Retention payment

In our last round of bargaining, the employer and the union agreed to a one-time retention payment of two percent (2.0%) to be calculated based on the employee’s new base straight time hourly rate of pay (after the application of the general wage increases) earned between June 24, 2023 and June 21, 2024, for all employees who are employed as of June 21, 2024. If eligible, you should be expecting to receive the payment in the upcoming weeks.

At a recent CUPE 387 Executive Committee meeting, the Executive passed a motion to waive the collection of union dues from this retention payment.

Sick Plan Treasurer – Role Available

The Short Term Sick Plan Committee is looking for a member to fill the Trustee role of Treasurer to help with the financial aspects of the plan.  You would be supported by Allison, the Business Operations Assistant for CUPE Local 387 who looks after the day to day work with the sick claims. Some of the duties would include:

  • Year End Preparation of a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement created for the sick plan and provided to the accountant
  • Liaising with G & F (Gulf and Fraser) concerning the STSP accounts
  • Providing financial updates to the STSP when required
  • Issuing Cheques, including rebates, ordering stamps, envelopes as needed
  • Dealing with the BC Societies Annual Report Filing and any other updates needed

There is an honorarium associated with this position.  If you are interested in this or any other position, please e-mail office@cupe387.ca and more information can be provided.

Notice of Motions

This is written notice of CUPE Local 387’s intention to include the following at the next General Meeting on September 24, 2024 at 5:00 pm, location to be confirmed:

  • Motion to amend the 2024 budget (additional training and courses for union executives, events, etc.)
  • By-election will be held for the position of Full-Time Officer

More details will be provided in September

Recruitment and Retention Survey

CUPE 387 and the City of New Westminster have a new joint committee on the topic of why people come to work at the City of New Westminster and what keeps them here. We are looking for feedback from our members.

Please take a few minutes to fill out this survey and share your experience. All data collected is delivered to the Committee anonymously.

The survey ends Friday, July 5, 2024.

Bulletin to Local 387 Members

The importance of political action and awareness

Your lives are directly impacted by the decisions of municipal councillors. Electing decision makers who stand up for workers and prioritize treating their employees fairly makes a difference for us at work and improves services for residents, businesses, and visitors. Attempts to limit the ability of unions and our members to meet and speak with elected municipal representatives is unfair, undemocratic and potentially leads to an unrepresentative and divided community.

This is why CUPE 387 is pleased to see Community First council members standing up for working people in real and tangible ways. Their recent successful defeat of a motion to restrict unions’ ability to rally support with their own members for municipal candidates or elector organizations demonstrates their commitment to our shared values.

What happened?

In March, Councillors Fontaine and Minhas put forward a motion seeking support to campaign the provincial government to make changes to rules for municipal elections in the BC Elections Act. Their goal was to restrict how union, not-for-profits and corporations use their internal resources during local elections.

There are already restrictions that ban direct financial donations from unions, non-for-profit entities, and corporations. Fontaine and Minhas think that the government should also be able to monitor and restrict how we communicate, organize, and allocate resources within our own union. Considering how many labour-endorsed candidates were successful in the last municipal election, this attempt at curtailing our activities can be viewed as a direct response to the power of collective action.

Who spoke against the motion?

The strongest opposition to the motion came from Councillors Henderson, Campbell, and Mayor Johnstone. They spoke of Charter issues, concerns on restricting the rights of groups to promote candidates whose concerns align with theirs, and low rates of engagement in municipal politics.

What next?

We will continue to endorse and work with council members who are as committed to the community as we are. We’ll continue to have discussions with Community First about finding ways to uphold the shared values we hold for workers and the communities within New Westminster. This will include publicly endorsing councillors and asking our members to volunteer and vote for them.

Moving forward we’ll be sharing how you can get involved and help support endorsed councillors.  While we recognize that it is more difficult than ever to find time for politics – and we will be conscious of this in the requests we make of you – your support can help make sure New West has progressive leadership and a vibrant future.

Scholarship Opportunities

Members of CUPE 387 are eligible for the following educational scholarships:

Aubrey Burton/Reg Ford Memorial Scholarship ($500) from CUPE BC. Members, their spouses or their children are eligible to apply. (Applications due by August 19, 2024)

Metro Vancouver District Council Bursary ($1000) (Two application cycles: May 31 and November 30)

BCCWITT Career Advancement Bursary (up to $1000) (Applications accepted quarterly)

Election Results

Elections were held at the last General Meeting, and we now have a full Executive Board.  Thank you to everyone who participated in the Election and a warm and appreciative welcome to our new Executives.

The CUPE 387 Executive Board positions are filled by the following members:

President

Mike Taddei, Engineering Operations

Vice President

Nic Correia, Engineering Operations

Treasurer

Tabitha Guichon, Engineering Operations

Recording Secretary

Michelle Edwardsen, Parks

Full Time Officer

Nancy Jickels

Executive Directors

Gavin Hermanson, Engineering Services

Michael Racanello, Development Services

Jessica Adam, Recreation

Monique Ferbey, Finance

Jay Decoursey, Engineering Operations

Trustees

Nancy Miller, Engineering Operations

Catherine Lindsay, Legislative Services

Darryl Peterson, Engineering Operations

CUPE LOCAL 387 SHORT TERM SICK LEAVE PLAN SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

CUPE LOCAL 387 SHORT TERM SICK LEAVE PLAN

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

Wednesday, May 8, 2024, 5:00 p.m. City Hall

Committee Room No. 2

To Amend the Short Term Sick Plan Bylaws as follows:

Current:

RULES AND REGULATIONS

  1. After four (4) claims, the member will not be covered for the first (1) day of the

following claims for the remainder of the year. (Amended December 10, 2013)

Proposed:

To delete RULES AND REGULATIONS NO. 11

If approved the first day of the fifth claim and all subsequent claims will be covered by the Short Term Sick Plan.