CUPE hits the bricks

CUPE hits the bricks: Union upset by SFU’s benefit-rollback plan
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published March 26, 2003

Pickets went up around Simon Fraser University this week in what could be the start of a long and ugly strike.
John Bannister, business agent for CUPE 3338, representing about 800 non-teaching staff at the university, said pickets went up at 6 a.m. Tuesday around Strand Hall, the administrative centre of the university.
While classes and bus service were continuing as normal during the first day of job action, Bannister said his members may shut down the entire university if progress is not made during mediated talks, scheduled to take place today (Wednesday).
The union is angry over the university's contract offer, which proposed zero per cent wage hikes over three years, plus rollbacks to members' benefits package.
"This offer is zero, zero and zero, and that's not fair," Bannister said, adding that SFU administrators and faculty members both received pay hikes of about two per cent per year in their most recent contracts.
"They get twos, and we get zeroes. What's fair about that? They even get paid more than us to start with," Bannister said. "We'll give the employer a counterproposal tomorrow and hopefully we'll get closer to a settlement, but it may take another week or so .... We'll see, but we do have this big gap."
University officials are monitoring the situation closely to determine their next step.
"Whatever happens, the university will try to carry on business as usual, and classes will go ahead as much as they are able to," said Kathryn Aberle, director of media and public relations at SFU. "Until we see what they intend to do, it's impossible to speculate what the impacts will be."
Aberle noted that the university has still not formally heard back from the union since the last contract offer was tabled about two and a half weeks ago.
"It's an offer that falls within the public sector employers' council mandate that calls for wage increases of zero for three years," she said. "We believe that it contains creative solutions to some of the outstanding issues, that it remains within the guidelines, yet it still has something that's worth talking about."
A press released issued Tuesday morning by CUPE B.C. quoted provincial vice-president Mark Hancock warning SFU administrators to negotiate with the union before "Burnaby Mountain becomes a human volcano."
The job action began one day after several hundred union members and supporters rallied in the front of the administrative buildings and the main Convocation Hall on the Burnaby Mountain campus. The protesters played music, listened to speeches and waved placards, some of which called for a general strike.
In other SFU labour news, about 85 skilled tradespeople, represented by a variety of unions under one master agreement will vote Thursday on a tentative contract offer with SFU.
Aberle said the terms of that proposed deal will not be revealed until after the vote. "The fact that we've been able to negotiate with (the other unions) leaves us hopeful that we can reach agreement with CUPE," Aberle said.