Below we provide an update on the ongoing contract negotiations with Bell, including a significant move by the company to apply for conciliation and the ramifications of such a move.
TEAM is aware how protracted negotiations can cause uncertainty for members and also delays the negotiated pay increase from finding it’s way into members’ pockets. To help speed things up in this round of negotiations, TEAM proposed a number of changes to the process. First, to take advantage of the virtual meeting format, and second, to only hold such meetings when all pertinent information had been exchanged, including all disclosure information requested by TEAM. This way, the parties would come to the negotiating table prepared to engage in constructive discussion of the issue(s) and be ready to work towards resolutions. This approach has resulted in shorter and more focused face-to-face meetings than in previous rounds. Our Negotiating Committee has been pleased with the result to this point.
To date, we have met with Bell’s negotiating committee on eight occasions between February 9th and April 21st, for a total of approximately 12.5 hours face-to-face time. Behind those 12.5 hours are many multiples of hours that went into research, analysis, and proposal development.
Although progress on non-monetary issues had been somewhat slow to this point, with Bell basically rejecting most of our proposals outright, the parties had recently reached agreement on a number of items of lesser significance, and, from TEAM’s standpoint at least, we were engaging in informative and constructive discussion on more important topics, including job descriptions and increased access to National Roles. TEAM’s Negotiating Committee was looking forward to making significant progress when the parties were scheduled to reconvene on June 6th and 7th to discuss monetary items for the first time.
To our surprise, Bell cancelled the June meetings, and instead decided to file for conciliation! Bell’s lead negotiator is claiming that “the parties are clearly at an impasse”. This statement is plainly not true as an impasse cannot be said to have actually occurred until all requested information has been disclosed, and all significant areas of negotiation have at least been canvassed. We have not even commenced any focused discussions on the monetary issues yet, and had agreed on dates for such discussions to take place. Considering the current rate of inflation our members are facing, monetary issues clearly rank as some of the most significant issues for this round. Therefore, moving to Conciliation at this point is grossly premature, and in our opinion, an unnecessary use of taxpayer money and not conducive to collaborative, productive, good faith bargaining.
Triggering conciliation, as Bell had done here, starts the countdown clock towards a potential point of ultimatum and work stoppage, either through strike action or the employer locking out the employees. While this maneouver adds negatively to an already stressful workplace environment, the TEAM Negotiating Committee, TEAM staff, and our membership has always met the challenge head on.
We anticipate the Minister of Labour will appoint a conciliator within the next few days, and from there, the conciliation timeline is as follows:
- The conciliator has 14 days after being appointed to contact the parties and set up a mutually convenient date(s) to meet.
- The conciliator has 60 days after being appointed, unless extended by mutual agreement, to meet with the parties to review the outstanding issues and attempt to bring the parties closer together.
- Should the parties fail to reach an agreement through conciliation, a 21-day cooling off period begins, during which time the Minister can appoint a mediator.
- At the end of the cooling off period the parties are in a legal strike/lockout position.
- 72-hour notice is required prior to the commencement of a strike or lockout. A union must have taken a strike vote before initiating any strike action.
Once the first meeting with the conciliator has been scheduled, we will release a revised timeline with dates that correspond to the above steps and continue to provide updates as we move along in the process, including an update on outstanding proposals and issues.
After all that TEAM members have done throughout the pandemic over the past two years to keep Manitobans connected and the profits rolling in for Bell, we had sincerely hoped that Bell would take a different and more respectable approach this time.
Despite this uncalled for and disrespectful move by Bell, TEAM is committed to making progress, and we remain hopeful of reaching our goal of achieving a fair deal and resolving some of the issues members are facing in the workplace.
Your continued support makes this possible and is much appreciated.
204-984-9470 or 1-877-984-9470