At the Monday, June 11 joint meeting of the Executive Committee and Bargaining Team, the following motion was passed:
BIRT the Executive Committee and Bargaining Team condemns in the strongest possible terms the backroom dealings of certain members of the Bargaining Team.
BIFRT the Bargaining Team and Executive Committee do not recognize the legitimacy of the decision made by two members of the Bargaining Team in a secret gathering to send the Unit 2 offer to ratification.
The Executive Committee feels it is necessary to provide context for this motion. On Friday, June 6, the Employer re-sent an offer identical to that reached during the 17 hour mediation session, mediated by Kevin Burkett, the previous weekend. This offer had a deadline of Sunday, June 10.
A Unit 2 representative of the Bargaining Team, Maria Wallis, asked for a meeting to take place over the weekend. Several members of the Bargaining Team responded saying that if the meeting was deemed an emergency, they would ensure their attendance. The Chairperson, on extremely short notice, attempted to find an accessible space for a meeting on Sunday. The remaining members of the Bargaining Team never heard back from the member who had asked for the meeting.
On Monday morning, the Bargaining Team and Executive Committee heard from the Employer that they had received a signed Memorandum of Settlement from two members of the bargaining team: Sharon Davidson, who also serves as the Grievance Officer, and Maria Wallis. The two had held a secret “meeting” over the weekend in which they gave themselves the authority to sign the Memorandum of Settlement, without announcing it to the general membership, or achieving quorum, and despite the fact that the secret meeting violated several aspects of the CUPE 3903 bargaining parameters, CUPE 3903 bylaws, and the CUPE Constitution.
This decision, by two members of the Bargaining Team, is as unacceptable as it is incomprehensible — a motion to send the Unit 2 offer to ratification could have passed without a shady, inaccessible secret meeting. It could have legitimately taken place either on Sunday, after an accessible location was found, or at Monday’s BT/Exec meeting.
A new unit-specific motion did pass on Monday after the above condemnation motion. As such, there will be a ratification vote held for Unit 2 on Wednesday June 13 at Unifor Local 112 (30 Tangiers Rd).
This ratification vote is the result of a legitimate vote at an announced meeting with quorum, not as a result of back room deals over the weekend.