Queen’s and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will move to ratify the tentative agreements reached Saturday, with votes expected early next week.
Queen’s University and employees represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have successfully concluded their contract talks. CUPE collectively represents approximately 430 university staff who are technicians (Local 254), library technicians (Local 1302) and a number of employees in Physical Plant Services, Residence Operations and Athletics & Recreation (Local 229).
Ontario’s Ministry of Labour has advised Queen’s that a “no-board” report was issued Friday July 29.
This means QUFA will be in a legal strike position, and the university will be in a legal lockout position at 12:01 am on Monday August 15, which is the 17th day after the date of the “no-board.” The QUFA contract expired April 30, 2011 and negotiations on a new agreement have been underway since January.
Queen’s University and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have agreed to extend their legal strike/lockout deadline to 12:01 am, Monday August 8.
Queen’s University and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) continue to meet in mediation this evening.
One of the most-discussed topics among faculty and staff right now is the status of the Queen’s Pension Plan and the effects various adjustments might have on employee benefits.
In an effort to help answer some of those questions, we turned to Bob Weisnagel, the university’s Associate Director, Pension Benefits & Insurance. This is the second in a number of installments of this feature.
If you have more questions for Bob, send them to labour.relations@queensu.ca.
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One of the most-discussed topics among faculty and staff right now is the status of the Queen’s Pension Plan (QPP) and the effects various adjustments might have on employee benefits.
In an effort to help answer some of those questions, we turned to Bob Weisnagel, the university’s Associate Director, Pension Benefits & Insurance. This is the first of what we hope will be a number of instalments of this feature. So, if the pension puzzle is getting the better of you, it might be time to “Ask Bob!”
Send your questions for Bob to labour.relations@queensu.ca.
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Contract talks between the university and the Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) entered the next phase of negotiations today, July 25, as the university requested a “No Board” report from the Ministry of Labour.
The request signals an end to the conciliation phase of the negotiations, which began in late June , and is the first step in moving towards a strike/lock-out deadline. Either side must wait until the 17th day from the date of the “No Board” report before beginning a strike or lock-out. A “No Board” report is usually issued within a week of the application.
Members of the three university locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and members of the Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) have given their union executives strike mandates, as collective bargaining with the university continues.
The QPP is in bad financial shape and the plan will continue to deteriorate, the longer it takes to reach agreements on required changes.
The university and employee groups have a shared goal: to ensure the long-term sustainability of the plan.
While being approved for stage two solvency relief is important and provides more time to reduce the plan’s deficit, this in itself won’t fix the plan’s underlying structural problems.
Changes to the plan are also required. This has been acknowledged by all employee groups and discussions about how to do this started in 2005.
On August 31, our mandated valuation date, the plan’s actuaries will take a financial snapshot of the plan. This valuation determines the size of the additional payments that are required by law to start closing the gap between what the plan has in it and what regulatory authorities say must be in it.
Should changes be made to the plan sometime after August 31, the university can file what’s called an “interim cost certificate” or “interim valuation report”. While this would reduce the university’s payment requirements on a go-forward basis, the reduction wouldn’t be retroactive, so any reductions that could have been achieved starting August 31 would be lost.
The longer it takes to address the plan’s underlying structural problems, the worse off the plan will be at the next valuation in 2014, and the larger the long-term impact on Queen’s operating budget, which is already in deficit.
In the pension world, the longer you delay solving a problem, the worse it will get.
Putting off decisions about changes doesn’t allow the university to limit the financial hit that is coming.
It’s important to note that meetings with all employee groups about the need for plan changes have been ongoing since 2005 with no agreement, despite the plan’s deteriorating financial position.
All employee groups have been aware of the August 31 valuation date and the university’s specific proposals for changes to the plan since a meeting last November.
The changes and the urgency were reviewed and reiterated by the university at a multi-employee group meeting in May.
These changes include increasing employee contributions, an approach which has been implemented at other universities.
Employee groups have had months to study, discuss and respond to the proposed changes.
QUFA has publicly acknowledged that increased employee contributions are necessary and the university is ready to continue these discussions in conciliation later this month.
The university’s goal is to reach negotiated settlements with all employee groups.
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