bulletin Community Social Services update on wages retro policy grievance 2023_09_29
October 3, 2023
Retroactive pay missing? Tell your local
For months, your bargaining association has been working to resolve an issue that directly affects your well-being: delayed retroactive wage increases. These are the monetary increases for 2022 and 2023, part of the deal your bargaining committee struck after negotating for one year, and which you ratified in March with a 95 percent vote in favour. The new agreement is retroactive from April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2025.
Despite the urgent need for you to receive these well-deserved retroactive wage bumps, some employers have not paid them yet, which is causing undue stress and hardship on the front lines. You should not have to chase down money that you are legally owed when you are trying to focus on mitigating crises and managing day-to-day pressures on the job.
Putting the pressure back where it belongs
Thanks to your proactive reporting, your bargaining association has been following up with individual employers where members alerted them to missing retroactive wages and payments. If you are missing payments — including low wage redress, the $0.25/hour increase to all wage grids, the 3.24-per-cent increase to all wage grids for 2022, and the preliminary 6.75-per-cent increase to all wage grids for 2023 — talk to your Local.
Your input will help us supplement the policy grievance that your bargaining association filed against the Community Social Services Employers Association (CSSEA) with a more targeted approach and diagnose the cause of the delays on a case-by-case basis. Information from the ground – from members like you – will help us localize the problems and build our case. Should the delay continue, we will proceed with scheduled arbitration.
We know this has been a frustrating process, but by working together we can get better results, faster.
In solidarity,
Carmen Sullivan
CUPE Community Social Services Coordinator