It was five votes that made the difference as members of 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).
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, Executive Director of CMHA WWD.
“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.
Regional rallies as CMHA workers rally for first contract since merger
On Nov. 15 Canadian Mental Health Association workers in Waterloo-Wellington-Dufferin staged a number of information rallies across the region in support of their bid to negotiate a first contract.
Rallies were held in Mount Forest, Orangeville, Guelph and Kitchener.
The group states, “OPSEU members have been in negotiations with the CMHA-WWD for almost one year trying to reach a contract and that the employer is now forcing a ‘final offer’ vote on employees which the bargaining team is recommending they turn down.”
OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees UnionLocal 291 bargaining team chair Ruth Linnen said the main issues are wage harmonization, job security and proper job classification.
“When CMHA-WWD merged with the Grand River branch staff who were doing the same work were, in some case, being paid significantly less,” Linnen said.
She explained that in 2013 CMHA-WWD came about as a merger creating a 295-employee agency serving Waterloo, Wellington and Dufferin.
“Like with most mergers when we came together we brought together two different sets of terms and conditions,” said Linnen. “For the past year, we have been trying to negotiate harmonization of those terms and conditions.” She added “to date, we’ve not been successful in doing that.”
As a result, Linnen said employees “have been left with a proposal from management which would leave some of its senior workers earning less than junior workers and even some new hires.”
She said in some cases the result would be staff working side by side with the same experience, doing the same job – with one earning less than the person next to him/her.
Linnen said another concern is that “management has not agreed to not contract out our jobs.” As mental health and development workers, Linnen said it is important for the clients to have a continuity of care.
“We serve a very large area and we treat every person coming in with dignity and respect.”
Linnen said negotiations began a year ago with an offer put on the table by management in September that, “In a majority vote that proposal was turned down.”
That offer is not that much different than what is now being offered on Nov. 19 – “through a forced Ministry of Labour vote,” Linnen added (the results of that vote were not known by press time).
Linnen agreed it is within management’s legal right to ask for such a vote, but she said employees feel the vote is being forced upon them.
Luis Quinteros, a worker at the rally, added there were two different strike votes and an offer to settle were also turned down. “The membership has already voted against this almost-exact-same proposal. Members are asking why they are being asked to vote on this a fourth time.”
Linnen said in the workplace there are two sets of employment rules and conditions.
“You can imagine the angst that causes for our members. To come in to work with someone you like and feel resentment because they are making more money for doing the same job and have the same experience … that is not acceptable in any workplace.”
Mount Forest area worker Karen Garbutt said the issue is not about wages. “I’m here today because as a worker with CMHA part of my job is to advocate for people for fairness against injustice for people with mental health issues.”
Garbutt added, “If I am not willing to do that for my colleagues, what sort of person does that make me? So I’m here today to advocate for my colleagues.
“There are workers in Kitchener-Waterloo being paid less than those in Wellington … and are working just as hard.”
Wagner stated the association provides crucial mental health, developmental, addictions and crisis supports across the region.
However, Wagner stated “This is not a typical collective bargaining experience.” He explained CMHA WWD is the product of merging two organizations: Trellis and CMHA Grand River, “both of which had fair but unique compensation packages.”
Wagner said, “salary harmonization takes time. This isn’t just true for our merger – it is also the case for most public and private sector amalgamations. OPSEU’s stated desire for immediate harmonization is not possible given our financial situation.”
