CUPE Local 4705 has a new four-year deal with the City of Greater Sudbury after members voted July 16 to ratify a tentative agreement reached this month.
Inside workers voted 91 per cent in favour of the deal, while outside workers voted only 62 per cent in favour.
The deal is retroactive to April 1, 2019, and runs until April 2023. Highlights of the deal include wage increases in all four years of the contract, on par or slightly lower than the provincial average of 1.7 per cent per year.
It also includes enhancements to members' benefits package. President Mike Bellerose said the biggest win for members is a big increase in mental health benefits. The city agreed to increasing the benefit by a factor of five for counselling and treatment of mental health issues.
"We stood up and said let's help those who need these services," Bellerose said.
The union also achieved some job protection measures for paramedics. Ambulance services are provided by municipalities, but with Premier Doug Ford's overhaul of health care, there's some question whether paramedics services will be removed from municipal hands.
Bellerose said the union fought to have some protection for paramedics who may not be rehired, should that change occur. Under the deal, any local paramedic who wasn't rehired (again, in the event there's a big change to how ambulance services are administered) will be given a layoff, as well as bumping rights.
"They're protected," Bellerose said.
When it comes to outside workers, there was a contentious issue that made for tough negotiations, Bellerose said, and it's related to snow removal.
City crews used to work eight-hour shifts, five days a week, meaning when they were called out to open roads on the weekend, they were paid overtime rates.
Contractors were also on standby at around $250/hour when called out.
In an effort to lower costs, the city is changing the shift from five days a week to seven, which would lessen the amount of overtime used and limit the need to hire expensive contractors.
So while costs will go down for taxpayers, the move impacts the quality of life for snow removal crews by having them work weekends while not compensating them extra in exchange, as has been standard practice since amalgamation.
This was a tough sell, Bellerose said.
"It will be a huge adjustment for our members — they value their time with their families, so it was very contentious," he said.
Bellerose added that the city and the union will work together to explore ways to make the impact less dramatic on workers.
As well, there are shift changes coming for transit drivers, with the announcement of new routes, new schedules and a new name for Greater Sudbury Transit (or GOVA, as it's now called).
Bellerose thanked the CUPE negotiating team for their hard work. He also wanted to highlight the help of Erinn White, a conciliator with the Ministry of Labour. He said her help was invaluable in helping the two sides reach a deal.
Local 4705 represents about 1,500 municipal workers. Of that, more than 800 are full- and part-time workers — classified as “inside workers” — in office work, clerical, technical, leisure programming, transit, libraries, museums, paramedical and social services.
More than 500 members of the local are classified as “outside workers,” responsible for mechanical work, maintenance on roads parks and recreation and buildings, as well as water and wastewater, airport maintenance and firefighting.
