CUPE Members at Huron Perth Public Health are now in Conciliation

by Bob Montgomery

The CUPE bargaining committee at Huron Perth Public Health will have a second conciliation meeting with the employer on February 15th.

The Local currently represents more than seventy HPPH employees including administrative assistants, custodians, dental assistants, dental hygienists, health promoters, IT support technicians, parent resource visitors, public health inspectors, and tobacco enforcement officers. CUPE Local 1331 President Pam Hanington says the Huron and Perth Health units merged in 2020 and they had a deal that lasted until the end of that year. “We have been in bargaining since April of 2021 and we can't get a deal”. She says they're just asking for what they already had in their previous collective agreement. Hanington says the fact that the previous collective agreements for each health unit were different, and there were two different CUPE locals that also merged, added to the time it's taken. At this point they're at a stalemate and they can't seem to get a deal done.

Hannington says they've already had one conciliation meeting in January and they were very disappointed by the lack of progress at that meeting. She's hoping there will be more movement at the second conciliation meeting on February 15th. “We've been without a contract for three years and we've had record-breaking inflation this decade and we've had cost-of-living increases and we haven't had an increase to our wages in all of that time. We haven't been offered what the other unions in the organization have been offered so far.”

Hanington adds, they are very dedicated to their jobs and they do not want to go on strike so they're hoping the employer will come to the table on February 15th with a deal they can live with.

In an email, Huron Perth Public Health Communications Manager Rita Marshall said Huron Perth Public Health is disappointed in the length of time it is taking to reach a final agreement, now well into the third year of negotiations. After amalgamation in 2020, HPPH successfully worked together with two other unions to reach a collective agreement for each union within a year of first bargaining date. Marshall said they are committed to also successfully reaching an agreement with CUPE, which is why the employer filed for conciliation in hopes to expedite a fair deal.

Benefits, wages, the duration of the Collective Agreement, and retroactivity are all part of the compensation package in ongoing bargaining, therefore they will not give specific details on those items. They are committed to a fair deal for all HPPH employees and are hopeful that their second conciliation day with CUPE on Feb. 15 will lead to an agreement.