Local calling for unions to be merged
Employees of the University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) have reaffirmed their commitment to Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in a unanimous vote at the Saskatchewan labour relations board.
Recently the URSU board of directors withdrew its voluntary recognition of the local in the midst of bargaining, forcing the issue to a vote at the board, according to the union.
“URSU’s response to our democratic vote has been to allude that CUPE will need to start over and negotiate a first collective agreement,” said Neil Petrich, president of the local.
The CUPE Local 1486 has represented employees of URSU for more than four decades.
CUPE has filed an unfair labour practice application with the labour relations board challenging this assertion as well as URSU’s exclusion of supervisors.
At the board hearing, Carl Flis, general manager of URSU, refused to agree to supervisors being included in the same bargaining unit with the rest of the employees, even though URSU had previously signed an irrevocable election to keep supervisors in the bargaining unit, according to the union.
As a result, the Labour Relations Board has created two bargaining units represented by CUPE: one for supervisors and one for other employees, according to the union.
“CUPE will continue to pressure URSU through legal and public means to agree to one union local for all its employees,” said Posyniak.
The application will be heard by the Labour Relations Board on Dec. 19 to 21, 2016.
