In the days since our release of the latest issue of Bargaining Beats, I have received a ton of feedback from you, MAHCP members, and I thank each and every one of you.
The volume has been so high, that it’s been impossible for me to respond to every single one, which was the reason for this special statement.
As you know, we have no new dates for Central Bargaining.
In Bargaining Beats, we stated our intent to continue to push the government to get back to the table and get our members a collective agreement.
The reaction from the membership has ranged from calls for job action and work-to-rule, to taking a strike vote. In addition, a good number thanked the committee for its hard work and our union for keeping the membership informed.
What I can tell you is that your executive, committee and staff are discussing our next moves at this very moment. We’re looking for a well-timed and well-thought-out strategy that will help us achieve our desired goal, which is a new collective agreement that is fair.
We have a number of options up to and including holding a strike vote. We have had discussions about holding information pickets and what sort of other job action may be available to us. No decisions have been made as of yet, but we will keep you informed. For any of these strategies to be effective, we need the strong support of our members.
All of this requires some patience, but I believe taking the time to do this right is the best path to follow.
Also, a number of you have asked if perhaps the employer is trying to make this process so long in order to avoid paying any retro-active salary increases. Our stance is and will remain that this would be completely unacceptable.
In Solidarity,
Bob Moroz
President, MAHCP