Just two weeks before Christmas, support workers at Queens Association for Supported Living are ready to walk off the job.<\/p>\n
The members of Canadian Union of Public Employees local 4963 are upset with inequality in their pension plan.<\/p>\n
Residential Counsellor Carrie Mosher, who also serves on the bargaining and strike committees said the union discovered vocational instructors, had been moved out of the existing pension plan and placed into a new plan with a higher contribution from the employer.<\/p>\n
Mosher said the move was made over a year ago without the knowledge of the union or its members and only came to light when they were looking at contract changes.<\/p>\n
She said members of local 4963 are not okay with being part of a two-tiered system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very disappointed. We were upset. It really did separate us to know that the employer, who had been looking after our pensions had taken vocational instructors and put them in a different pension plan with an increased contribution, did not tell them or give them a choice, and as well, did not offer it to the rest of our union members and then weren\u2019t forthright about it,\u201d said Mosher.<\/p>\n
The mandate of the Queens Association for Supported Living is to help people with disabilities to reach their full potential.<\/p>\n
Mosher said the union is prepared to strike Monday, Dec. 14 if this issue is not resolved.<\/p>\n
CUPE and the province have been in negotiations on the latest contract for the past 15 months. Mosher is disappointed with the impasse, as up until now, the dialogue between the two sides had been agreeable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a very successful collective agreement to be signed once this last issue is settled,\u201d said Mosher. \u201cWe\u2019ve been waiting, but we\u2019re at a standstill at this point with any decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mosher said the union has gone public with their frustrations in order to pressure the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services to resolve the pension issue.<\/p>\n