On behalf of the CUPE391 Bargaining Committee, I would like to thank all of you that attended Sunday night’s ratification meeting. For a Sunday night, the turn out was great and the level of debate around some of the proposals was a brilliant example of democracy in action.  For some of you, it may seem like your opinion was not heard. Rest assured that it’s not so. Even if your side of the debate lost in the vote, your voice was heard and will impact how we proceed in bargaining.

Please continue to share your opinons with us. Send an email to with any questions or opinions you’d like to share with the Bargaining Committee.
In Solidarity
Laura Safarian
Co-Chair C391 Bargaining Committee

On November 2nd, the Bargaining Committee made a special presentation to the VPL Board about pay equity and a new gender-neutral job evaluation system for our Local. A second presentation will happen in December when the bargaining Committee will talk to the Board about issues of particular importance to our auxiliary and part-time members.

As demonstrated through the bargaining survey results, pay equity and a gender-neutral job evaluation system still rank high among our Local’s concerns. However, it is also important to acknowledge that a few of our members have rightly indicated their concerns over how pay equity was addressed in the last round of negotiations, particularly the distribution of special wage adjustments. Rest assured that this bargaining committee is aware of these concerns and is preparing proposals that address pay equity with a strategic approach.

The full text of the presentation from November 2nd can be found by following this link but the essential elements of the presentation included the fact that there is still a significant gender gap in women’s wages in Canada and that our Local has never benefited from any kind of pay equity program or assessment. We pointed out that in other jurisdictions where pay equity is established through legislation, library workers frequently see higher wages and we want our employer to acknowledge this fact and do an evaluation of our wages. Additionally, we attempted to educate our Board on other methods of addressing the gender wage gap including the fair use of special wage adjustments, flat rate increases and removing increments in our pay scales.

In Solidarity,
Laura Safarian
Co-chair CUPE391 Bargaining Committee

Wow! What a great response to the bargaining survey. We are really happy with the information you have provided to us. We received more responses this year than in previous bargaining rounds. Part-timers and auxiliary staff have particular reason to be happy as the ratio of completed surveys this year matches the ratio of full-timers to part-timers and auxiliaries in the workplace.

Job security came out as a significant concern. Improvements for part timers and auxiliaries, wages and pay equity were other major issues for our members. Now the bargaining committee is drafting proposals based on what you’ve told us in preparation for the ratification meeting (November 2011).

We know for sure that we need to do something to address the inequalities experienced by our part-timers and auxiliaries. 85% of those who answered the survey do not have access to benefits, while 39% earn less than the annual Low Income Cut-Off figure of $18,759. More than half of our part-timers and auxiliaries who answered the survey state that they are not given fair and equitable access to hours.

If you have any questions, we are always happy to hear from you: