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www.nanaimobulletin.com
MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2014
VOL. 26, NO. 64
Work stoppage could delay school opening
I
BY KARL YU
Warm wishes
THE NEWS BULLETIN
Ingrid Roos, a member of Wishes for Warmth, helps sort through quilts and blankets as other members help fit a man with a winter jacket. The group, comprised of members of various Christian churches, was at the Italian fountain in front of Port Place Shopping Centre Thursday giving out donated jackets, shoes, blankets, tuques and other winter clothing to anyone who needed them. CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
New contract gives city workers six-per cent wage increase BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
Nanaimo city employees will get a six-per cent pay hike over three years under a new collective agreement. Nanaimo city council and the Canadian Union of Public Employees ratified a new collective agreement Thursday, giving about 600 city employees a two-per cent annual pay increase over three years. The previous contract expired Dec. 31, 2013
TRUSTEES VOTE to temporarily halt work and award contracts for conversion work in Cedar.
and the two parties have been in negotiations since April. CUPE local 401 and the city recently hired a labour relations mediator to ratify the agreement, which will see employees get $570,000 in retroactive pay, as well as a two-per cent rate hike in 2015 and 2016. In the last year of the contract the pay hike will be split into two increases in January and July. There is also a new job evaluation plan and changes to benefits and allowances, including
a $500 increase by the employer for maximum monthly long-term disability pay. Laurence Amy, first vicepresident for CUPE Local 401, calls it a good deal with a “modest increase” and said the union and its members are happy. Terry Hartley, the city’s director of human resources and organization planning, said it is a fair contract in comparison with others on the Island. The agreement was something left from the
previous council, according to Mayor Bill McKay. “We certainly would have preferred for them to have completed it but we ended up with it and we are glad that we were able to come to a good conclusion.” He does not anticipate any budgetary challenges and said there’s a commitment to ensure it does not affect taxation. A contingency fund had been set up to cover retroactive pay. news@nanaimobulletin.com
The scheduled September opening of the new Cedar Elementary School could be affected by a 30-day moratorium on construction work, according to Nanaimo school district staff. The Nanaimo school trustees approved a motion to temporarily halt construction and awarding of contracts for conversion work on the former secondary school at their regular board meeting Wednesday. The vote was preceded by a presentation from school staff on the implications. To date, playfield, steel-stud framing and plumbing work are either complete, or near completion, and the stoppage could result in a construction completion date of Aug. 31, as opposed to July 31, according to John Blain, Nanaimo school district’s deputy superintendent. A mechanical tender will be put on hold and the delay could require construction work to take place in a tighter time frame. There could be financial implications as well, Blain said. “The district also has an energy manager agreement with B.C. Hydro and [it pays for] 50 per cent of the salaries within our district,” said Blain. “Part of the agreement ... is the strategic energy management plan and as long as we follow that plan, we receive in lieu of that monies for the salaries, so there’s money involved in it.” See ‘CONSTRUCTION’ /4
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