The Employer initiated grievance was the grievance where the University wanted an arbitrator to rule on whether or not the University can make unilateral changes to OUR pension plan;

The union initiated a grievance where we questioned the  employer taking pension contribution holidays.

APRIL 27, 2017 UPDATE

The Employer’s grievance against CUPE Local 1975 was heard by an Arbitration board on March 29, 2017.  As a reminder, the employer has filed a grievance to determine whether or not they have the right to make changes to our pension plan without our consent. We are awaiting a decision by the Arbitration board – which may  take several months.  Both parties have agreed to put the union’s pension grievance against the University of Saskatchewan on hold while the parties discuss and negotiate pension matters during collective bargaining.  We are hopeful that we can achieve a satisfactory resolution but if not, we can continue with the arbitration of our grievance.  When we discuss pensions at the bargaining table, we will have the additional resource of our pension experts from CUPE National who will assist with that aspect of negotiations.

Several bargaining dates are set for May and June, and into the fall. We look forward to getting underway in the coming days and weeks and we will keep the membership posted.

Your bargaining committee knows how important our pension plan is, and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to protect it into the future.

If you have any further questions regarding the above please call the Union office at 966-7015 and Evelyn will direct   you to one of the members on our negotiating team.

Previous Posts

The Union and the employer were scheduled to proceed to arbitration September 26-29 with respect to the two pension grievances — the Employer initiated grievance was the grievance where the University wanted an arbitrator to rule on whether or not the University can make unilateral changes to OUR pension plan;

The union initiated a grievance where we questioned the  employer taking pension contribution holidays.

Due to some preliminary legal matters that were unable to be resolved prior to the arbitration dates, the arbitrations have been rescheduled for April 24-28, 2017.

We have asked the employer to provide us with prospective dates for negotiations.

Here are some handouts for quick reference around your pension plan and the issues at stake:

• Will you outlive your money?
• Paws off of our pensions

Watch this YouTube video featuring the information session which was held on June 28th featuring our CUPE National’s Pension’s Expert Kevin Skerrett. This video should be watched in its entirety by all CUPE 1975 members. Members need to be aware of why the union is fighting to keep your Defined Benefit Pension Plan. Your plan promises a specified monthly benefit on retirement that is predetermined by a formula based on your earnings history, tenure of service and age, rather than depending directly on individual investment returns.

All pensions are meant to be your deferred wages in retirement. In the past, as part of negotiations, CUPE 1975 has sometimes elected to take less in wages to insure a financially healthy pension for our members. We believe it is important for our members to have a secure, predictable source of income to supplement any Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Pension streams of income at a time when most of us will be in a lower income bracket. In many cases your Defined Pension Plan will be the difference between living above or below the Canadian Poverty line.