Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

New Contract

City, CUPE employees reach five-year contract

May 28, 2019 | 3:34 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops and its CUPE-represented employees have reached an agreement on a new five-year contract.

In a release, the City says the deal includes a 2.5 per cent wage increase in its first year, a 2.25 per cent increase in its second year, and two per cent increases in each of the remaining three years. That totals to 10.75 per cent in wage bumps.

“Both sides worked really hard to come to a fair agreement,” said CUPE Local 900 President Carmen Sullivan. “I always hope for more for our members, but I think it was fair. I look at the inflation rate at 2.7 per cent and I think, ‘The closer we can get to that for our members, the better.'”

CUPE Local 900 says it has 645 members working for the City of Kamloops. That translates to a total of 551 fulltime equivalent (FTE) positions. Sullivan says members voted 96.2 per cent in favour of ratifying the deal.

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“So our members feel that it’s a fair agreement, and I think both sides worked really hard to get there,” said Sullivan. “I don’t think it was an easy process and I think both sides spent these last five months working to get to where we are today.”

According to the release, the City and CUPE have previously collaborated on finding “other efficiencies and cost savings that are already included in the 2019-2023 Financial Plan.” Sullivan says those changes include working to resolve issues on the shop floor instead of going directly to a formal grievance process.

“When we can allow that to happen, it reduces in-house costs by avoiding getting into a formal process,” said Sullivan. “And when we can empower our members to work with their direct supervisors to resolve issues, it helps everybody.”