Carleton University and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2424 members are back to work after a settlement agreement was reached on April 3.
A tentative agreement was reached after a full day of talks with an external mediator on April 2, and picket lines were immediately suspended as a result. The union held a ratification vote for its members at 8 p.m. on April 3, where the settlement was ratified successfully.
The union, which represents more than 850 technical, administrative, and clerical workers at Carleton, had been on strike since March 5 after failing to reach an agreement with the university about pension language in the new collective agreement. Two negotiation sessions took place during the strike, but both failed to come to an agreement.
CUPE 2424 president Jerrett Clark said both parties made sacrifices in the agreement, but the union is happy to achieve their goal of maintaining protections around their pensions.
“We were able as a negotiating team to unanimously recommend the tentative agreement to our membership, and they were overwhelmingly in support of it as well,” Clark said.
According to the Ottawa Citizen, the new agreement prevents the Board of Governors or its pension committee from independently eliminating the defined benefit aspect of the pension plan. The board also can’t amend the terms of the plan without first consulting with the union or receiving a recommendation from the committee. The article states that the union will also have a grievance procedure to challenge future changes to the pension plan.
A statement provided to the Charlatan by Carleton public affairs manager Beth Gorham said that CUPE 2424 employees returned to work on April 4. All campus services have since returned to normal operations.
The statement detailed the terms of the settlement, which includes salary increases over three years, enhancements to benefits, and improvements in contract language for CUPE 2424 members.
“New language in the contract guarantees the university’s commitment to a Defined Benefit plan and CUPE’s continued position on the Pension Plan Committee,” the statement said.
CUPE 2424 announced the settlement on its Facebook page.
“This is about equality and about making things right. Our fight was a good fight,” the post read. “We achieved more than just “language” in a Collective Agreement. We achieved dignity and respect.”
Renée Lortie, the acting administrative assistant to the chair of the economics department and member of CUPE 2424, said she is relieved to be back on the job.
“[The vote] was bittersweet. We spent five weeks building friendships and bonds, so it’s a bit of a shell-shock being back at a desk,” she said.
Lortie said her department was very welcoming and glad to have its administrative team back.
“Not every office is as welcoming as mine,” she added.
Clark said he thinks union members are happy to be back at work.
“There’s a certain amount of tension with our employer, but people are happy to be going back to their regular jobs, receiving their regular pay, doing the work that they love to do and have done for so long, and that’s serving students,” he said.
As a CUPE 2424 zone officer, Lortie has been checking up on other members of the union to facilitate the transition.
“Not all members are having an easy time returning to work,” she said. “We’ve reminded members that we have the Employee and Family Assistance Program for support after struggling financially.”
Mary Unan, communications representative for CUPE Ontario, provided a statement to the Charlatan on behalf of Jacynthe Barbeau, the CUPE national representative.
Barbeau said that the union’s members were satisfied with the new three-year deal, which runs until the end of June 2020.
“The strike by CUPE 2424 members has put pension rights on the agenda for other unions at Carleton,” the statement read. “We’re now all more aware of how important it is to be vigilant about protecting pensions, for the benefit of retirees, current workers, and those who will follow.”
According to Clark, students learned about why the union was on strike throughout March.
“Over that four weeks, I think there was an elevated understanding among students about what the issue was, why it was important, and why we were out there,” he said. “For the student population to sort of suffer through that along with us, we understand that was difficult, and now we’re back to make sure students are served the way they should be.”
—with files from Rachel Emmanuel
Photo by Meagan Casalino
