Can You Believe It >>>> CRWU Marks Our 1st Anniversary

Yes, it's true.
We received our certification one year ago today.

We wish one and all the very best over the holidays and into the New Year.

Your CRWU

Information Update

It has come to our attention that WEG customer service employees were selling dollar pick-7 quick picks directly to the public yesterday (Friday, Nov. 24/06).

The Union is in the process of filing a policy grievance against WEG, as well as filing complaints with the Ontario Racing Commission and the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (CPMA) for violating their respective regulations.

UPDATE on FSCO order to include Non Seniority List employees in Pension Plan

Here is the latest news on this issue.

Please refer to our posting of Friday, July 21, 2006 -

"Woodbine ordered to include Non Seniority List employees in Pension Plan"

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The letter above from FSCO in - Adobe format

Double click link to view or right-click to download and save.

Grievance Report

WEG has agreed not to require employees to work Statutory Holidays unless they have requested to do so.

The Union has filed a policy grievance that each Seniority List should be entitled to twelve (12) one day/shift SU’s for calendar year 2006.

The Union has filed a grievance regarding WEG’s policy of requiring any employee who indicates they are available to work a 7th day, be available for all three shifts on that 7th day. It is the Union’s position that any employee who is available for six (6) full days should be allowed to select one or more shifts on the 7th day of the week.

The Union has filed a policy grievance regarding WEG’s unreasonable shortage guidelines and related discipline. WEG has no specific shortage guidelines and some of the discipline is, in our view, outrageous. For example, a Seniority List employee was given the following suspension:

“Your shortage record for the month of September totaled $14.00 and you were short 11% of the time you worked……You are to serve a one day suspension…“

The Union has filed for arbitration where WEG has not allowed employees to return to work at specific teletheatres for strike related activity.

The Union has filed for arbitration for a case where WEG has required a teller to pay $500 for a ticket a customer did not want. A successful resolution to this case may have a huge bearing on the inherent unreasonable risks related to our jobs.

Information Update

For grievances and related legal issues which originated prior to the certification of the CRWU (December 1st, 2005), Cam Nelson, the President of SEIU Local 2 on, Brewery, General and Professional Workers Union, has offered to act as legal counsel for the CRWU.

The CRWU has accepted this offer.

Information Update

Hello Brothers and Sisters

Effective October 22, 2006, we have terminated our service agreement with Teamsters Local 419. We are very grateful to the Teamsters for the assistance they have provided. We must repay that assistance. We will do this by recovering union dues that were not collected during the six-month period from January to June 2006. By increasing the monthly dues for Seniority List Employees by ¾ an hour for 18 months from November 1, 2006 until April 30, 2008 we will raise the necessary funds.

Our current monthly union dues are 2 ¼ times the terminal operator hourly rate of pay. This is multiplied by 12 months and divided by 52 weeks to calculate the weekly dues deduction.

Effective this November, the weekly dues deduction will be:

(3 X $21.50 X 12) / 52 = $14.88

We have a Labour-Management/ Scheduling Committee Meeting scheduled for November 6th. Please forward suggestions.

Shortages and a management strategy to reduce costs by forcing our customers to use self-serve terminals continue to be major problems for us with no easy fix. We will attempt to get WEG to modify some of its strategies by using every resource at our disposal to develop realistic ideas of our own and presenting them professionally.

Regarding shortages, we plan on making representation to the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency to make their regulations more friendly to mutuel employees and not just a tool for racing associations to collect shortages. When we last made a major submission to the CPMA in 1977, they suggested that one recourse was to charge customers who were overpaid. They sent us a newspaper article, which is included here.

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We already have a number of grievances regarding shortages; one involves a wrong/stuck ticket. A satisfactory resolution to this case may reduce the risk of being stuck with a wrong ticket.

In Solidarity,


CRWU REPRESENTATIVES: as of September 28, 2006


PRESIDENT
Brian D. Henderson
519-856-0295
putz@cogeco.ca

VICE PRESIDENT
John Stafford
519-534-9051
jrstafford@sympatico.ca

SECRETARY-TREASURER
Susan Borbely
905-791-9018
sborbely1003@rogers.com

ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
Fred Sykes

MEMBERS WELFARE
Maureen Innes

HEALTH & SAFETY
Ronni Dowling
Rod Horner
Angie Laurusaitis

PENSION COMITTEE
John Colacci
Tracy Duenas
Brian D. Henderson
John Stafford
Fred Sykes - (Alternate)

STEWARDS
Patricia Ashby
Susan Borbely
Lynne Bunting
Rejeanne Caya
Dave Davis - Chief Steward
Paula Gaetan
Roxanne Harlow
Rod Horner
Dawn Kelly
Nancy Mahar
Sylvia Surk

Woodbine ordered to include Non Seniority List employees in Pension Plan

On June 15, 2004, a submission was sent to the Superintendent of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) requesting the FSCO to order Woodbine to accept Non Seniority List employees as Members of the Mutuel Employees Pension Plan. On July 7, 2006, the FSCO agreed to the request.

Here is part of the communication sent by the FSCO to Woodbine:

“Please confirm by July 31, 2006 that corrective action has been taken to remedy this situation, as follows:

All ‘Non-Seniority List’ employees who satisfied the minimum service requirements as set out under the Pension Benefits Act (Ontario), effective January 1, 1988, would be entitled to membership in the Plan effective January 1, 1988 or at any time after that date once they met the minimum service requirements set out in Section 31 of the PBA.

All ‘Seniority List’ employees who were previously “Non-Seniority List’ employees will need to have their date adjusted in accordance with the minimum service requirements set out in Section 31 of the PBA."
…….........................................................................
“Part-time employment
31. (3) A pension plan may require not more than twenty-four months of less than full-time continuous employment with the employer, with the lesser of,

(a) earnings of not less than 35 per cent of the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings;

or
(b) 700 hours of employment with the employer, in each of two consecutive calendar years immediately prior to membership in the pension plan, or such equivalent basis as is approved by the Superintendent, as a condition precedent to membership in the pension plan.”

Woodbine has requested additional time and information from FSCO before it responds.

We will keep you posted as this case develops.

There are many issues to be addressed.