Submitted By: Eric Tuck- President ATU Local 107
ATU 107 Delegates Present: FST Paul Doucette and Rob Doucette other executive board members elected V.P. Dee Osbourne whom is the first Female executive board member elected to local 107 board also re-elected was Chris Campbell ,Peter Shultz , and Brian Laity
I am pleased to report that our current membership consists of 705 Active members and 202 Retirees one of which is Former Local 107 President Budh Dhillon who is in attendance as a Guest at this conference and I would like to recognise his long standing service to our local after serving on our executive board for 4 consecutive terms the last 3 as our president. Please join me in wishing Budh a Happy retirement.
Since our last report I am proud to report that we have successfully negotiated a new 4 year collective agreement that will provide for wage increases of %7 with 1% ,2%,2% and 2% in the final year. It further provides our membership with an enhanced vacation package with up to 8 weeks paid vacation with 30 years of service which we believe is one of the best in the industry.
We were also successful in fighting off attempts by our employer to clawback benefits and introduce co-pays with one exception being a new cap on physio therapy which is now capped at $1500 annually. However we did maintain all other benefits and negotiated new benefits for Incontinence supplies,Hospital beds and repairs as well as C-Pac Sleep Apnea machines for active members.
One other important item that we negotiated was a Recognition clause for the Right to “Safe and Reasonable Schedules” I would be remiss if I didn’t express our gratitude and appreciation to the International and in particular IVP Larry Kinnear for all the guildance and hands on assistance Larry gave us throughout this process.
I should also report that our City Council increased direct funding by over 6 million dollars this year and just last week Premier Kathleen Wynne Announced 1.2 Billion dollars for LRT and Go Services for Hamilton.
The Province is also still considering another request for an additional funding application by Hamilton for $302 million for a new Bus facility and added service enhancements.
So as you can see these are exciting times for Transit in Hamilton. In closing I would also like to thank the host local 1505 for all there hospitality and being such a great host.
Thank you.