SP Vote on the SP Group Tentative Agreement – June 2019

Dear SP member,

Your SP Bargaining Team is pleased to announce that on May 25, 2019 they signed a tentative agreement to finish this round of collective bargaining. The Bargaining Team would like to thank all members for their support during this round of bargaining. We believe we have reached the best deal possible in what has been a challenging round of negotiations.

There are four centerpieces to this tentative agreement. The first piece is the benefits achieved at the Central Table, such as economic increases linked with the cost of living; a new clause dealing with penalties associated with late implementation of the collective agreement; improvement to a number of family related leave such as Parental Leave and Allowance; the breakthrough we achieved with the Domestic Violence Leave; and, an MOU on Harassment. The second piece is the improvements achieved specifically for the SP Group, such as an additional wage adjustment; changes to the shift work language; improvement to the Travel Status Leave; the expansion of the definition of family; an MOU on Office Space; and the introduction of mandatory selection criteria when granting leave under Career Development.  The third piece is securing the work done for Employee Wellness Support Program. Finally, the fourth piece addresses the terms for transition into the collective agreements for our new members from the RCMP.

This agreement must now be ratified by the SP membership. An electronic vote will be held in order to ratify this agreement.  All regular members in good standing will receive the voting instructions by email. The voting will be open for a period beginning July 8, 2019 and closing at 12:00 pm Eastern Standard Time on July 29, 2019.  Please ensure your membership information is up to date.

Important Information:

French and English town halls will be held on June 25 to answer questions from the membership regarding the proposed amendments to the collective agreement. Members will receive a separate communication with the times of the town hall(s) and call-in instructions if required. In addition, lunch and learn activities will be organized in various workplace locations.

You will find all the information below. It is important that you take the time to review everything prior to voting and prior to asking questions to the Bargaining Team.

Please review the attached documents:

A Yes vote means: You are accepting all of the changes proposed in the tentative agreement. Those changes will take place at the date of the signing (except as otherwise noted) and the employer will have a period varying between 180 and 560 days to implement them (this includes any retro pay).

A No vote means: You reject the tentative agreement and instruct the SP Bargaining Team to pursue further negotiations, with a high likelihood of heading to conciliation/strike. 

The Bargaining Team and SP Executive unanimously recommend the acceptance of this tentative agreement.

In Solidarity,

Your SP Bargaining Team