STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.

‘Basically a miracle:’ City, CUPE ink four-year deal through renewed relationship

Mar 28, 2019 | 11:04 AM

NANAIMO — Both sides of the table say a new approach to bargaining and a significantly improved atmosphere at City Hall led to a long-term deal for the vast majority of the City’s staff.

The City of Nanaimo and CUPE Local 401 ratified a four-year deal this week. The deal covers from Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2022 and includes general wage increases of two per cent per year for the more than 500 unionized staff across all departments.

In past negotiations the City brought in an outside facilitator to represent them at the bargaining table, but this time senior managers dealt directly with the union.

CUPE president Blaine Gurrie said the new approach allowed them to hit the ground running on many “longstanding, lingering issues” and move quickly towards a deal through only seven bargaining sessions.

“It’s basically a miracle to be honest with you. Usually our bargaining can last several months, even dragged out over a year before. We’re really happy with the time frame we got this done and so are our members,” Gurrie told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Members voted 97 per cent in favour of the deal Wednesday night.

A previous deal between the two sides reached in June 2018 was retroactive and delays in those negotiations were “bordering on ludicrous,” Gurrie said at the time.

The City and CUPE have a history of difficult dealings, including mediation over the last two contracts and a pair of strike votes in the last 20 years.

Gurrie said the working relationship has improved remarkably since unionized staff boycotted a 2017 Christmas lunch to highlight concerns over what Gurrie called at the time a work environment filled with “fear and vitriol.”

“We’re finding now when we have to have discussions with the employer we’re not talking past each other anymore, we’re talking to each other. It’s hard to put into words the difference in the atmosphere but it’s definitely palpable and it’s much more pleasant.

“When you have employees that want to be there and are trying their best to do a good job instead of worrying about the atmosphere around them or the politics going on you’re going to get a much better service to the public too,” Gurrie said.

John Van Horne, the City’s manager of human resources, said speaking face-to-face with the union during bargaining worked well and opened direct lines of communication.

“I think it speaks to the state of the City’s relationship with CUPE and vice-versa. We’re still going to have disagreements on things but we can also find a way of getting through some significant challenges and get a good result in the end.”

Van Horne said the four-year deal provides comfort to employees moving ahead as well as some improvements to benefits and allowances.

 

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi