I’m asking for your support for Bargaining Committee Member.

I have been the National Vice President of COPE 491 for the last 4 years.  I currently sit on the Grievance Committee, the Joint CUPE/COPE Reclassification Committee, the Joint CUPE/CSU/COPE LTD Committee and I was also a Bargaining Committee member. I have no problem taking on the Employer, providing arguments, doing research and making things right for our members.

The last round of bargaining was long and drawn out but we made some great improvements to our language regarding the Grievance Procedure, LTD Benefits and Temporary Employees.  I believe it’s important that the National Vice President be a member of the COPE 491 Bargaining Committee as they are the person responsible for preparing and presenting grievances to the Employer, working with the collective agreement on a daily basis and has a thorough knowledge of it.  As NVP I have an understanding of where our collective agreement language is lacking and what changes we need to make.  I also have heard what the Employer’s interpretation is and it’s usually quite a bit different than the Union’s.

On a personal note, I have been working in the Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Area Office over the last 11 years (7 years permanent and 4 years prior as a temp clerical).

Prior to working for CUPE, I was actively involved as a CUPE member.  I held the position of president of Local 4195 Saskatchewan Rivers School Division for 7 years, as well as sitting on the provincial Education Workers Steering Committee and on the CUPE SK Education Committee.

 As president of CUPE Local 4195, I was an integral part on the bargaining committee that merged six locals and four agreements into one.  It was a long process that included job action but we succeeded.  This was the first merged local in the province and became a footprint for the rest of the province to follow. We represented approximately 450 members and merged once again in 2006 with four more locals bringing the membership up to about 650.  We faced many challenges and came out on top when getting the employer to follow the new agreement.  I truly enjoyed my time as an activist and loved the challenges it provided.

In closing, I’m looking forward to putting my knowledge that I’ve acquired as a CUPE member and as a COPE member to work for the COPE Bargaining Committee.  If you have anything specific to discuss please feel free to contact me via email at klcarle@hotmail.com

Thank you in advance for your support!

In solidarity,

Karen