Bell Technical Solutions Membership Report January 7th 2010
Published: January 8, 2010



BELL TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS
ONTARIO MEMBERSHIP REPORT
January 7, 2010

Here is a summary of some recent developments:

1. Federal Jurisdiction: Effective December 10, 2009, BTS was transferred by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board from Provincial to Federal Jurisdiction. We are now covered by the Canada Labour Code, which has a number of differences from the Ontario Labour Relations Act, mostly in the area of employment standards and the rules around collective bargaining. One notable difference is that Family Day, which is strictly an Ontario holiday, is no longer required by law to be recognized.

2. New Holiday on Remembrance Day: There is an additional holiday each year in the Canada Labour Code on Remembrance Day (November 11). Unfortunately at this time BTS is refusing to recognize the Remembrance Day holiday, and therefore CEP has filed a National Union grievance on the matter. We expect to have a decision by an arbitrator in time for the holiday this November.

3. Upgrade Meeting: Letter of Agreement # 7 calls for the first upgrade meeting to take place in October 2009 and future upgrade meetings in February of each subsequent year, beginning in 2010. Although CEP pushed for the meeting in October, BTS failed to call the meeting until December 17. At that time the bargaining committee was informed that BTS would not be providing any upgrades at this time, even though there are several areas where the ratio of regular employees to temporary employees is well below the 40%/20%/40% ratio outlined in the Letter. CEP has filed a National Union grievance claiming that the Company was obliged to upgrade employees now in areas where the ratio has not been met. We will continue to keep members updated as this grievance proceeds.

4. Bell Branded Clothing: Also on December 17, the Committee reviewed the status of the Bell branded clothing. We discussed the roll out of the program and had questions regarding the specific areas in which the employer failed to follow through with what had been committed to in prior meetings. They are reviewing these areas and will respond at some point in the near future. Since members have not all been fitted, the employer has extended the original deadline of December 23, 2009 to January 15, 2010 and the summer clothing should be available by July 2010. Further fittings for winter clothing will take place in April. The one-year review of the program will take place in May 2010. It was agreed that the review may need to be extended so that we have at least a full year of experience with the program before deciding whether or not the program should continue and become mandatory.

In solidarity

Shawn Cowan, Jim Fling, Sam Snyders, Sean Howes