Month: July 2016

On behalf of the Canadian Nuclear Workers Council here is their June newsletter.

cnwcjune2016

As it seems likely there will indeed be a disruption to mail service as early as this Friday. We are asking that you no longer submit applications for the CRPEG Scholarship by mail. Submission should now be emailed to  scholarship@crpeg.ca. If you have already submitted an application by mail this week and are concerned about your child’s application please contact William (Bill) Visneski after Thursday.

With Canada Day behind us We thought we should remind you that according to Article 28.02 you are entitled to a performance appraisal prior to July 1^st. Also, By Article 33.03 (f), you are entitled to a merit increase that is not less than the minimum for Fully Meets Requirements if your performance review has not been communicated to you, verbally or in writing, prior to the salary review. This effectively means by July 1. CRPEG members are encouraged to review the terms of Article 33, and contact the chief steward of CRPEG if they feel that some portion of salary increase has been withheld from them.

 

For those of us who have received our ratings and do not agree with the rating, we would also like to remind you that you can only dispute the rating via grievance within 20 working days.  (The 20-day period starts at the time you ought to have known of grounds for dispute.)  If you wish to dispute your rating, please contact the CRPEG Chief Steward, so that he can help you begin the process.

Well It’s been a busy year so far. So much so that we forgot to remind everyone that the deadline for the CRPEG scholarship is fast approaching.  To ensure that everyone has a chance to apply, we’re extending the deadline from 2016 June 30 to postmarked  2016 July 15. The application can be found here. All applications must sent to PO Box 1224, Deep River, ON, K0J 1P0. We are aware that there may be disruptions to the mail service due to contract negotiations at Canada Post. If this is the case, we will provide an alternative means for submitting applications.

CRPEG members have raised an issue of concern to the CRPEG Executive regarding the language around termination compensation.  At issue is the wording on termination compensation that disadvantages those members who, at the time of layoff, would be eligible to retire with an unreduced pension.

CRPEG and CNL have met outside of collective bargaining to address this issue.  As a result, the following changes to the collective agreement have been made:

 

Location	Existing Agreement Language	Amended Language
Article 34.04, para. C iv)	“Salary Continuance Period” will end on the earlier of: a.       the date the employee is eligible to retire with an unreduced pension b.      the date the termination compensation entitlement has been paid out in full At the end of the Salary Continuance Period Employees will be paid for any balance of the termination compensation remaining under iv (a) as a lump sum and will not be eligible for a fifteen percent (15%) premium in lieu of continuing their health, dental, insurance and pension benefits.	“Salary Continuance Period” will end on the date the termination compensation entitlement has been paid out in full.
Article 34.04, para. C vi)	Employees who are eligible to retire with an unreduced pension (due to a combination of years of service and age) and who are laid off must take their payment in the form of a lump sum and are not eligible for a fifteen percent (15%) premium in lieu of continuing their health, dental, insurance and pension benefits.	Existing text eliminated in its entirety and para. C vii) renumbered as para. C vi).

What does this mean?

 The clauses that required Those members who are (or will be at the time, should they take VSP) eligible for retirement to take termination compensation as a lump sum, and forfeit the 15% in lieu of benefits, has been removed.

It was brought to our attention these clauses could be a major factor in the decision process of those members entering into the Voluntary Separation Program or worse members may enter into the program and not realize the implications of these clauses. We would like to thank CNL and  Leslie Kleiman  in particular for their quick response and willingness to resolve this matter.

The company and union negotiation teams met June 6th to 8th for our first round of Interest Based Negotiations (IBN). Under the guidance of an experienced facilitator, the ground rules and the opening statement were accepted. According to the IBN process, the ground rules are a set of self-determined and self-imposed rules which govern the negotiations. Both  negotiating teams generated a list of issues to resolve, categorized them, selected a number to begin with, and substantive discussions took place on several important issues. Tentative grounds for agreement in some areas of interest have been established, but the IBN process does not embody traditional sign-off as agreement is reached. (This is one area where our traditional method of negotiations differs with IBN, agreements are parked until the process is complete, and are thereby subject to revisit as subsequent issues are discussed.)

Overall the negotiations team felt positive with these first steps in IBN. The sides will meet again the week of July 25th to resume discussions, beginning with reports from several small committees assigned tasks in the interim.

Attached is the Opening Statement, developed jointly between the company and union negotiating teams. It is a tool for the teams during negotiations, and provides a reference point that we can look back at to ensure we’re staying focused on what we set out to do.

We will continue to update the membership as contract negotiations continue.

Our next Negotiations bulletin will include a more complete description of the IBN process. If you have any questions about negotiations or feedback you wish to give to the team directly you can contact them at Negotiate@crpeg.ca.

Opening Statement Final 2016 06 08

Forwarded on behalf of Professional Engineers of Ontario – Algonquin Chapter

******Tickets will be on sale today from 11:30am to 1:00pm in the cafeteria lobby.*******

Please come join us for a night of laughter, as the PEO Algonquin Chapter hosts its fifth annual Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Night. This year’s performance is hosted by Greg Schroder and headlined by Don Kelly, who has made multiple appearances on national radio and television shows including The Debaters and Comedy Now. There will be a dance held after the comedy show, for those who wish to stay and socialize. This is a fundraiser with net revenue going to the Deep River Science Academy. See Poster.

When:  Saturday, June 11^th, 2016

Time:  Doors open at 7 PM.  Comedy starts at 8 PM.  Dance starts at 10 PM.

Where:  Deep River Legion

Cost:  http://mycnl/News/Events_Conferences/Corporate_Events/PEO_Comedy_Night.htm

Tickets can be purchased at The Olive Tree, The Deep River Legion or online at www.peoalgonquin.ca

Tickets will also be on sale in the CRL cafeteria lobby on Tuesday June 7^th and Thursday June 9^th.

For more information about this event please email Orijit Pandit at peoalgon@cnl.ca

Everyone is welcome to attend!

Forwarded on behalf of Professional Engineers of Ontario – Algonquin Chapter

Please come join us for a night of laughter, as the PEO Algonquin Chapter hosts its fifth annual Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Night. This year’s performance is hosted by Greg Schroder and headlined by Don Kelly, who has made multiple appearances on national radio and television shows including The Debaters and Comedy Now. There will be a dance held after the comedy show, for those who wish to stay and socialize. This is a fundraiser with net revenue going to the Deep River Science Academy. See Poster.

When:  Saturday, June 11^th, 2016

Time:  Doors open at 7 PM.  Comedy starts at 8 PM.  Dance starts at 10 PM.

Where:  Deep River Legion

Cost:  http://mycnl/News/Events_Conferences/Corporate_Events/PEO_Comedy_Night.htm

Tickets can be purchased at The Olive Tree, The Deep River Legion or online at www.peoalgonquin.ca

Tickets will also be on sale in the CRL cafeteria lobby on Tuesday June 7^th and Thursday June 9^th.

For more information about this event please email Orijit Pandit at peoalgon@cnl.ca

Everyone is welcome to attend!

If you weren’t able to attend the Career and Professional Development  (CP&D) presentations that were given this week (per the bulletin of 2016 May 13)  or if you would just like to refresh you memory. We’re providing the following Link to the C&PD presentation:   (internal company link please contact the Executive)

If you have questions please contact us.

You may recall that we communicated to you that CRPEG and the employer had agreed to attend a work shop on Interest-Based Negotiations (IBN) offered by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (MCS), a department in the Government of Canada.

Our negotiations team met with the employer for our first formal round of negotiation talks May 18-20th.  The first two days were made up of a Facilitator-lead workshop on Interest Based Negotiations (IBN), concluding with both parties agreeing to enter into this style of bargaining, with assistance of a MCS provided facilitator.  The third day was used to build on the training establishing a set of joint goals and the ground rules that will govern the negotiation.  The goals, as part of a formal statement of intent, will be communicated to members once they are finalized at the next session.  As this is a change from typical negotiations, the goals may be shared with the rest of the company, to show an alternative approach.  The groups also took the opportunity to deal with logistics: setting times that fifteen people could meet throughout the summer months for three days at a time. Both groups were able to  commit to a three day session once a month starting in June to October.

How is Interest-Based Negotiations different than what we have done in the past? The traditional method of negotiating at CNL is referred to as Position-Based Bargaining.  In this method, employer and employee representatives each develop a set of proposals that represent a new collective agreement (a position).  Then the two go back and forth revising the positions until they reach some middle point.  It is, by its nature confrontational.  This alternative method of bargaining, Interest-Based Bargaining focuses on an issue or group of issues put forward, and the employee and employer groups work together to try to develop a solution to the issue that meets the needs of both parties.  It is more cooperative in nature, and can generate more creative solutions for complex issues.  Neither is right or wrong, they both have appropriate uses.  (For more information on IBN http://www.gov.nl.ca/lra/union/ibn.html)

The Employer and CRPEG have jointly agreed to use the IBN process and hope the exercise will lead to a more efficient round of negotiations and also to improvements in ongoing labour relations between the two parties.