Winnipeg, MB - The City of Winnipeg believes it presented CUPE Local 500 members with a fair and reasonable offer that takes into consideration the City’s current financial situation, and would like to clarify a few points of misinformation:
Wages:
CUPE has been offered a four-year contract which would see no wage increase in 2017, but would offer increases of 1%, 1%, and 1.25% in the remaining years. The proposal does not contain requests to reduce starting salaries of any CUPE Local 500 positions, and actually proposes the opposite by increasing several job classifications prior to receiving the general wage increase.
Recruitment & Seniority:
Seniority is not being reduced, but rather a greater emphasis is being proposed on seniority being across the City and not just within departments. This would provide an advantage to CUPE members who choose to apply for positions outside of their current department. The City’s proposal ensures the most senior qualified person within each classification of work is awarded the vacant position. The City has also asked for revisions to seniority and recruitment language that will create efficiencies and avoid grievances without any negative impact to CUPE members.
Concessions:
Contrary to CUPE suggesting the City had 200 pages of concessions, the City’s original proposal document was only 57 pages which included both new and old language. In the most recent City offer, that was only 16 pages, the City is asking for one concession that will end the City’s requirement to pay for vision and dental benefits while a seasonal CUPE member is on lay-off.
Maternity Leave:
There is no reduction in any Maternity Leave benefits in the City’s proposal. The City of Winnipeg will continue to top-up CUPE employees pay to 93% during the 17 weeks of Maternity Leave, as has been done in the past.