The Society’s Ontario Power Generation (OPG) Local is heading to mediation-arbitration to secure a new collective agreement for its 3,500 members.
The OPG Local’s effort to negotiate a fair deal have been hampered by Premier Doug Ford’s Bill 124, which caps wage increases at 1%, which is well below inflation. In spite of that limitation on monetary issues, union and management team held 10 days of collective bargaining, including a final session on September 24 that went late into the night.
While the Society challenges Bill 124 in court, the local is focused on non-monetary issues members raised through the pre-bargaining survey. Among the issues the Society is working on at the bargaining table are how redeployment will work when decommissioning begins at Pickering, work from home entitlements, resolving issues related to the Clarington relocation, repatriating the contracted out work now performed by New Horizon System Solutions, and the level of contracting out permitted within the Society’s jurisdiction. The Society is also seeking enhancements to members’ health benefits package.
Meanwhile, the Society is preparing for negotiations to begin at two additional locals.
The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) Local is set to begin collective agreement renewal negotiations on November 1. Like the OPG Local, the IESO Local is affected by Bill 124. IESO Local Vice-President Martin Hastings says that a bargaining survey will be distributed in the coming weeks to seek member input on the Society’s priorities for the coming round of negotiations.
Finally, the recently organized Technical Standards and Safety Authority Local is preparing to bargain for its first collective agreement. While established under an act of the Ontario government, TSSA is not subject to Bill 124. Members of the local have been meeting regularly to establish their bargaining priorities.
