The unrelenting squeeze on employees was the focus during the second round of talks for a new collective agreement. Measures which are increasing your workload and capping your compensation ?video, the out-of-town assignment agreement and averaging — were the major topics of our discussion.

Workload is a complex issue. Sometimes it’s too much work; sometimes work isn’t divided equally and sometimes employees fear any complaint will be treated as a sign of weakness, unwillingness, or a lack of ability. But the introduction of video has focused the attention of many employees on their already high workloads. We cannot continue to approach work in the same way we have for almost 100 years, just piling on more and more demands.

Those of you who are averaged or work under the out-of-town assignment clauses of the agreement know they are not always applied properly and do not work effectively for you. You should not be forced to work in ways that deprive you of overtime or control of your personal life that other colleagues enjoy.

We talked about the way Montreal is being managed in a more integrated way between the French and English sides of the operation and what that means to employees. We agreed to take a closer look at the large number of part-timers in Montreal to see whether there are full time jobs that can be created.

The Guild also wants to ensure that CP-BN isn’t creating a freelance workforce. We’ve received from management some of the information we requested on the use of freelancers.

Those of you who earn shift premiums will have already seen them on your current pay cheque. We will soon send you the final language that sets out how the new night, overnight and weekend premiums will be paid.?Please read it carefully as it is important everyone understands exactly how the new system works.

We are talking about the need to clarify when and how vacations might be carried over from one year to the next. Currently, there is an ad hoc approach that varies from city to city, department to department. The goal however, remains that we use all of our vacation every year.

We’ve also discussed which jobs should be in the Guild and which should be considered management under the restructuring that is taking place throughout the operation.
Our next meeting is scheduled for the week of Feb. 12, when CFO David Ross will present detailed financial information.

Your bargaining team:
Scott Edmonds
Sylvain Larocque
Colin Perkel
Terry Pedwell
Ken Trimble
Kathy Viner