We will continue to work towards reaching a successful collective agreement, and are committed to trying to negotiate a satisfactory agreement at the bargaining table without having to resort to job action.
Please be sure to advise your union representatives if management attempts to speak to you about an issue which is currently at the bargaining table.
It is clear to the committee that our priority areas - compensation, no concessions, and job security - are front and center issues for the membership and we are committed to working towards these goals.
We meet with the company again on Feb 16, 17, and 18.
United we stand, Divided we Fall!
November 30, 2010
CEP and DirectWest exchanged proposals in April and have met with the company on a number of other occasions since then.
We have identified the following priority areas:
1) Job Security
2) Compensation
3) No Concessions
We have reviewed all the non-monetary proposals once, and will continue to work through proposals in future bargaining sessions.
We've heard from many of you that job security is a key issue, and we want to ensure there is some protection for you in the next Collective Agreement. Due to the changing face of the business and the recent steps of our government to begin selling crown assets, we must protect our members against the threat of privatization. In the event that DirectWest is sold, it is key we have Collective Agreement language which ensures your terms and conditions of employment are protected and that you are entitled to severance in the event of a sale or closure of DirectWest.
We are further concerned because we are aware that the government has plans to begin making changes to the Trade Union Act. In the absence of law to protect you, which is a very real threat, it is absolutely vital that DirectWest and CEP come to agreement on this language.
We have proposed 3 future dates to the company in Jan and February. Two of those dates were not acceptable to the company, and we are waiting to hear on the 3rd.
