New Tentative Agreement
Sisters and Brothers,

We are pleased to announce that the union and company have reached a new tentative agreement which proposes an expiration date of December 31, 2014. The new agreement, if accepted, will remove the need for the cost cutting initiatives announced by Karen Sheriff on July 15, 2010. In order for the agreement to take effect, it must be ratified by the membership. The CEPACC Executive recommends acceptance of the new tentative agreement.

If accepted, the agreement provides for the following:

• The 5 existing contact centres will remain open for at least the life of the agreement.
  
  
• There will be no consolidation of work that will result in any current regular employee being forced to retire, resign or transfer to a reporting centre greater than sixty (60) km from their existing reporting centre.
  
  
• OPEB’s as they are currently offered, will be protected for the life of the collective agreement.
  
  
• Contractor reduction initiatives will proceed in the form of a Project Term Workforce and a CST Labour Pool.
  
  
• As in the previous tentative agreement, in exchange for the employment security there will be no wage increases for 2012, 2013 & 2014.
  
  
• The 1.75% wage increase will take effect on January 1, 2011 as originally scheduled in the current collective agreement.
  
  
• The 146 days of pensionable service that was lost during the strike will remain available to members who retire by December 31, 2011.
  
  
• Some dates in the previous tentative agreement have been adjusted to coincide with the new signing date.

Taking into account the time of year and that this agreement, which is very similar to the previous agreement, was presented to the membership in the past couple of months, we have decided to do a mail-in ballot. Ballots will be mailed to member’s home addresses by August 13, 2010 and will be counted on Sept 15, 2010. We are working out the other logistics of the vote and are also exploring opportunities for members to discuss the new agreement. More details will be communicated in the very near future.

In solidarity,

Penny Fawcett
Noel Pauley
Mary Croke
Phil Briffett
Chuck Rouse
Joyclin Coates