Attention Cupe 229-1 Food Service Workers!
You are essential in the day-to-day workings of Aramark at Queen’s University, helping to make it a top-tier institution and they cannot function without you!!
However, your contract no longer reflects your value. Now that your contract is up for negotiation it’s time to demand the pay, staffing levels, health benefits, and dignity you deserve. NOW is the time for you to take action to pressure the employer to agree to these demands: contact Chelsea Hall at chelseahall1976@gmail.com to join your Contract Action Team today!
Your bargaining committee wrote to the employer requesting bargaining dates on April 22. And finally almost 7 months later we had a chance to sit down with them and start collective bargaining on November 5 & 6. Obviously meeting was not a priority for Aramark. Your committee also requested to share a bargaining table with CUPE 229-3 (Donald Gordon Centre employees) , as they share a very similar contract, and we are proposing many of the same amendments to our contracts. Yet Aramark refused to meet with us together.
Do you wonder why that is?
Maybe they’re starting to see the strength in our numbers?
Negotiations began November 5th with our lead negotiator making an opening statement about your proposals. Here are some highlights of that opening statement:
Wages
- Members of this bargaining unit are experiencing real economic hardship due to years of declining purchasing power – most members have 11% lower real income than ten years ago.(Check out CUPE’s inflation calculator to calculate the change in your real income!)
- Aramark employees at Queen’s made $19.09/hour in May 2014: today’s $22/hour wage is 11.72% lower in real dollars once you factor in inflation.
- Some may think that $22/hour is somewhat generous, given that the minimum wage is $17.20/hour, and Kingston’s Living wage was $20.63/hour in 2023. But that would be ignoring the fact that Aramark lays its Queen’s employees off for 20 weeks each year.
- With only 32 weeks of income, full-time workers earn only $26,400, and perhaps $35,475 if they get full EI for their layoff time. This is far below the Market Based Measure of Poverty, which was $51,421 for Ontario cities of Kingston’s size.
Staffing
- Aramark employees at Queen’s suffer from an inadequate number of staff employed to do their work.
- CUPE 229-1 members are proud to provide food to the students and staff of this university, and hate having to see long line-ups and inferior service quality when they know that more staff on shift could make a difference.
- Supervisors tell us there aren’t enough staff willing to work, yet so many part-time staff do not get as many hours as they want despite having given their availability.
Health Benefits
- Living on the low incomes that you do, having to pay out of pocket for basic health benefits is an added insult for you.
- Your bargaining committee is proposing substantive improvements to your health benefits plan to help you live in dignity.
After opening statements, we exchanged our first set of proposals. The union presented a 32-page document, and the employer presented a five-page document.
November 6th was spent going back and forth responding to each other‘s proposals. This is a very slow and dry process, especially because the employer is refusing to discuss anything of monetary value at this time. The two sides agreed on a few minor changes such as permitting one day of bereavement leave to be taken up to a year later for a memorial service, expanding the type of health practitioner permitted to write medical notes for sick absences, and minor housekeeping changes.
Here are some important proposals your bargaining committee is making on your behalf:
- Five paid sick days per year for all part-time employees
- A defined benefit pension plan for full-time employees
- A commitment to filling 10% more shifts than, and to maintaining at least the same number of full-time employee as, the last year of our contract.
Stay tuned for more!
Your Bargaining Committee
James Adams-Moore, Chrissy Campbell, Shahabas Jamal, Sue McCleverty, Tara Nelson, Cynthia Plante, Kendra Sweet, & Amy Wilson