CUPE 229-0 Bargaining Update

A super-majority of our members support our demands

We started by giving copies of your petition to each member of management’s bargaining committee along with copies of the letter we sent to Principal Patrick Deane and Provost Matthew Evans.

We pointed out that 227 of our members signed the petition: that’s 83%! We emphasized that the petition demands fair wages and adequate staffing levels, and that you support the demands of the other 5,000 workers on campus whose leaders are also about to begin bargaining with Queen’s.

Demand for a common table

Our package contains many proposals that are also being submitted by other unions. We told management that we want a common table with CUPE 254 (Lab Technicians) and CUPE 1302 (Library workers), who have the most proposals in common with us. We told them that meeting with us together would be the most efficient use of management’s time. Management is not agreeing to a common table at this time.

Economic Hardship experienced by our members

We pointed out that all our members are making less money in real dollars than we did ten years ago because our wages have not kept up with inflation. We shared some calculations that we made using CUPE’s Inflation Calculator (use it to track the decline in your own real income!). 

Custodians made $23.31/hour in July 2014. When you factor in inflation since then, today’s $26.32/hour wage is 13.72% lower in real dollars. Trades made $33.07 in July 2014: today’s $37.34/hour wage is also 13.72% lower. Even Caretakers who got the additional bump last year (after our pressure!) are making less in real dollars than in 2015: Caretakers made $15.25/hour in July 2015, and Caretakers with less than 2 years service now make $19/hour, which is 1.76% less that nine years ago.

It’s no wonder, then, that our own Member Survey revealed real economic hardship among members. Out of 213 members who completed our survey:

• 70.72% have had to stop putting money aside from savings or have had to drain savings to make ends meet.
• 64.64% have struggled to pay monthly bills (rent/mortgage, heat, hydro)
• 41.99% report suffering from poor health, including mental health
• 39.23% have been late paying bills
• 34.25% cut back on food or used the food bank
• 24.31% faced housing insecurity or worry about where they will live

We reminded Queen’s of their boasts about their commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, among which is a commitment to No Poverty. Yet they are paying poverty wages to many of our members.

Compensate us for Bill 124 

As you know, Bill 124 limited your wage increases to 1%/year in our last contract. Even after the law was declared unconstitutional in late 2022, Queen’s refused to re-adjust your wages, despite your having to endure the highest years of inflation we’ve seen in decades. We told Queen’s we demand compensation now. We deserve the same increases that were given to our faculty union, QUFA, who got 3.5%, 3%, and 3%. We pointed out that several highly-paid Queen’s administrators, including some across the table from us, received generous wage increases while you got 1’s.

Eliminate the Two-tier Caretaker wage 

We told Queen’s that eliminating the disparity between Caretaker and Custodian wages was the top priority of our members after wages on our survey. It is wrong for some people to be earning $6-7/hour less than others doing the exact same job: it hurts morale and affects productivity. Our Caretakers make $19/hour for their first two years, and $20.55 after five years: those rates are still below Kingston’s living wage of $20.63. 

Trades market adjustments 

Our Tradespeople are vastly underpaid compared to other trades employers in Kingston. This has meant trades positions staying vacant because Queen’s can’t attract people to work for the wages they’re paying. Many of our trades members have told us they are waiting for the outcome of these negotiations to determine if they will stay here or move on to other jobs. We are demanding a market adjustment for Trades employees before regular wage increases are applied.

Contracting Out 

We told Queen’s that contracting out is the next most important issue to our members as identified on our survey after ending the two-tier Caretaker wage. It makes economic sense to pay our tradespeople the market rate, because when Queen’s doesn’t have their own staff to do the work, they pay even more to contract it out to private companies. We asked Queen’s to disclose the costs of the contractors they use to do trades work, and they have refused to share that information with us. We are proposing an end to the contracting out of work that our members can do and a commitment to reviewing all currently contracted-out services with a view to bringing that work back in-house. 

Staffing

Finally, we reminded Queen’s about the other big issue addressed by our petition: employing enough staff to do the work to keep the Queen’s campus clean and safe. We want our university to offer a premiere environment for research and learning, but that’s not possible without enough people to clean the buildings and maintain their operating systems. Unfortunately, Queen’s recent focus on its deficit has led to staff reductions even as their enrollment numbers and occupied space increase. Budgets are about choices, and Queen’s can choose to spend in ways that employ enough fairly-paid staff. We are proposing that they commit to a minimum number of staff employed in our union.