This is to inform you that Local 4000 recently sent a mail out with a bargaining survey.

Please fill out the survey in the language of your choice and return it by mail with the self-addressed envelope provided.

Travois update

The bargaining team is meeting with Travois one more time with the possibility of coming away with a collective agreement. They are 60 members who will be in a legal strike position as of the 20th of September 2009.

More information will be posted on our web page and at the different Campuses. The employees are a patient transfer group in the Ottawa Gatineau area.

In 2008 the Union filed a grievance concerning the transfer of Cupe 4000 employees to EORLA Lab services.

Cupe believes that Article 9:08 layoff language was not properly administered and the transfer was not done properly.

We attended the arbitration in August and are currently waiting for the response from the arbitrator. The Ontario Division of Cupe Local 503 and Local 4000 will be promoting rock concert #2 on October 17th 2009 at the Civic Centre on Bank Street.

The main act this year is David Wilcox. This is a free concert. There will be buckets set up for the Humane Society for donations. There is no obligation on your part to do this.

In Solidarity, Bruce Waller

Thanks go out too Greg Isenor for booking the buses and taking care of the registrations.

Four thousand people showed up at the Trooper concert sponsored by CUPE and again I would like to thank all the local 4000 members who attended and also those who volunteered there time to help with this event. It was a lot of fun and CUPE got a lot of good publicity out of it.

The CUPE 4000 Christmas party is on November 29th with dinner starting at 6:30 pm and tickets are only 25.00; they are going fast so get them quickly if you want to go.

We will be setting up on the 21st of September at lunch in front of a three cafeterias for lunch and supper and tickets will be available for the party.

EORLA vote was on November 6th and OPSEU won the vote for representing the lab technologist and technicians for the labs.

CUPE 4000 will be representing all the clerical staff within the labs and we are still waiting for a Labour Board decision for the LIS clerks at the labs.

The Sun Life demutualisation is moving slower than we expected and we will probably have to bring in a couple of people to come in with all their pay stubs and go over them with the lawyer. This is going to be a long process.

Diane Lacasse has resigned from her position as Recording Secretary and nominations will take place at the next General membership meeting. I would like to thank Diane for all the hard work she did with the Local.

We are waiting for the translation on the index and we will send it to print; hopefully we will have in a couple of weeks.

In Solidarity, Bruce Waller

This proposed change is a recommendation from the bylaw committee and we held a referendum vote on the 12th of April along with the ratification vote for the collective agreement.

Quorum is the number of members needed to make a membership meeting official and allow business to be conducted. Local 4000 has not achieved quorum since September of 2004 and the executive council has been making all decisions because of this lack of quorum.

The proposed change seeking to reduce quorum is to help our local achieve quorum and allow business to be conducted in a more democratic manner.

We are happy to report the response of the referendum was remarkable. In total, 1122 members voted and that included Ottawa Hospital, Aramark, Breast Center at Hampton Park and the Dialysis satellite unit at St.Vincent. The majority of members, 77.45% of those who took part, are in favour of this change.

However, for this change to be implemented we need to hold a vote at a membership meeting or a special membership meeting in accordance with the procedure in our bylaws, and this is why I am writing you today. We need your help.

We will be holding a special membership meeting on June 26th, 2007 to give members a chance to give voice on this issue and hopefully move forward into the new millennium. If you attend one meeting a year, please make it this meeting.

Local 4000 needs to move forward, and making it easier to achieve quorum is a step in the right direction. You can help accomplish that. Please come out on June 26th so we can formally make this change.

In solidarity, Bruce Waller

The bargaining team has reached an agreement with the employer regarding the collective agreement for local 4000. We are in the process of putting the documents together and will have them available shortly

Information about the tentative agreement follows:

Tentative Agreement

On April 12th 2007 at all campuses there will be a reactivation vote on the tentative agreement and referendum on changes to the local bylaws.

In solidarity, Bruce Waller