Did You Know

If you are paid a per kilometer allowance and the flat rate (under 37.03 f) of the CBA) both your per kilometer allowance and your flat rate will appear as a taxable benefit in Box 14 of your T4 slip.

If your vehicle allowance is reported in Box 14 of your T4 slip, your employer is required to fill out form T2200 (Declaration of Conditions of Employment) and you are entitled to fill out form T777 (Statement of Employment Expenses) when you file your income taxes to claim employment expenses related to your vehicle. Vehicle related expenses go on line 22900 (other employment expenses).

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Vacation year is the twelve-month period from April 1st to March 31st.

Vacation credits increase with your years of service with the employer, starting at 15 days in the first year and moving to 30 days in the 25th year of service.

You have access to your vacation credits as you earn them.

Access your vacation credits by submitting (an) annual vacation request(s). Seniority governs in the department for granting vacation. If you split your vacation into multiple blocks, you will have to indicate your first choice as that is where you will be able to use your seniority, only once. Indicate your second and third choices as well in case you are not most senior for the first selection.

Make sure that you get your vacation request in by March 15th to use your seniority. After that vacation is granted on a first-come basis. If you don’t submit your vacation request by March 15th, you can’t use your seniority.

Vacation schedules shall be posted and confirmed no later than April 1st, and you should have confirmation, in writing, of your requests within seven calendar days.

Enjoy your well-deserved vacation, you earned it!

Your local wants to raise awareness on issues related to influenza season; specifically, facility outbreaks and quarantines. Some members have reported issues regarding an employee’s status and the placement of staff when their facility/department is under quarantine. As such, we wanted to highlight your collective agreement Article 15.13 – Influenza/Quarantine, which reads:

Any time lost as a result of:

• immunization required by the Medical Health Officer in accordance with the Saskatchewan Immunization Manual or the Canadian Immunization Guide; or
• quarantine as determined by the Medical Health Officer; or
• being prohibited from working by the Employer as a result of exposure to an infectious disease as a result of her employment;

shall not result in loss of pay or reduction of the Employee's sick leave credits.

In the case of other than full time Employees, wages and benefits shall be based on the average number of paid hours in the last fifty-two (52) weeks preceding the date of such time lost or date of hire whichever is greater.

The employer agrees to provide immunizations as required for health care workers in accordance with the Saskatchewan Immunization Manual and the Canadian Immunization Guide.

To summarize, and for emphasis, no employee should have their wages or sick leave credits deducted as a result of time lost due to any of the above provisions. Where a facility/department outbreak occurs, our preferred process is that we meet with the employer to determine the scope of the outbreak and number of employees affected. Typically, a meeting would serve to develop options for the reassignment of staff, which may include but not be limited to: reassigning to other departments/facilities not under quarantine; time and travel arrangements to other sites; process for presenting options to staff; other options such as vacation time or time-in-lieu utilization; etc. 

As always we welcome your feedback and questions if you have any regarding the above. It is important that if you have any concerns that you contact your local union office immediately at:

The grievance-arbitration process is an essential part of all collective agreements. However, the CUPE agreement also boasts a Provincial Dispute Resolution Committee (PDRC) as an alternative to what can often be a costly and protracted arbitration process.

This joint Union-Employer committee will meet throughout the year to try and resolve a wide range of grievances – everything but termination grievances. The Union and Employer must agree to refer grievances to the PDRC.

This process saves our members from having to testify at a hearing. The PDRC also saves our Union money by utilizing a joint process to resolve disputes and issues identified by our members. Every settled file saves our Local $10,000 and $20,000 in arbitration fees.

If the members of the PDRC are not able to resolve the grievance or dispute, then the committee will either refer the matter to expedited arbitration or a full panel arbitration hearing.

Since the beginning, unions have attempted to negotiate “work of the bargaining unit” provisions to enhance job security for their members. 

These provisions prevent management from allocating work or jobs normally performed by union members to those outside the bargaining unit.

CUPE’s collective agreement offers particularly strong protection against non-employees doing the bargaining unit work of our members.

Managers or members of other bargaining units cannot work on any jobs included in the CUPE bargaining unit, unless it is an emergency or mutually agreed between the Union and Employer.

Only CUPE’s collective agreement can defend health care jobs by challenging the contracting out of bargaining unit work through an expedited arbitration process – protection you can count on in these times of increasing privatization threats.

CUPE’s collective agreement is the only provincial health care agreement that restricts the use of volunteers in order to protect the job security of union members.

Volunteers play an important role in our health care system. Health regions rely on numerous volunteers to carry out a variety of activities, including visiting and socializing with patients and residents.

However, under the CUPE-SAHO collective agreement, the employer cannot use volunteers to fill existing or new positions, and the use of volunteers cannot result in the direct layoff of any CUPE member.

The collective agreement further prevents the employer from providing any wage or remuneration to a volunteer – another safeguard to protect the bargaining unit work of CUPE members.

CUPE is committed to minimizing precarious work. Working as a part-time, relief, or casual employee is a difficult and unpredictable way to make ends meet for many people in our communities. To minimize precarious work, CUPE has negotiated language that creates as many full-time positions as possible and obligates the employer to continuously review employee scheduling to maximize our members’ job stability.

Under the terms of Article 27.24 of the CUPE-SAHO collective agreement, the employer has an obligation to employ as many full-time employees as it can. When part-time positions are vacated, the employer and union must discuss how shifts will be redistributed to see where a full-time position can be created or where more hours can be added to an existing part-time position (in order of seniority). Two vacant part-time positions may be combined to create one full-time position.

Article 27.24 also requires the employer to review ongoing and regularly scheduled relief hours with a view to first adding those hours to schedules of senior part-time employees who desire more hours or, secondarily, to creating a new permanent part-time position.

Lastly, the collective agreement also requires the employer to review ongoing patterns of overtime and to meet with the union to discuss the reasons for the overtime.

You have the right under the Saskatchewan's Occupational Health and Safety Act to refuse work that you believe, on reasonable grounds, is unusually dangerous to you or anyone else in the workplace. An unusual danger can include a danger that's not normal; a danger that would normally stop work; or a situation in the workplace for which you are not properly trained, equipped or experienced.

If you are going to refuse unsafe work, your first step is to immediately inform your supervisor. Once you report your concern, the work will be investigated. You may refuse the work until you are convinced that sufficient steps are taken to satisfy you that the work is safe or until the Occupational Health and Safety Committee or an Occupational Health and Safety Officer has investigated and advised otherwise.

A worker may not be discriminated against for exercising their rights under The Act.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!
Read Section 23 of The Occupational Health and Safety Act.

A message from your CUPE Health Care Council

Union representative You have the right to have a union representative present when you meet with your manager about any labour relations issue. This right also extends to group meetings between your manager and your unit or department. It includes meetings about terms and conditions of employment, job performance, anything to do with discipline, and any incident investigations where you are interviewed as a witness.

• If you are asked to attend a meeting, make sure that you are informed in advance what the meeting is about and insist on having your union representative present if you believe that any of the above situations apply.

• If you find yourself in a meeting where you believe you should have union representation, you have the right to stop the meeting. The meeting will be rescheduled.

• Sometimes, the employer hires outside investigators to interrogate employees. Sometimes these investigators use aggressive interrogation techniques. If you believe you are being intimidated or bullied in an interview or meeting with an independent investigator or a manager, stop the interview. The meeting may resume or be rescheduled once there is a guarantee of respectful conduct.

Always have a union representative present!

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! Read Articles 2.01, 2.03, 10.04 and 17.01 in your CUPE Collective Agreement.

Posted and Confirmed
Work Schedules

If you are a full-time or part-time employee, your work schedule must be confirmed by the employer no less than 14 calendar days in advance. Once the schedule is confirmed, the employer cannot make any changes to your work schedule without your permission. If the employer makes a change to your work schedule without your consent, the employer is required to pay you two times the rate of pay for the entire shift so changed.

When requesting Family Illness Leave you need only identify the following:

» The family member who is ill. This can include spouses,parents, in-laws, children, guardians, grandparents, and fiancés/fiancées. For a complete list refer to Article 30.05.

» The general nature of your involvement, for example, taking the family member to an appointment, caring for them or some other explanation of why they require your attention.

» The amount of time required.

You do not need to disclose any information about your family member's illness, as this is personal health information. Your employer is not entitled to such information.

If the situation involving your family member is emergent or life threatening, apply for Serious Illness Leave NOT Family Illness
Leave. You are entitled to up to two days of Serious Illness Leave for any occasion of a serious illness of a family member, provided
you are the primary caregiver. Save your Family Illness Leave for occasions involving your family's health that are less serious but still require your attention.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!
Read Article 30.07 Family Illness Leave in your CUPE Collective Agreement.

Serious Illness Leave

If you are the primary caregiver of an immediate family member, you are entitled to two consecutive working days of paid leave if the family member has a serious illness. The situation involving the family member must be emergent or life threatening.

In these situations, it is more appropriate to use Serious Illness Leave instead of Family Illness Leave. You are entitled to up to two paid days of leave for any occasion of serious illness of an immediate family provided you are the primary caregiver. There is no limit to the number of
times per year you can access Serious Illness Leave.


When a family member's situation is emergent or life threatening, insist on using Serious Illness Leave NOT Family Illness Leave.


KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!
Read Article 30.06 Serious Illness Leave in your CUPE Collective Agreement.