The Society’s Bruce Power Local has banded together with colleagues represented by other unions to create the Union Strong campaign. The campaign identifies that listening to workers’ voices, respecting workers’ expertise, maintaining safety, and adhering to collective agreements are major issues in the workplace. Union Strong activities will continue into next year as the Society’s Bruce Power Local prepares for collective bargaining.
Started earlier in the fall, the Union Strong campaign has included leafleting company events, buttons, desk tents, and advertisements in local newspapers.
“Starting at the top and going right down to the line managers, union members are seeing our work and our experience disrespected by Bruce Power,” said the Society’s Bruce Power Local Vice President Dave Ceksters. “Society members are also frustrated that the company doesn’t respect our collective agreement either.”
Ceksters reports that members are up in arms over Bruce Power refusing to fulfill the terms of the collective agreement on a wide range of issues, including work-from-home, fairness in job competitions, opportunities for career advancement, and creating good, long-term jobs.
“Next year is a bargaining year for the Bruce Power Local and I’m sorry to say it but the relationship between Society members and the company is as strained as it’s ever been,” said Ceksters. “It’s going to be hard to negotiate a new contract if the members don’t think they can trust the company to make good on their end of the deal.
As part of the Society’s effort to hold Bruce Power to their commitments on work-from-home and flexible work arrangements, the union undertook a survey earlier in the year. The survey found that a significant portion of Society members would look for jobs elsewhere if the company failed to provide adequate flexibility.
“Society members are talented, experienced and highly credentialed,” said Ceksters. “In a world that is shifting to flexible and remote work, our members can have their pick of good jobs at companies headquartered anywhere in the world while continuing to call this region home.”
“I hope the company wakes up to this reality before it’s too late and we lose the talent and experience that has made Bruce Power a global leader in nuclear.”
