Hundreds of City of New Westminster employees are poised to take a strike vote on Monday.
According to a notice on the CUPE 387 website, the union has been unable to negotiate a new collective agreement with the city and its library and police boards.
“The employers have continually refused to engage in meaningful discussions about your key issues and that has limited the progress we’ve been able to make towards a new contract,” said a notice to employees.
A notice posted on the union’s website stated that after almost a year of bargaining, no agreement has been reached on employees’ priorities including: wage increases; benefit improvements; working-from-home language; modified work week/shift language; and improvements to auxiliary rights (stability for workers).
“At our last mediation session, the most important bargaining session to date, key members of the employers bargaining team chose not to attend,” said the CUPE notice. “We are disappointed in the lack of leadership the employers have shown and their reluctance to negotiate a new contract with their workers. The employers’ proposals continue to demonstrate that their primary motivation is to negotiate less for you than what other workers in our region have already negotiated.”
A strike vote is set to take place on Monday, Oct. 16, and the union is recommending employees vote Yes. The union said a successful strike vote tells the employers that workers stand behind the bargaining committee and that their bargaining priorities have not changed.
“We would not be seeking a strike mandate if we saw another viable path to negotiating a new contract,” said the CUPE 387 statement.
CUPE 387 represents about 825 civic service workers of the City of New Westminster, including the New Westminster Public Library. It also represents civilian workers of the New Westminster Police Department.
The 2020-2021 two-year collective agreement expired on Dec. 31, 2021.
The Record has reached out to the city’s bargaining unit for comment and will be following this story. A source told the Record the parties were in negotiations today.
More to come.
