Here are the results of the CUPE Local 5435 referendum election conducted September 23, 2019:

President
Alexander Osei-Owusu

Vice-President
Brianna Branton

Secretary-Treasurer
Hillarey Noble

Trustees (3 positions)
Chineneye Akinbede (3-year)
Favour Okaah (2-year)
Hannah Humphries (1-year)

Evergreen #1 Bargaining Committee Representative
Richard Njilefac

Evergreen #2 Bargaining Committee Representative
Heather Gowanlock

Congratulations to all the successful candidates and thanks also to everyone who put their name forward for an officer or bargaining committee position! There will be more opportunities for members to get involved in your new CUPE Local as bylaws are developed and new committees and positions established.

Thanks also to all those who came out today to participate in the election process.

Nominations have closed for the officer and committee positions for your new Local. Congratulations to all those who have been acclaimed! A referendum election will be held for the contested positions on Monday, September 23, 2019 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the CUPE Saskatoon Area Office (250 Cardinal Crescent). Please plan to participate!

OFFICERS

President – ELECTION WILL BE HELD SEPT. 23
Alexander Osei-Owusu
Tamara Slowski

Vice-President– ELECTION WILL BE HELD SEPT. 23
Brianna Branton
Mykala Dotschkat

Secretary-Treasurer – ELECTION WILL BE HELD SEPT. 23
Rayna Cieckiewicz
Hillarey Noble

Recording Secretary
Megan Bidochka – ELECTED BY ACCLAMATION

Trustees (3 positions) – ELECTION WILL BE HELD SEPT. 23
Chineneye Akinbede
Jenna Freeman
Hannah Humphries
Favour Okaah

BARGAINING COMMITTEE

Evergreen #1 – ELECTION WILL BE HELD SEPT. 23
Mykala Dotschkat
Richard Njilefac

Evergreen #2 – ELECTION WILL BE HELD SEPT. 23
Heather Gowanlock
Millie Okpoko
Tamara Slowski

Thain 
Megan Bidochka – ELECTED BY ACCLAMATION

Robertson
Justin Mayoh – ELECTED BY ACCLAMATION

Weyakwin
NO NOMINATIONS

Streb
Wendy MacWilliams – ELECTED BY ACCLAMATION

Balfour
Alexander Osei-Owsu – ELECTED BY ACCLAMATION

Bentley
Roseanna Fedato – ELECTED BY ACCLAMATION

Costigan
Jamie Gauthier – ELECTED BY ACCLAMATION

PLEASE NOTE: Members will need to fill out a membership application form to CUPE Local 5435 to be able to vote in the above elections. If you haven’t filled out an application form yet, you can do so at the CUPE Saskatoon Area Office prior to voting on September 23, 2019.

All union members at CBI Health Group are strongly encouraged to fill out an application for membership to CUPE Local 5435. You must fill out this form, which can be downloaded here, in order to be eligible to vote in the Local elections on Monday, September 23 and to let your name stand for election to an officer position or a bargaining committee position.

If you are accepting a nomination for election, please ensure your application for membership is dropped off at the CUPE Saskatoon office (250 Cardinal Cres.) or faxed to (306)781-8177 or scanned and e-mailed to gmarsden@cupe.ca no later than the end of Wednesday, September 18. 

 

DROP-IN INFORMATION MEETING

Date: Friday, September 13, 2019
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Place: CUPE – Saskatoon Area Office, 250 Cardinal Crescent

Purpose: To explain the duties of the officer and committee positions which will be up for election, gather nominations for these positions, discuss the upcoming bargaining process, meet your CUPE National Representative, Craig Thebaud, and have your questions answered.

(NOTE: All employees will need to sign a membership card in order to vote and be nominated for a position.)

DROP-IN REFERENDUM ELECTION

Date: Monday, September 23, 2019
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Place: CUPE – Saskatoon Area Office, 250 Cardinal Crescent

NOTE: Members will receive notice of the nominated candidates by Thursday, September 19, 2019. Once the polls close, the ballots will be counted immediately afterward and the results will be sent via email and posted on the website. Candidates may appoint scrutineers to observe the vote count if they so choose. The candidate receiving the most votes for a position will be elected.

According to the CUPE Constitution elections will need to be held for the following positions:

OFFICERS

• President
• Vice-President
• Secretary-Treasurer
• Recording Secretary
• Trustees (3 positions)The term of office for the above positions is one year, with the exception of the Trustee positions, which will have staggered terms of three years, two years and one year. The Trustee candidate receiving the most votes will become the 3-year Trustee, the Trustee candidate receiving the second highest amount of votes will become the 2-year Trustee and so on.

BARGAINING COMMITTEE

To ensure appropriate workplace representation, one representative will be elected from each of the following houses:

• Evergreen 1
• Evergreen 2
• Thain
• Robertson
• Weyakwin
• Streb
• Balfour
• Bentley
• The president will also be an automatic member of the committee

NOTE: Designated bargaining committee representatives will be elected by members who normally work within that grouping. For example, the candidate for the Robertson Bargaining Committee Representative position should normally work at the Robertson House and will be elected by members who normally work at Robertson.

NOTE: Members can only fill one officer position, but they can hold an officer position and sit on the bargaining committee as well.

Nomination forms for the above positions will be accepted up to 11:59 p.m., on Wednesday, September 18, 2019. Forms can be 1) submitted at the information meeting, 2) faxed to (306) 781-8177 (Attention: Guy Marsden), 3) scanned and emailed to gmarsden@cupe.ca or 4) sent as a photo attachment to a text to (306) 541.7659.

Residential and transitional care home workers at Saskatoon’s CBI Health Group have voted by a near-unanimous margin to join the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

The mail-in ballots were counted by the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board on August 14, 2019. The union won 98 percent of the unspoiled ballots cast in the secret ballot vote that was triggered by CUPE’s application to the SLRB on July 2, 2019. The win capped several months of organizing and card-signing.

The new bargaining unit will cover almost 200 employees who work in Saskatoon as childcare workers, community support workers, licensed practical nurses and homemakers.

“We are happy to welcome the workers at CBI Health Group into our growing union. Joining CUPE is one of the best decision workers can make to improve their job and secure fairness in the workplace,” said Tom Graham, president of CUPE Saskatchewan. “We will work with our new members to fight for fair wages and a legally binding collective agreement.”

Next steps will include electing a Local executive and a bargaining committee to negotiate a first collective agreement. The details of the founding meetings and election process will be posted on the website and e-mailed when confirmed.

CUPE is the largest union in the province, representing 30,000 members across a variety of sectors. CUPE represents over 30 locals in the Community Based Organizations sector.

The Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (SLRB) issued a Notice of Vote July 16 to determine whether residential and transitional employees of the CBI Health Group in Saskatoon wish to be represented by CUPE for the purposes of collective bargaining with their Employer.

The secret ballot vote is being conducted via a mail-in ballot. All eligible voters – 196 CBI Health Group employees in total – will receive a ballot package including instructions, a ballot and three envelopes. Please carefully follow the SLRB’s instructions provided in your ballot package, using all the provided envelopes to ensure your ballot is not spoiled. (The SLRB uses this double-envelope system to ensure the secrecy of your ballot.)

The deadline for the SLRB to receive ballots from CBI Health Group employees is Tuesday, August 6. 

If a majority of eligible voters who cast ballots vote YES then your workplace will be unionized. CUPE can then start fighting for fairer wages, paid sick leave, proper vacations, more control over work schedules and other workplace improvements that the members identify.

If you don’t receive your ballot package (or a delivery notice for this) please immediately contact the SLRB at 787-7210.

 

CUPE filed an application with the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (SLRB) July 2, 2019 to represent CBI Health Group residential and transitional care home workers in Saskatoon.

The SLRB has since forwarded the union’s application to CBI Health Group. The signed union cards remain with the SLRB and are kept confidential. Your Employer is not entitled to know who signed a union card.  CBI Health Group has three business days to forward the list of employees – names, addresses, job titles and dates of hire – that matches CUPE’s bargaining unit description as outlined in our application. Your Employer also has ten (10) business days to issue a reply if they wish to challenge or comment on the union’s application in some way.

CUPE is confident with this second application that enough employees have signed union membership cards to trigger a secret ballot vote. Once CBI Health Group submits their list of employees to the SLRB, the union will have an opportunity to verify the accuracy of the list. If it is determined that at least 45 per cent of the employees of the proposed bargaining unit have signed cards, the SLRB will then initiate a secret ballot vote, which is typically a mail-in ballot. 

Further updates will follow as they become available.

We are pleased to launch this website to provide CBI Health Group employees with more information about the process and benefits of unionizing your workplace with CUPE. Have a question? Check out the Frequently asked questions link on our website. Want to help out in our campaign or sign a union card? Please click on the Get in touch link.

Please visit this website regularly for new updates and share the link to this website with your co-workers.

All employees have a legal right (under The Saskatchewan Employment Act) and a constitutional right (under The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) to join a union of their choice. It is illegal for an employer to restrain, intimidate, threaten, coerce, suspend, terminate or discriminate against an employee in response to an employee exercising their right to join a union. The Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board has broad powers to order employers to stop committing unfair labour practices, to reinstate employees unjustly dismissed and to order employers to pay lost wages and benefits.