2
Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017
Staff laid off ;
new managers
hired: Union
SASKATOON — While aca-
demic and support staff are be-
ing laid off to deal with budget
cuts, Saskatchewan Polytech-
nic continues to create addi-
tional managerial positions,
said the Saskatchewan Gov-
ernment and General Employ-
ees' Union (SGEU).
"It's frustrating that Sas-
katchewan Polytechnic would
claim that budget cuts are forc-
ing it to eliminate much-need-
ed staff positions, and then
promptly turn around and hire
new managers," said Bonnie
Bond, chair of SGEU's profes-
sional services bargaining unit,
which represents non-academ-
ic staff at Saskatchewan Poly-
technic.
The union said it has raised
concerns with the school's
leadership about the rapidly in-
creasing number of managerial
positions at the institute dur-
ing the last three years.
In the 2015-16 academic year
alone, the number of manage-
rial positions increased by 33
per cent — from 113 positions
to 150 positions — according
to SGEU.
"They have added more lev-
els of bureaucracy, instead of
directing funds to front-line
student instruction and sup-
port," said Bond.
On April 26 — a week after
Saskatchewan Polytechnic
gave layoff notices to 23 em-
ployees — both SGEU and the
Saskatchewan Polytechnic
Faculty Association were no-
tified that the post-secondary
institute intends to hire anoth-
er employee for a newly created
managerial position, said the
union.
"The funds that are being
spent to increase the size of the
Saskatchewan Polytechnic's
management team should in-
stead be used to maintain exist-
ing staff positions and to fill the
numerous positions that have
been left vacant," said Bond.
Unifor,
PPWC, Canfor
sign sector
agreement
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. —
Pattern bargaining for Western
Canada's pulp and paper sec-
tor has concluded with a four-
year tentative agreement signed
June 1 by Unifor, the Public
and Private Workers of Canada
(PPWC), and Canfor Pulp.
"The tentative agreement
signed today reflects the impor-
tant contributions of our mem-
bers at pulp and paper work-
places across the West," said
Joie Warnock, Unifor's western
regional director.
The tentative agreement with
Canfor Pulp will set the pattern
for Unifor and PPWC's 17 other
pulp and paper mills in B.C. and
Alberta, according to the union.
Winnipeg
Aramark
workers sign
WINNIPEG — Employees at
Aramark Refreshments in Win-
nipeg unanimously voted in
favour of a new three-year col-
lective agreement May 24 that
brings wage increases and ben-
efit improvements, according to
United Food and Commercial
Workers Canada (UFCW) Lo-
cal 832.
The new contract provides
a 2.5 per cent wage increase in
each year of the agreement, with
the first increase retroactive to
Oct. 1, 2016.
Photo:
Amit
Dave
(Reuters)
LABOUR LENS
A woman sits outside a closed chemist shop during the nationwide strike by the chemists against what they
say is the government's plan to regulate the sale of drugs through an e-platform, in Ahmedabad, India, on
May 30.
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