This is a reminder that next Wednesday (2017 March 8) is the date of the ratification meeting at the Lion’s Hall in Chalk River. The doors will open at 5pmand the meeting will commence at 5:30 pm. We will be providing a light snack and drinks.
There have been requests to see the agreement ahead of the meeting. However, due to the nature of the bargaining process this is not possible. The current tentative agreement, like the last one, represents a series of changes to the current collective agreement. Each change has been signed off by the company and union. Then the total sum of the changes to the collective agreement was analysed and signed off by the company and union. These proposed changes are not legally binding until you, the members, ratify the changes.
We are putting together a summary of these changes that we will send out at least 24 hrs prior to the meeting for you to review. Remember that the vote is whether to accept the whole package of changes, or not. When considering the changes to the collective agreement, you will have to decide whether the changes as a whole will benefit you, OR, if there are items you do not agree with, are they enough to reject the whole agreement and go back to the bargaining table.
If you have questions about the summary when it arrives, we ask that you please hold those questions until the meeting. This will allow everyone the benefit from hearing all the questions, and their answers.
To give us an idea how many will be attending the vote we are asking that you use the voting buttons in the email to indicate “Yes” (you will attend) or “No” (you will not attend).