CUPE Local 745 is calling on town council to stand up for the municipal employees who work tirelessly for the community.

“As municipal workers in The Pas, we are proud of the services we provide to the community,” said John Gislason President of CUPE 745. “We are calling on town council to show us respect for the work we do”.

The collective agreement between the Town of The Pas and CUPE Local 745, representing the town’s municipal workers, expired in December 2014. Both parties have been negotiating since, and on August 31^st members voted in favour of a strike mandate.

“It’s approaching a year since our contract expired, and now is the time for town council to stand up for its workers and negotiate a fair contract” said Gislason. “The people of The Pas value our work, but why doesn’t council?”

On Wednesday, December 16^th, members of CUPE 745 will be presenting to town council at 6 p.m., highlighting the need to work together. Town workers will also focus on the need to ensure municipal workers are treated fairly and with respect.

“Residents of The Pas have always supported town workers because they know the kind of work we do every day,” said Gislason. “We’re looking for the same support from town council to help us achieve a fair contract”.

Outstanding issues include fair wages for the work municipal workers perform, and an opportunity to sit down with management to discuss implementation of job evaluations for clerical positions.

A strike deadline has not yet been established in order to give town council an opportunity to hear out its workers.

We’ve been negotiating our contract with our employer (the Town of The Pas) for almost a year, and they have refused to treat us with fairness and respect.

We’re calling on Town Council to provide municipal workers the type of support we need to do our jobs well.

What are the issues?

As your municipal workers, we work tirelessly to provide the great public services that you rely on.

But Town Council is refusing to support us in our work, by offering wage increases that barely keep up with the rate of inflation.

Considering the services that we provide to the community, we feel that we should be compensated fairly. It’s not a lot to ask for.

Additionally, women who work for the Town of The Pas are treated differently than men. We want to sit down with the Town and talk about how to ensure positions performed by woman are treated the same as those performed by men, but the Town doesn’t want to talk about this.

Why are jobs that are performed by women treated differently!?

Lastly we ask Town Council to treat us with respect. While we were negotiating our contract in good faith, Town Council decided to pass policies that would affect workers without even letting us know!