Oliver Municipal workers ratify a four-year agreement

OLIVER, BC– CUPE municipal workers in Oliver have ratified a new four-year agreement with the Town of Oliver.   A settlement was reached Wednesday evening and comes after the local had taken a 100 percent strike vote last month.   “After a very tough round of bargaining we are pleased that we have a new collective agreement that is both fair and reasonable,” said CUPE 608 unit-chair Karen Nelson. “CUPE 608 members want the community to know that they held the well being of the community at the front of their concerns throughout our negotiations. We are very happy to be able to continue providing quality public services to a community we love.”   The settlement includes wage increases of 2 percent, 1.75 percent, 1.75 percent and 2 percent in each of the four years as well as a boot allowance, an increase in shift premiums and the addition of bio-hazard pay for workers who maintain the sewer system.    Rachel Champagne, a member of the CUPE bargaining committee, says that there were many miscommunications throughout negotiations. “Once we started negotiating directly with council and management it became much easier to work out a deal.”   CUPE 608 represents 24 inside and outside workers in the Town of Oliver. Members do a variety of work from maintaining roads and water and sewer systems, to conducting building inspections to clerical duties at Town Hall.   The new contract runs until December 31, 2014.

news release from CUPE BC website

The local union when contacted supplied the following Contract Language on the water issue:

“The parties agree that the Employer’s water, sewer and irrigation services are essential and that the level of service (i.e. amount of labour) required by the Union to provide those services is subject to the determination by the Labour Relations Board of British Columbia.  This language survives the expiry of the Collective Agreement and continues until the parties enter a new collective agreement.”