Representing 1,300 Manitoba Workers

New Collective Agreement Highlights

A new union agreement was ratified by CEP Local 7 members in June. There are many changes and improvements in the new contact. A few of the key ones are described below.

Eye Exams

• Examinations up to $65.00, which took place after June 25, 2008 will be eligibl e for reimbursement Regular full-time employees must have 6 months service with MTS
• Clerical regular part-time or casual part time employees must have the equivalent of 6 months of service which equates to 946 hours
• Operator Services/Part time must have the equivalent of 6 months of service which equates to 914 hours
• The company is developing a new expense form to be submitted with your receipt. If you have a receipt now, please hold on to it until the form becomes available

Differentials

• The rate of $1.25 per hour is in effect as of July 5
• The new Bilingual (French) Differential has also been set at $1.25
• However, the criteria and process for the bilingual differential has yet to be fully defined and will be dealt with by the Scheduling Committee so that union members will have input

* Please note differentials are not retro-active.

Vacation

Effective with the vacation schedule for 2009/2010, the selection of vacation will occur over three rounds (previously four rounds).

1^st Round – employees can select:
1 or 2 weeks between May 01 to October 30 (Prime Time)
or
1 or 2 weeks between October 31 to April 30 (Non-prime Time)
* If you choose 2 weeks, they must be consecutive.

2^nd Round – employees can select: Criteria same as Round 1
In Round 1 & 2 – 2 weeks is the maximum employees are able to select.

3^rd Round – employees can select: All remaining vacation credits anywhere available on the vacation schedule whether it be in Prime time and/or non-prime time.

Hours of Work/Scheduling Changes

Operator Services

• Effective August 2/08 – 4 consecutive hours = minimum shift length (new)
• Effective August 30/08 – operators will no longer be entitled to a break after every two hours of work
• Effective Sept 13/08 – Part time operators will have the option to be scheduled at least one weekend off every six weeks
  The company is canvassing part timers as to their option. In the future, this canvass will be done on November 1 every year, in conjunction with the canvass for shift preferences.
• Effective August 30/08 – Regular full-time operators will be scheduled every 2nd weekend. (This was a practice in the past but never included in the Collective Agreement until this year.)
• Effective August 2/08 – The notice period MTS must provide to employees for a change of shift was increased from 24 hours to 48 hours. (Employees are still only required to provide 24 hours notice).

Clerical

• Effective August 30/08 – Regular Part time employees will be entitled to pro-rated PLD’s (Personal Leave Days) when working full time hours (and will be scheduled to work the additional eight minutes)
• The company is currently working on programming the SAP system to recognize the eight minutes per shift or .13 hours. Until this program is rectified, please keep track of your hours to ensure your PLD entitlement.
• PLD’s can be used only in full or one-half day allotments and must be used by December 31 of every year. If less than one-half of a day remains as of December 31, a payout will occur before the end of February of the following year, for part time or term employees only. (Full time employees will still be required to use up their PLD’s).
• Already implemented - Regular Full time employees shall not be scheduled more than six days in a row. (Previously seven days in a row)
• Effective August 02/08 – minimum shift length for part-time employees is four hours (new).
• Effective August 30/08 – Casual part-time Employees receive a maximum 30 minutes for a lunch break. (Previously one hour).
  Casual Part time employees still have the option to NOT BE SCHEDULED a lunch, but must submit their request in writing to their manager. Your choice will be accepted only on a long term basis, not on a daily or weekly basis.
• Effective June 25/08 – deletion of monitoring restrictions, including advance notice, opting out, and the limit on the number of times an employee is monitored each week. At the same time, monitoring scores/evaluations will no longer be reflected in PP&R’s.