Recent Updates

Monday, February 11, 2019

The Ballot Box remains Sealed after Housing does not agree to allow it to be opened

There was a great turnout today. Many of you made your voices heard and that is something to be proud of! Unfortunately, Housing has maintained their objection that we are not employees. As such, they have objected to opening the ballot box.

Although we are confident in our position that RezStaff are employees, the ballot box will remain sealed until the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) orders it unsealed, or Housing agrees to unseal it.

Moving forward, the OLRB has scheduled a meeting on February 27th to resolve Housing's objection. We will be working with CUPE representatives, including their Legal Department, to prepare our case.

We will keep you up to date as we get closer to February 27th, but in the meantime, remember that the statutory freeze is still in effect. This means that Housing cannot change working conditions without our agreement and must move forward with announced plans such as giving us access to the Employee Assistance Plan. Expect the 2019-2020 staff decisions to move ahead as usual.

Stay in touch!

~

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Housing claims that Residence Staff are not “Employees” and should not have the Right to Unionize

The Housing Department has formally submitted their response to the Residence Staff application to the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB). Human Resources has posted copies of this application in every staff room across all main campus residences.

In their response, Housing has asserted that:

“Student residence leaders are not ‘employees’ for the purposes of the Labour Relations Act.”

and that

“A trade union is not an appropriate vehicle to represent the interests of these students.”

This is a stark contrast to the emails sent directly to all student staff members that claimed Housing “respects the right of our employees to unionize,” and values us as “key parts of the student experience at Western.”

Housing has made it clear that without our efforts Western would not be able to boast the success of being Canada’s top residence system. To then file a response claiming we are not employees discredits all of the hard work we put into our roles, and fractures the “solid foundation of trust, mutual respect, and collaboration” we supposedly have with our employer.

~

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Confirmation of Filing and Notice to Employees

The Western University Residence Staff application was formally accepted by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB). The next step of the process is for the OLRB to review the application. We expect that the board will present our employee group with a date, time, and location for the Secret Ballot Vote in the coming days. Congratulations, everyone!

This is the first of several notices that the board will require to be posted. Check back here for future updates.

The full text of the Confirmation of Filing and Notice to Employees can be read below:

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Response to Recent Campus-Wide Staff Meeting

“Employees who tell the truth and leaders who listen are an unbeatable combination.”

The recent Campus-Wide Staff Meeting left us with this message. We agree with this sentiment, but when employees tell the truth and it lands on deaf ears, what are we left with?

We welcome the new policies that Housing has committed to, namely: access to the Employee Assistance Program as well as Front Desk. The news of a unionization effort has clearly motivated Housing to action.

Some of this action, such as the decision to restore our Front Desk access, was made with such haste that even some of our Residence Managers were not made aware until the campus wide meeting happened.

While the steps made by management have been helpful, it is not enough. Given that access to the Western EAP is not guaranteed in our contract there is nothing that stops Housing from revoking this resource, just as they have in the past with access to behind Front Desk.

The Staff Advisory Committee has tried to consult with Housing for the past four years to address issues pertaining to compensation. The 47% salary increase for Residence Advisors was due to two factors:

1. During January of 2018, a salary adjustment was implemented for Residence Advisors who were a part of the 2017-2018 Residence Staff Team. This was due to the provincial minimum wage increase.

2. With the introduction of Provincial Bill 148 A Plan for Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs, on November 22, 2017, Equal Pay for Equal Work was implemented. This bill went into effect on January 1, 2018. As a direct result, Housing conducted consultation directly with Central Human Resources at Western University. The result of this consultation accounted for the remaining value of the 47% salary increase.

While Residence Advisors received this salary increase, Residence Dons, Community Leaders, and Academic and Leadership Programmers received no salary increase, despite the same factors.

Residence Staff who were members of the Staff Advisory Committee during 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 have indicated that their consultation played a minimal role in garnering this salary increase.

Think about what we could achieve when we form a union. In reaching out to fellow Residence Staff members, it is clear that many see through the employer’s recent promises to offer the Employee Assistance Plan and Front Desk access. Housing dangling short-term incentives in front of us such as Snuggies and PlayStations does not sway us.

To our advantage, the employer is paying more attention to us now – their key talking points on Monday night mirrored our website – and we’re in touch with CUPE staff and lawyers to ensure that this favourable attention doesn’t cross the line into undue influence. We don’t believe Western is foolish enough to misstep here, particularly with all of us being aware of our rights during a union drive, but if you do witness any questionable behaviour, please contact us right away at rezstaff2018@gmail.com.

There is high turnover in our field of work but as Union members with a legally enforceable Collective Agreement, we’ll be able to maintain and build on Residence Staff rights from year to year.

Unionization is about constructing stronger bonds and building a better partnership with our employer and within our employee group. The more united that student leaders are at Western, the more honest the conversations are that we’ll be able to broker.

We’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of what is possible.

~