Election Call – December 2019

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Between December 10 and December 16, 2019 members will elect two (2) Table Officers; eleven (11) RVP’s; and one (1) Trustees in accordance with the COPE 491 Bylaws.

Officer Positions:
President
Treasurer
Elected by a vote of the full membership.

Regional Vice-President Positions:
Region 1 – British Columbia
Region 2 – Alberta
Region 3 – Saskatchewan
Region 4 – Manitoba
Region 5A – Ontario
Region 5B – Ontario Regional Office
Region 6A – National Office/OAO
Region 6B – National Office/OAO
Region 6C – National Office/OAO
Region 7 – Maritimes
Region 8 – Atlantic
Elected by a vote of the membership in their respective regions

Trustee Positions:
3-year Trustee
Elected by a vote of the full membership.

Nominations will open November 5, 2019 and must be submitted to the Returning Officer by 4:00 P.M. on November 18, 2019; the day nominations close.

To be eligible for a nomination and election, a member must be in continuous good standing for twelve (12) consecutive months prior to date of nomination.

No nomination shall be accepted unless the member nominating has signed the nomination form and the member nominated has indicated on the form, or by other means, their willingness to stand for office. Nominations must be sent in during the nomination period. Any nominations received before or after the nomination period will not be accepted. 

A complete list of candidates for office will be posted on the Local Union website on November 19, 2019.

After the closing of nominations all duly nominated candidates will be extended an opportunity to have a maximum of one (1) article included in the electronic voting system and posted on the Local Union website. The article may reference candidate websites but shall not contain any active links to external websites.

Steve Smith will serve as Returning Officer during the election. Voting will be conducted using electronic voting over seven days, December 10 to December 16, 2019.

Your participation as a candidate or as an informed voter in Union elections is crucial because those you elect will help administer the affairs of the Union.

Personal email addresses should be received by the Returning Officer, Steve Smith via your RVP no later than October 29, 2019, in order to ensure receipt of ballots.

In solidarity,
Trish Sinclair
President, COPE Local 491

CAMPAIGN RULES

Campaigning cannot occur during work time.

Use of the Employer’s voice mail or email to circulate election material is not permitted.

Candidates are asked to conduct themselves with dignity at all times.

Any behaviour or material that undermines the dignity or self-esteem of any individual or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment will not be tolerated.

Each duly nomination candidate may submit a maximum of one (1) article to be published on the Local Union Website and included in the electronic voting system.  Website posting of articles begin November 20, 2019.

Steve Smith
Returning Officer, COPE Local 491

DATES TO REMEMBER

October 22, 2019
Election Call

November 5, 2019
Nominations open

November 18, 2019
4:00 p.m. EST
Nominations Close

November 19, 2019
Complete list of candidates
Will be posted on the Union’s
Website

November 20, 2019
Website posting of articles begin

October 29, 2019
Personal email address deadline

December 10 – 16, 2019
VOTE

    See Official Election Call here: http://cope491.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Election-Call-December-2019-2.pdf

    Bargaining Committee Update

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    Greetings:

    The Bargaining Committee has been working with the Employer in order to get the new Collective Agreement out as quickly as possible.  Unfortunately, we have come to a disagreement with the Employer on changes that the Union believed were going to be made to the pension language in Article 19.04 when we signed off on the Pension MOA in September 2018.

    The Employer’s position is that we did not bargain this language in the MOA, therefore, it cannot be changed in the Collective Agreement  As such, the language that will be in the Collective Agreement regarding the bridge benefit will still reference the 15 years instead of the 10 years, which contradicts the plan text of the pension plan. 

    The Bargaining Committee has tried on several occasions to have this corrected but have been unsuccessful.  This is the reason we have not signed the Collective Agreement to date as we want to provide an accurate Collective Agreement to our members. 

    As such, we are providing the draft copy of the Collective Agreement for ease of reference until a mutual agreement can be made with the Employer.  We will continue to update members on the progress. 

    Please note that even though it has not been signed, all provisions of the Collective Agreement are in place and members are covered as per the signed Memorandum of Agreement. 

    In solidarity,

    COPE491 Bargaining Committee

    Canadian Equity Council Delegate – COPE National

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    We are happy to announce that Sister Rachel Roberts has put her name forward to COPE National and has been chosen as one of the delegates to sit on the Canadian Equity Council. She will be one of four (4) delegates representing Region 2 (which Local 491 is part of). 

    Congratulations to Sister Rachel, we look forward to hearing from you when the CEC has news or events that can be shared.

    In solidarity,

    Trish Sinclair
    President
    COPE Local 491

    Collective Agreement Update

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    We are sure that many of you are wondering about the status of our new Collective Agreement.  This process is taking longer than expected, but rest assured the bargaining committee is actively working with the Employer to finalize the document. 

    In the meantime, please continue to use the last Collective Agreement in conjunction with the signed Memorandum of Settlement.  Those two documents together contain all the clauses that are in effect. 

    Your new fully proofread and signed Collective Agreement will be prepared and distributed as soon as possible and we appreciate our members continued patience as we work through this process.  We are working to ensure this process continues to move forward. 

    In Solidarity, 
    COPE491 Bargaining Committee

    Button Campaign

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    COPE491 is starting a campaign regarding Hours of Work.  Soon you will be receiving buttons to wear at work to stand in support of members who feel pressured to work through lunch hours and work in excess of 6 hours with no overtime as per our collective agreement. 

    We work 6 hours a day.  We have 1 hour for lunch.  We should not have to take calls or direction during our lunch hour.  We should not be working more than 6 hours a day without being paid for overtime. 

    These issues may not affect you or your workplace, but we want everyone to wear the buttons to show our support and solidarity with our sisters and brothers across the country who are faced with these issues. 

    If you have any questions or concerns with this, please contact your RVP. 

    In Solidarity,
    COPE491 Executive

    Call for Interested Parties – RETURNING OFFICER

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    As you are all aware, our elections are done electronically using Big Pulse.  The program that we use requires some training and experience in order to use it efficiently.  In the past, we have had one Returning Officer and have usually used them fairly exclusively, but it would be beneficial to have more than one person to turn to.  We would like to have a couple different members that would be interested in acting as Returning Officer start some training on the program so that our local has more flexibility when coming across the need to appoint a Returning Officer for an election. 

    If you feel this is something you would be interested in, please advise your RVP by the end of day on May 17th, 2019. 

    In Solidarity,
    COPE491 Executive

    Update on Collective Agreement

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    We have had members asking what the status of the new Collective Agreement is.  Currently, the Bargaining Committee has the draft copy and is in the process of reviewing it to make sure there are no errors or omissions.   They are working on getting it finalized as soon as possible.

    COPE491 and Social Media

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    In the world of technology and ever changing media platforms, our local has started to create an online social media presence. 

    COPE Local 491 now has a Facebook group.  This is a place to come and chat with other members, find interesting labour community events and information or share positive experiences and make a connection with your COPE Local 491 Sisters and Brothers. 

    In order to join the group, you will have to request permission and answer 3 questions; are you a current COPE Local 491 member, which office and region you work in and if you will follow the equality statement in your posts and comments.  Once you have requested permission to join, an administrator or moderator of the group will approve you.  The group will remain a “closed” group which means: you can search the group on Facebook, but only members of the group will be able to see what is posted there.  Membership in the Facebook group is strictly OPTIONAL; the emails and webpage will remain the main vehicles for sharing COPE Local 491 official communications.  

    Visit us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cope491/

    Stay tuned for more social media platform information in the coming weeks! 

    National Vice President Election RESULTS

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    Good morning,

    The results are in for the National Vice-President election that just closed.  Congratulations to Sandra Lenuik! 

    Click the link below to see the official Big Pulse results page. 

    ************************************************************************

    Poll Result

    By-Election: National Vice-President

    Report date: Thursday 14 March 2019 00:53 EDT

    National Vice-President

    Number of voters: 142 · Group size: 253 · Percentage voted: 56.13

    Ranked by votes

    RankCandidate IDCandidateVotes%
    115974803Sandra Lenuik5639.44
    215974801Tammy Laurin4934.51
    315974802Lindsay Mills3726.06

    Click here for Big Pulse Results Page

    Retro Pay Information

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    As the pay statements were just received today; many members have been asking about the retro pay.  We inquired about it this morning and were advised by the Employer that the retroactive pay is being processed.  It is being worked on and and requires a number of manual calculations that are time consuming.  We do not have information on the exact time frame; however if we find out anything further we will let everyone know.