Now that the Negotiating Committees have completed the draft collective agreements, the National Executive Board (NEB) has set dates for the ratification vote.
Voting will take place from April 20 to May 30.
Before the votes start, we’d like to give members a sense of the contract ratification process under CUPW’s National Constitution.
You Decide
The NEB has the “obligation to report to the members, with recommendation, on any question concerning collective bargaining” (Section 4.01).
While a majority of the NEB recommends that members vote yes to these tentative agreements, ultimately, the decision is yours and yours alone. No one can tell you how to vote.
Only if a majority of members who vote accept the NEB’s recommendations will these tentative agreements become our next collective agreements.
Who Can Vote?
You must be a CUPW member in good standing to vote. This is different from the Government-forced vote last summer, when all CUPW-represented employees could vote.
Members in good standing have signed a membership application, have a membership card, and are not in arrears in union dues.
Sign a Membership Card!
If you’ve never signed a membership application, it’s not too late. To sign an application, contact your local executive or shop steward.
Membership Information Meetings
Before voting starts, the Union will make sure that members have the information they need to make an informed decision. Locals will hold membership information meetings, where Union representatives will share details and answer questions about the tentative agreements.
We will post up-to-date calendars of ratification meetings for Urban votes and RSMC votes on the national website once we receive information from locals.
We will post the draft collective agreements on our website, with all the changes highlighted, so that you can review the exact language you are voting on before your meeting. We will also produce a copy of the Perspective Magazine that summarizes the changes and provides the National Executive Board’s rationale and recommendations.
Important: You cannot vote if you do not attend a meeting. Voting takes place once the meeting has finished.
You will only vote on the tentative agreement that applies to your bargaining unit – RSMC or Urban, not both. Your vote will be kept secret. No Local will publicly release any voting results until after the National Executive Board (NEB) has released the national results. Locals must also send all ballots to National so that an independent auditor can perform a verification.
We will also be conducting a strike vote during the ratification meetings. You do not have to be a member in good standing to vote in the strike vote. All employees in each respective bargaining unit are eligible to vote, as per the Canada Labour Code.
Should one or both tentative agreements not be ratified, we need to have a strong strike mandate to maintain our leverage in further negotiations.