1998-07-02_Minutes
87-104
COMMON COUNCIL
JULY 2,1998
At a meeting of the Common Council, held at the City Hall in the City of
Saint John, on Thursday, the second day of July, AD. 1998, at 4:00 o'clock p.m.
present
Shirley McAlary, Mayor
Deputy Mayor Chase and Councillors Ball, Chase, Court,
Desmond, Fitzpatrick, Titus, Vincent and White
- and -
Messrs. 1. Totten, City Manager; J. Nugent, City Solicitor; P.
Woods, Deputy City Manager; J. C. MacKinnon, Commissioner of
Environment and Development Services; P. Groody,
Commissioner of Municipal Operations; P. Hanlon, Manager of
Water and Sewerage Services; Mrs. M. Munford, Common Clerk;
and Ms. C. Mosher, Assistant Common Clerk.
MeetinQ Called To Order - OpeninQ Prayer
Mayor McAlary called the meeting to order, and offered the opening
prayer.
Collective Agreement
With CUPE Local 18
Consideration was given to a report from the City Manager (copies of
which were distributed to Council members at this meeting) submitting a detailed report
on the contract proposal with CUPE Local 18 (Outside Workers), a copy of the tentative
agreement with CUPE Local 18, and the supporting Schedules for the retirement
incentives and financial implications; and recommending that, subject to approval by
the City Solicitor as to legality and form, Common Council authorize the Mayor and
Common Clerk to execute the submitted collective agreement, dated May 1, 1998,
between the City of Saint John and CU PE Local 18 and further that, conditional upon
the execution of this agreement by both parties, Common Council approve a retirement
incentive package as outlined in the submitted Schedule A for up to 20 permanent
employees in Local 18.
Mayor McAlary asked the Common Clerk to read the recommendation
put forth by the City Manager with regard to the tentative collective agreement with
CUPE Local 18 and for a subsequent motion, followed by remarks by the City Manager,
a presentation by Local 18, and comments by the Deputy City Manager.
On motion of Councillor Court
Seconded by Councillor White
RESOLVED that, subject to approval by the
City Solicitor as to legality and form, Common Council authorize the Mayor and
Common Clerk to execute the submitted collective agreement between the City of Saint
John and CUPE Local 18, and the two submitted Letters of Agreement regarding loss
of income option and long-term seasonal employees; and further that, conditional upon
the execution of this agreement by both parties, Common Council approve a retirement
incentive package as outlined in the submitted Schedule A for up to 20 permanent
employees in Local 18.
Mr. Totten, in recommending the submitted contract to Council, advised
that, in his perspective, the five-year contract with Local 18 would serve the City very
well and set the tone for labour relations for the next five years.
David Gould, President of CUPE Local 18, was present at the meeting
accompanied by a delegation of Local 18 employees and Robert Davidson, CUPE
Representative; introduced the members of the Local 18 negotiating team Wally Gilbert,
Gary Sabean, Christopher Gaudet and Robert Beman; and a video was presented on
behalf of Local 18 featuring various employment activities in which members of Local
18 were involved in the City of Saint John. Mr. Gould read a joint news release (copies
87-105
COMMON COUNCIL
JULY 2,1998
of which were distributed to Council members at this meeting), which included, among
other things, the manner in which the contract would provide for better services to the
public. Also distributed at this meeting by Local 18 was a letter responding to the letter
from the Saint John Board of Trade, which was considered at Council's June 29, 1998
meeting regarding the tentative agreement with Local 18.
Mr. Woods, through a computerized presentation (copies of which were
distributed to Council members at this meeting), highlighted the proposed collective
agreement in terms of Local 18's service responsibilities, the interest-based negotiation
process and critical assumptions made during the process, the key contract proposals,
the issue of employment security, wage adjustments, and the reasons for concluding
that the contract made good business sense. Mr. Groody, in commenting on the
proposed collective agreement, expressed the view that, overall, the changes proposed
would mean better, more cost effective, service to the public now and over the long
term through the changes in hours of work provisions and new flexibility built into the
scheduling system, the new provisions for casual employees which would allow the City
the ability to hire the best people available on the labour market in the long-term, and
the addition of a half-hour to the working day of every foreman and plant operator.
Mr. Totten, referring to the two letters of agreement submitted with the
tentative agreement, requested Council to also give the Mayor and Common Clerk
authorization to sign these as part of the City Manager's recommendation and, during
discussion Councillor Ball advised that there was only one point which he could not
accept and, while employment security was very important, he had trouble with the
guaranteed numbers as it was the inalienable right that, sooner or later with the Union's
support, management have a choice to some extent. Mr. Nugent suggested that, as
the City Manager in his latter comments expressly noted that his recommendation
extended to the Letters of Agreement that form the final two pages of the package
before Council and if Council were supportive of that recommendation, for the sake of
the record Council should formally amend the motion before it to add to it authority for
the Mayor and Common Clerk to execute each of those two documents. Councillor
Court proposed such an amendment, which was seconded by Councillor White, and
the Mayor noted that, since the amendment had the same mover and seconder as the
original motion, if the mover and seconder would agree to include authority for
execution of the two Letters of Agreement with the original motion, only one motion
would be required, whereupon Councillors Court and White indicated their agreement
and the motion was changed to that above.
Question being taken, the motion was carried with Councillor Ball voting
"nay".
Adiournment
The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned.
Common Clerk