United Food & Commercial Workers Union
Local 1400

Service Sector

Would you like to see how an arbitration hearing works first hand?
If you would like to attend an arbitration hearing in your spare time, please call Amy at the Union office at 384.5787 or 1.800.274.4036 from outside of Saskatoon, or by email to Amy for dates, times and locations of upcoming hearings.

Service Sector Shop Stewards and OH&S Committee Members

Service Sector Updates

Grievance Reports

Fall/Winter 2007

Heritage Inn, Saskatoon - A member at this workplace who had been given an unjust seven-day suspension has had their grievance resolved; the suspension is removed from the member’s file with full pay.

Garda Security - A member who filed a grievance after being unjustly terminated, and who was no longer interested in working for the company, received a settlement of approximately $5,000.

Over three years ago, when this contract was ratified, there was a stipulation in it that the scheduled wage increases would occur in January of each year. Instead of doing this, the company maintained their practice of paying out the increases in June. This meant that for the first six months of 2005, 2006 and 2007 these members were being cheated out of their wage increases. To resolve this outstanding issue, Garda will be paying out a settlement of $8000.00 divided between the ten affected members.

United Protection Services - After this company refused to pay the attendance bonus to entitled members with perfect attendance, a grievance was filed. The resolve saw eight guards receive their full bonus entitlement of $200 each. Another member, who was not being paid at the proper rate of pay, received the benefit of a grievance settlement; the employer will be paying this member 50¢ per hour for all hours worked since September 2006 to resolve the issue.

Summer 2007

Garda – A member who had not been reimbursed for training as per the Collective Agreement had her grievance resolved with 40 hours of lost wages and the cost of the training being reimbursed to her.

Avion Services Corporation – A grievance was resolved recently for a member from this unit who was not being paid the correct rate of pay. The settlement provided for 50¢ per hour for all hours worked since September 2006 to be paid to the member (approximately $1,300).

Spring 2007

Saskatchewan Science Centre - A grievance was filed on behalf of a group of members who were being treated unfairly and harassed at the workplace by a manager. Since the grievance was filed, the management person involved has left the workplace.

Winter 2006/2007

National Hotel – After the Union discovered the employer was not properly paying employees for missed meal breaks, a policy grievance was filed on behalf of all the employees at the hotel.  As result of this grievance being filed and a settlement being reached, a total of $3,187.09 was put back into the pockets of our members at this location.

Wheatland Regional Library - Members are getting used to their new Collective Bargaining Agreement, reached in the spring of 2006, and are now looking forward to an expanded workplace. The company plans include selling the current building to move to a bigger location.

Salvation Army NRO - Construction has begun on the new Saskatoon location on Faithfull Avenue. It is expected to open in June 2007.

Congratulations to Carrie Bennett who has been promoted to a truck driver position and is doing a fantastic job.

Compass Group Canada Inc. (Regional Psychiatric Centre) - The kitchen group is still running short staffed, resulting in a lot of overtime for the members; sometimes a bit more than they really want.

More members are being trained as Shop Stewards in the local’s schools taking place over the next few months.

Direct Transportation – A number of pay issues for members have been resolved recently as the result of grievance settlements, including where not all statutory holiday pay had been paid, not all bereavement leave pay was paid and where a member was not being paid at the correct wage rate.

Garda Security – This company had not implemented the proper pay increases and/or had not made the proper payment of retroactive pay for a number of workers. A grievance was filed and the issue has now been resolved for the affected members.

Fall 2006

Avion Security (formerly UPS) – A member saw two unjust reprimands removed from their file as a result of a grievance settlement.

Wheatland Regional Library – Two members who filed grievances after being wrongfully terminated agreed to substantial monetary settlements as resolutions. In the interim, they had both found other employment where they were happy. A few weeks after these settlements were agreed upon; the Executive Director left Wheatland’s employ.

April 2006

Initial Security - An issue for a member who was unjustly removed from a site was resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Salvation Army, Saskatoon - Labour/Management meetings have been successful in addressing issues between members and management and seem to be continuing on that path.

Wheatland Regional Library, Saskatoon - There have been a number of grievances filed in the past few months on behalf of members at this unit, which the union and company have not been able to resolve. They are proceeding to the arbitration stage of the grievance procedure.

January 2006

Heritage Inn – A grievance settlement was reached for a member that will allow him to gain the experience needed to apply in the future for a job posting that he had sought.

An arbitration was recently concluded for a member at this workplace who had received a two day suspension regarding a customer complaint. Although the customer was flown in to testify, the arbitrator found that the employee had not been discourteous to the customer, the grievance was upheld and the member has had the suspension removed from their file and was paid for the lost wages incurred.

Cara – Two instances of unjust discipline were resolved by the union resulting in the removal of the documentation from the members’ files.

Initial Security – A grievance settlement resulted in a suspension being removed from the wronged member’s file and in a dignity and respect issue, the grievance was resolved by a letter of apology being issued by the company to the aggrieved member.

Ongoing or Other Issues

April 2006

Salvation Army - The Saskatoon Salvation Army has formally announced that the two locations, Confederation Drive and 51st Street, will be closing and moving to a bigger and brighter location, much as we saw happen in Regina. The union has ensured the protection of the affected employees, and has been assured by the company that the expansion is not only to the size of the store, but also to the number of employees.

Compass Group, Saskatoon - The Saskatoon Compass Group members had a union meeting on February 27, 2006. They are a relatively new unit and have been learning the ins and outs of their new Collective Agreement. Discussions at the unit meeting were educational and everyone had a lot of input and suggestions for the future. Four new shop stewards were elected at the meeting. Congratulations to these new shop stewards and we look forward to seeing you at the upcoming schools.