Canadian Labour Reporter - sample

2 Canadian HR Reporter, a HAB Press business 2019 Toronto school bus drivers ratify contract TORONTO — School bus drivers who work at Stock Transportation in the Toronto North Division and the Toronto East Division ratified a new three-year collective agreement on May 4. "I am proud of the resolve of the bargaining committees, who negotiated a payment system that recognizes all working time associated with performing the daily duties of a school bus driv- er," said Debbie Montgomery, Unifor Local 4268 president. "Drivers will now be paid from the time they start working and until they finish each of the split shifts they do every morning and afternoon." Unifor represents more than 575 school bus drivers who pro- vide services for Toronto Dis- trict School Board, the Franco Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Driving a school bus is an all-day commit- ment with split shifts of work be- tween 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., said the union. The new agreement includes an 8.1 per cent increase to the base driving wage over three years and guarantees a min- imum of four hours' pay. More importantly, it means drivers will be paid for all hours worked, when their routes or duties ex- tend beyond four hours, said Unifor. The agreement will result in more paid hours for drivers. For example, a driver who had a route that had considerable travel time before or after the students were on and off the bus who was working 5.5 hours a day but only paid for four hours of route time will now be paid for the full 5.5 hours, said the union. Town of Esterhazy, Sask., workers join CUPE ESTERHAZY, Sask. — Munici- pal employees from the Town of Esterhazy recently joined the Canadian Union of Public Em- ployees (CUPE). "We are thrilled that the work- ers at the Town of Esterhazy voted to join our growing union," said Guy Marsden, CUPE na- tional representative. "We are looking forward to negotiating a fair wage increase, and a legally binding first collective agree- ment." The newest members of CUPE voted to join the union in a mail-in ballot that was counted on April 9. The Labour Relations Board issued the certification order on April 29, said the union. Ontario, Quebec layoff s reversed at Bell Canada TORONTO — Unifor and Bell Canada reached an agreement on May 1 to reverse layoffs of Bell technicians in Toronto. The union and the employer agreed to a memorandum that guarantees the recall of all 76 employees who received sur- plus notice on April 18, to return to work on May 6. The union and Bell also agreed to the offer of a limited retirement incen- tive offer to craft and services employees, said the union. On April 18, Bell Canada issued layoff notices to 76 tech- nicians across Ontario and Quebec. The union worked to reverse this layoff publicly and privately in successive meetings with the employer, said Unifor. "We will continue to fight back against all attempts to elim- inate jobs, outsource and erode the quality of unionized work at Bell," said Renaud Gagné, Unifor Quebec director. LABOUR BRIEFS FORMERLY CLV REPORTS Serving labour relations professionals since 1956 www.labour-reporter.com Published weekly by HAB Press, a subsidiary of Key Media Subscription rate: $599 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Email: info@habpress.ca Website: www.labour-reporter.com President Tim Duce Editor/Supervisor Sarah Dobson | (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@habpress.ca News Editor John Dujay | (416) 298-5129 john.dujay@habpress.ca Sales Manager Paul Burton | (416) 649-9928 paul.burton@habpress.ca Marketing Co-ordinator Keith Fulford | (416) 649-9585 keith.fulford@habpress.ca Labour Reporter Canadian www.labour-reporter.com LABOUR LENS Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir ©2019 HAB Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (HAB Press). Return Mail Registration # 1522825 Return Postage Guaranteed Paid News Revenue Toronto e publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional advice. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. e analysis contained herein represents the opinion of the authors and should in no way be construed as being either offi cial or unoffi cial policy of any governmental body. ISSN 0045-5113 Publications Registration 2089 Canadian Labour Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications. Visit www.hrreporter.com for more information. Employees of the Lebanese central bank gather in front of the central bank in Beirut during a May 6 strike over state budget proposals that would cut their bene ts.

• Cover