Perhaps it is like Christmas. It is a chance for the union to help spread joy and hope to at least our own members.

Members this year will be making the following demands to ECC:

• A 2% pay increase demand to help offset the cost of the consumption tax hike.
• For ECC to scrap their 5-year limit on new hires and it’s rule of refusing pay increases for those on the newly established unlimited term contract.
• The establishment of retirement allowance. Regular company employees have always had this at ECC and now that they’re forcing members to retire at 65, we want the same benefits.
• The end of what at ECC are called EQ days. These are days when instructors who enjoyed the benefit of a national holiday are forced to work to make up for the day off which basically kills national holidays.

Members are prepared for what could become a difficult round of collective bargaining for the new 2020 contracts. We’ve seen ECC become rather stingy in the last few years and hope to gain back some of our lost ground, especially in the new rules ECC has put in place to offset the benefits of the new “unlimited term contract” law. 

Keeping on with the Christmas message in this article, we hope that ECC doesn’t turn out to be the Scrooge of 2020.