VANCOUVER- CUPE 1004 members at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) have voted overwhelmingly to accept a new three-year agreement. Using a highly accessible online voting system managed through Simply Voting, members voted 84 per cent in favour of accepting the agreement.
Highlights include:
- Term: Jan. 1, 2014 – Dec. 31, 2016;
- General wage increases of 4.5% over the three years of the agreement (0.5-2-2 respectively);
- Improvements to the employee benefits cost share;
- New language for standby pay provisions;
- Establishment of a training fund for forepersons;
- New parental/adoption/pregnancy leave provisions.
Bargaining committee chair Dennis Donnelly said that in addition to the across-the-board improvements achieved in the agreement, members were pleased at improved job security provisions and access to training funds.
Donnelly said that the use of electronic voting for the first time was very successful, with the number of members participating increasing dramatically over previous ratification votes.
“All CUPE 1004 members who work at the PNE had an opportunity to cast a ballot electronically between September 16 and September 22, 2014. In the end, over 700 members voted in this ballot.”
CUPE 1004 represents 3,400 fulltime, part time, seasonal and Fair-time workers at the PNE.
