Open Letter to all WTEG and WPEG members
Hours of Work
Date: July 10, 2018
Regarding: Article 8 Hours of Work and
Article 9 Flexible Work Arrangements for WPEG and WTEG
As the negotiations for the renewal of your collective agreements continue in to the fall (2018), your bargaining teams would like to clarify the issue of hours of work. Negotiations have happened around moving to a 40 hour work week. Though at this time this proposal has not yet been signed off. We are still discussing compensation for the 40 hours, format of the 40 hours, start times, and how to calculate accrual and use of leave (vacation, sick leave, etc).
Your bargaining teams sent out a questionnaire regarding the issue of hours of work. The results show that the majority of the members are content to move to a 40 hour work week (5 days x 8 hours) with the corresponding increase in pay. The 40 hour work week of 4x10s was a hardship for a large proportion of the members. The hardships included; lack of day care, worry about driving safety - especially in the winter months, lack of opportunity of participating in community and family events, and lack of family connection.
However even though formal changes have yet to be negotiated for the collective agreement, should you and your direct management see benefit in implementing a 40 hour week, as per article 8.03, as usual you are free to enter into those discussions. Other flexible work arrangements under Article 9 are also open to discussion with your direct manager.
Should you have any questions regarding the above, please contact any member of your respective bargaining team.
In solidarity
Kamil, Kyle, Veerinder, Bruce, Jason & Ron