Five votes made the difference as members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 291 voted on Nov. 19 to accept a final offer placed before them by the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington Dufferin (CMHA WWD) branch.
That final offer was accepted by a narrow margin, with 118 in favour and 113 against. There was a 79% turnout of bargaining unit members.
“We are proud of our staff’s contributions to our community and to the thousands of people they support through our services,” said Fred Wagner, local executive director of CMHA.
“We are also relieved that any potential disruptions to the important services we provide to our local residents have been avoided.
“It’s clear given the close vote that there were differing opinions about the final offer,” Wagner continued.
“Nevertheless, it has been ratified and we will now begin the hard work of implementing the new agreement. Most importantly, the leadership at CMHA WWD will dedicate itself to building bridges with all staff, regardless of how they voted.”
The collective agreement will expire on March 31, 2017.
A salary harmonization plan will take place over an extended period of time.
This is the first collective agreement for CMHA WWD, which was created through the merger of Trellis Mental Health and Developmental Services and the CMHA Grand River Branch in 2013.
