Your chief negotiator, Jaime Zygmunt, and your Vice President, Jeff Gillies, have scheduled a second Telephone Town Hall meeting to hear from you as the union prepares to conduct a Strike Vote with the membership. We held our first Telephone Town Hall meeting on September 14, 2011 which was a resounding success with about 1,300 members participating.

As you know, all talks with ICBC have stalled because the Corporation is not prepared to talk about the issues you’ve identified as your priorities: wages, benefits, workload and job security. To move things forward at the table, your bargaining committee needs your help to send a strong message to ICBC and the provincial government. We have exhausted all other options and we are convinced a strong vote is necessary to get their attention.

We understand that a strike vote is a serious matter and we know you have questions and concerns. We want to hear what you have to say and give you answers.

Please keep the evening of Wednesday, February 15th open to be a part of our interactive Telephone Town Hall meeting. The way the Telephone Town Hall works is we will call you on the night of February 15. You can then join the Town Hall by listening in on the line. You will also have the opportunity to ask Jeff and Jaime questions, and listen to the questions and comments of your co-workers.

If we don’t have your home or cell phone number and you would like to participate in this event please update your contact information with the union by clicking here.

We are strongly encouraging everyone to participate in this event. You can be at home or anywhere else where you have access to your personal phone. The meeting will start at approximately 7:00 pm Pacific Time (8:00 pm Mountain Time). Another bulletin will follow closer to February 15 as a reminder and with the final details.

In solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee,
Yasmin Carroll, Executive Board Member
Karin Cirez, Executive Board Member
Mike Ferguson, Executive Board Member
Joyce Galuska, Executive Board Member
Trevor Hansen, Executive Board Member
Jeff Gillies, COPE 378 Vice President
Jaime Zygmunt, Senior Union Representative

The bargaining committee will be meeting on February 13th to go over our progress to date in bargaining. Your committee and the employer have dates set for bargaining for February 14th and 15th at the CUPE BC office.

We will communicate with you further as bargaining progresses.

Yours in Solidarity:

Nadine Ford
Lori Watt
Barbara Junker, Union Representative
 

Further to our last bulletin of 2011, ICBC is again delaying the bargaining process. ICBC has not agreed to bargaining dates for January, February, or most of March. As if putting off discussions will suddenly make your issues disappear, they have tentatively agreed to March 29 and 30 as the next time they are willing to sit down with us at the bargaining table.

Your bargaining committee is extremely upset that ICBC will not come to the table before the end of March to address the issues important to you: workload, job security, wages and benefits. While, at the same time they continue to push forward with their 2014 Transformation Plan.

As a result of ICBC ‘s failure to come to the table and negotiate we are scheduling strike vote meetings for the Province. Strike vote meetings cannot be done at ICBC worksites so after hours meetings will be scheduled. We will provide further details once the arrangements are finalized.

Your Bargaining Committee,
Yasmin Carroll, Executive Board Member
Karin Cirez, Executive Board Member
Mike Ferguson, Executive Board Member
Joyce Galuska, Executive Board Member
Trevor Hansen, Executive Board Member
Jeff Gillies, COPE 378 Vice President
Jaime Zygmunt, Senior Union Representative
 

Your bargaining committee met with ICBC on November 30th, December 1st, 6th and 7th to work on a new Collective Agreement.

Among the proposals discussed were:
• Maternity leave top up;
• Payout of banked TO days;
• Vacation sign up, including the waitlist proposal;
• Central Estimating Facility (CEF) hours of work;
• Job evaluation, workload and;
• Working remotely

Though we had fulsome and detailed discussion on these proposals, we were not able to reach agreement on any of them.

Additionally – and after much heated argument – ICBC finally tabled further details for their Claims Hierarchy (M12) and tabled their Workforce Transition (M11/M12) proposal. ICBC proposal M11/M12: Workforce Transition only applies to the Claim Hierarchy changes. Any other changes or reorganizations during the term of a renewed agreement would be covered by Articles 8 (Layoff and Recall) and 9 (Technological and Procedural Change) of the Collective Agreement.

Our position is that the proposal is incomplete and unacceptable, and our U85 and U86 proposals remain on the table. The last day of bargaining concluded with your committee tabling wages and a term length for the agreement. The union proposal is a four year term with wage increases of 4%, 4%, 5% and 5% for 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. ICBC’s last position was 0% for 2010 and 2011.

Throughout all of this, ICBC has continued to deny there is a workload problem and is intent on forcing their proposed Claims Hierarchy through.

The parties have concluded negotiations for 2011. Your bargaining committee will reconvene in the New Year and has asked ICBC for three bargaining dates in January.

It is now clear a strike mandate will likely be needed to force ICBC to negotiate on the issues you told us were important to you: wages, job security, benefit increases and workload.

We will come back to you in January if ICBC refuses to meet with us, or if they come to the table empty handed. However, no final decisions will be made without your consultation and any decision will be informed by what happens in January.

As we break for the year we want to thank everyone for your continued support with the many emails and feedback. We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

Your bargaining committee,

Yasmin Carroll, Executive Board Member
Karin Cirez, Executive Board Member
Mike Ferguson, Executive Board Member
Joyce Galuska, Executive Board Member
Trevor Hansen, Executive Board Member
Jeff Gillies, COPE 378 Vice President
Jaime Zygmunt, Senior Union Representative
 

As the end of year approaches, the options for your unused 2011 vacation are as follows:

As per Article 15.10 of the Consent Award.

15.10 Vacation Carry Over

(a) Except as noted in (b) below, an employee may carry over up to 50% of her/his current vacation year (base) entitlement from one vacation year to the next. Such carry over may not be accumulated or accrued from year to year. For example, an employee’s total vacation entitlement in a given year cannot exceed the sum of her/his current vacation year (base) entitlement plus 50% of her/his previous year’s base entitlement. At the end of the vacation year, any unused vacation credits which exceed 50% of an employee’s current vacation year base entitlement will be paid out to the employee.

(b) An employee may contribute the cash equivalent of any unused vacation entitlement to her/his deferred salary plan in March of each year. The amount contributed may not result in deferred income plan contributions in excess of the maximum annual amount allowable under the plan.

However, we realize that many of you may prefer the payout now and we have indicated to ICBC that we do not object to this as long as it is your option.

Therefore, if you don't intend to take either the vacation or the payout by March 31, 2012 and you want the payout now, you must contact and advise payroll of this by December 24, 2011.

Should you require any further assistance with this, please contact your Union Representative.

Yours truly,

Jaime Zygmunt, Senior Union Representative

Jeff Gillies, COPE 378 Vice President

COPE 378 is holding a general membership meeting, also including a discussion on the upcoming bargaining for all members at Bonny's Taxi as follows:

DATE:     Sunday, November 27, 2011

TIME:      2:00 - 4:00 pm

PLACE:   COPE 378 Union Office

                2nd floor, 4595 Canada Way, Burnaby - 2nd Floor boardroom

Please make every effort to attend.

In solidarity,

Jackie Brown, Union Representative

Last week we released the final video in our Driving a New Mandate campaign. The response to the video, “Collective Bargaining Works”, has been really encouraging. Here’s just a sample of the responses we’ve had from members:

• “Please keep up the good work. I am drowning. We have at least 20 more procedures on a represented/litigated file and the work is mounting. I am behind. It doesn’t make for a good work environment or a productive one I am sure. Seriously I feel like I am paralyzed at my desk sometimes not knowing where to start or what the new procedure is now.”

• “Thanks for all your hard work, Jeff & Co.! I will definitely stand behind you guys 100%. If I hear “there is no workload problem” one more time from mgmt, I’m going to come unglued!!!”

• “Let’s all have a vote on strike and get with it.”

• “Great video! Funny how easy it can be to get the point across without resorting to nastiness. Well done!”

• “ANOTHER RIGHT TO THE POINT AD

If you haven’t seen the video yet, make sure you check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oagvkKDiMYk and please take a moment to share the video on your social networks and by emailing the link to friends and colleagues.

Thank you,

Jeff Gillies
COPE 378 Vice-President, ICBC
 

Our office once again has received enquiries on the above noted workshop. We remind you that attending the workshop, if directed by management, is mandatory but completing the Personal Personality process is optional.

If you have any questions, or are pressured to complete your own Personal Profile, please contact your local Job Steward for assistance.

Jaime Zygmunt
Senior Union Representative

ICBC is still unwilling to acknowledge you face any workload issues. They have been similarly unresponsive on the subject of wages, despite the fact that over the past two years while your wages have stagnated, ICBC has increased compensation to auto body shops, lawyers, and other business partners.

Today COPE 378 launched the third video in our “Driving a New Mandate Campaign”. This video entitled, “Collective Bargaining Works”, shows how the bargaining committee can make the best deal for members if all members stand strongly behind it.

Watch the third video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oagvkKDiMYk

For months we’ve heard from ICBC members through worksite visits, focus groups, bargaining surveys, and our telephone town hall. Your priorities for the bargaining committee are clear. But ICBC doesn’t seem to want to listen. Now your bargaining committee needs your support to negotiate the best agreement possible for you. Please take a moment to watch the video and share with your co-workers. If you are receiving this email at work, consider forwarding it to your home email so you can watch it later.

Collective bargaining works. If we continue to stand together and show ICBC that we’re willing to take steps up to and including taking a strike vote, we can come back from the bargaining table with a fairer deal.

To see the rest of the campaign videos, visit: http://cope378.ca/icbc-driving-new-mandate

Thank you,
Jeff Gillies
COPE 378 Vice-President, ICBC

Over the past two years, none of the COPE 378 members at ICBC have seen a wage increase or an increase in benefits.  This is despite the fact that ICBC is making record profits, enough to be shelling out almost one billion dollars to the BC government.

In addition, we’ve pointed out that ICBC has increased compensation to executives, lawyers, auto body shops, and other business partners.  In short, everyone except ICBC workers and BC drivers.

This graph, which you can find at the website for our Driving a New Mandate campaign, shows that while your wages and benefits have been frozen for the past two years, ICBC executives have enjoyed a wage increase of over 4%.  The highest paid senior lawyers are now making 11% more than they did two years ago.

However, at bargaining in October, ICBC repeated the government mandate of zero compensation and said that is their offer.  In terms of benefits, the following proposals were tabled by your committee U-82, U-53 and U-54.  ICBC‘s response was the same as the wage increase and was a “no”.

As we prepare to head back into our next round of bargaining dates in late November, we are determined to stop this pattern of unfair treatment.  To show our strength on this and other key issues, we may need to come to you for a strike mandate. You work exceptionally hard to provide service to British Columbians and make ICBC profitable and you deserve a collective agreement that reflects your value to ICBC.

Thank you,
Your Bargaining Committee

Yasmin Carroll, Executive Board Member
Karin Cirez, Executive Board Member
Mike Ferguson, Executive Board Member
Joyce Galuska, Executive Board Member
Trevor Hansen, Executive Board Member
Jeff Gillies, Vice President
Jaime Zygmunt, Senior Union Representative