Your Collective Agreement and You

Have you ever stopped to think how important your collective agreement (CA) is in your life and that of your family? Have you ever wondered if belonging to a union that negotiates your collective agreement has any real benefit to you and your loved ones? Just take a minute to stop and think about everything your collective agreement provides and how that impacts you personally. Better yet, speak with people in your workplace about how various provisions of their collective agreement make their life better.

Regardless of where you work, if you have a collective agreement, your overall economic well being is likely better that someone who does not have the benefit of collective bargaining. Here are a few examples of how people have benefited from having a collective agreement.

Meet Betty and Sandra

Betty is a clerk at a Mental Health facility. She recently had her first child and was able to take advantage of the parental leave provisions of her collective agreement. Because of her CA, she had her Employment Insurance Benefit topped up to 87% of her regular salary. She was also able to continue her health benefits while on leave for a small monthly payment. This is important to Betty because her husband Jim is a construction labourer and has no health benefits. Maintaining benefits proved to be important as her baby had some complications at birth the required expensive medication.

Betty’s friend Sandra is also a clerk except she works in a law office. When she was on parental leave she did not get any top up of her salary. Because Sandra’s employer does not provided health benefits, she didn’t even have a choice about maintaining them. Because of financial implications she had to return to work from her parental leave sooner than planned.

Meet Jim and Bob

Jim is a plumber in a large Correctional Facility. Eighteen months ago he was diagnosed with prostate cancer because he had a PSA test that was covered under his employee health insurance, which forms part of his CA. Jim had to have surgery immediately to remove his prostate. This is difficult surgery that requires months of convalescence. Fortunately, Jim had good short and long-term sick leave provision in his CA that provided sufficient wage replacement that his family could get by financially until he returned to work last month. During his time away from work, Jim did not lose any seniority, his health benefits continued and the employer continued to make pension contributions on his behalf.

Jim has a neighbour Bob who is also a plumber but is self-employed. Bob has been very successful working on his own. He often kids Jim about making more money than him and as a result his wife is a stay at home mom. Bob has worked hard at ensuring his business is success. However, around that same time Jim became ill, Bob had a mild heart attack and that prognosis was not good. Consequently he had to undergo triple bypass surgery which meant he could not work for at least a year. Because Bob was self-employed he did not have any wage replacement available to him. In order to get through a year without work, Bob had to dip into his retirement savings and his wife had to get a job. Because Bob had no supplementary health insurance he had to pay for expensive post operative medication out of his pocket which put the family under more financial stress. When he did return to work, Bob realized any retirement plans had to be postponed until he could recover his losses from his year off work.

You can see unionized workers can enjoy many advantages because of their collective agreement and their ability to bargain collectively. As a union member you can influence the outcome of bargaining through your input in demand setting and promoting solidarity with your Bargaining Team. The workplace issues that can be addressed in collective bargaining are only limited your imagination and collective will. Collective Agreements can address things like conflict resolution ( Grievance Procedure), job security, termination entitlements, seniority, protection from bullying and harassment, hours of work and scheduling, health and safety, working conditions to name a few. Leave provisions from parental to educational leave, from family leave to time-off for jury duty and of course vacation and sick leave. All of these items can be negotiated. Without a union or CA you would only be entitled to the minimum standard provided in the Employment Standards Act.

Of course the area critical importance in your collective agreement is its financial impact. Your salary, Overtime pay, income protection and benefits are also form part of your collective agreement.

So you see your collective agreement is arguably the most importance economic document in your life. It provides you clarity, predictability and security in critical areas of your life. It plays a key role in determining what kind of house you can afford or car you can buy. It also can ensure that most medical needs for you and your family are met. Your collective agreement is the economic blueprint for your life.

Your right to collective bargaining is something you should embrace and be very proud. Any right is only good if you exercise it. So what are you waiting for, get involved in collective bargaining for your next contract today!