The City of Vancouver’s 1,600 outside workers are in line for a 7% raise over the next four years, and the city will spend $200,000 so that its union, CUPE Local 1004, can explore contracting-in.
Those are key elements of the new contract that was reached March 11 after almost three months of on-and-off talks and put to membership at a March 30 meeting. Local 1004 leaders have recommended the rank-and-file vote yes in online voting that began March 31.
The tentative deal, obtained by Business in Vancouver, calls for increases of 1.25% this year, 1.75% next year and another 2% in 2018 and 2019. It’s slightly more than the 6.75% hike over the life of the four-year deal that expired at the end of 2015.
The 49-page agreement highlights and memorandum of settlement includes a letter of agreement to renew a joint committee of three representatives from each side to “examine services that are contracted to external vendors and that could be performed by members of CUPE Local 1004 with improved value for the city’s investment in such service.”
City hall committed to fund staff and/or consulting resources up to $50,000 per year. Gardeners and snow removal contractors at city hall will be the first external vendors reviewed.
“The employer will provide information necessary to the committee in order for it to fulfill its mandate, subject to commercial obligations and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act,” said the agreement. “Where the committee develops a valid business case for an alternative approach to the use of external vendors for a particular service, the committee may make recommendations to the city manager, general manager, financial services group and the general manager, engineering and/or general manager, parks and recreation, as appropriate.”
The close relationship between CUPE Local 1004 and the ruling Vision Vancouver became a dominant issue of the 2014 civic election after the Vancouver Courier revealed that four Vision candidates, including Coun. Geoff Meggs and Coun. Raymond Louie, appeared at a CUPE meeting and promised the party would not expand contracting out. Later at the same October 14, 2014, meeting, Local 1004 members voted to donate $34,000 to Vision, a sum that would eventually be matched by CUPE’s provincial and national offices.
After Vision won a third majority on city council, the party reported to Elections BC that it received almost $231,000 in donations from various arms of CUPE. In the year before the election, Vision had unsuccessfully lobbied the provincial government to ban corporate and union campaign donations. Vision opted against self-restraint in the 2014 campaign. It reported, in February 2016-amended, filings that it raised a record $3.41 million, thanks to $2.26 million from corporations and $385,000 from unions.
A leaked audio recording of that meeting included Local 1004 political action committee member Kyla Epstein commenting that the goal of the union’s donation was to “curry favour with Vision in the next round of negotiations which ... are coming up, but also not give them the whole pie. Our support is not unconditional.”
In April 2015, a BC Supreme Court judge dismissed a post-election conflict-of-interest petition by five citizens who aimed to unseat Meggs and Mayor Gregor Robertson over their acceptance of the CUPE donations.
Last September, the opposition NPA apologized to Vision, and the two parties agreed to an out-of-court settlement over allegations during the election by Robertson-challenger Kirk LaPointe that the Vision promise and Local 1004 donation were corrupt. LaPointe is now vice-president of audience and business development with BIV.
The memorandum of settlement also includes a shift premium increase of $1 an hour (up from $0.85 an hour) and a first aid premium increase to $0.90 an hour (up from $0.80). Self-inflicted injury and foreign criminal conviction were deleted as disqualification for disability benefits. Indigenous members seeking elected office on a First Nations band council can take leave, while a letter of understanding was reached over leave due to incarceration.
Contract negotiations began December 18, 2015, for the 1,600 outside workers on water, sewer, streets, sanitation and parks and recreation crews.
B.C.’s year-over-year inflation rate was 1.6% in February.
