MERRY  CHRISTMAS  AND  BEST  WISHES
FOR A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

Like past years, 2011 was not without its challenges. There were reasons to grieve and reasons to celebrate.

After an unusually tumultuous election in December, your newly elected representatives took office January 1, 2011. There was a new full time Recording Secretary/Maintenance-Office Rep, a new Chief Steward of Maintenance-Office, a new HandiBus Chair, three new Executive Board members and five new Stewards. These new Reps, as well as the re-elected ones, all hit the ground running in what proved to be a very busy year and I am happy to report that because of their enthusiasm we didn’t miss a beat. On behalf of all of us I thank them sincerely.

Senior Management at Access Calgary continued its unrelenting attack on Calgary HandiBus. For the 2011 budget, they stripped thousands of more service hours from HandiBus and increased them at Southland Transportation proportionately. Under Karim Rayani’s leadership at Access Calgary, HandiBus has gone from  Access’s “service provider of choice” to “anybody but HandiBus”. There was a great strain on negotiations because of it.

In March of this year we served Strike Notice to Calgary HandiBus after over a year of negotiations failed to bring an agreement. Just prior to job action the Provincial Government intervened and appointed well-respected Arbitrator Andy Sims to chair a Disputes Inquiry Board to oversee and report on our negotiations. Mr. Sims was able to assist us in obtaining an agreement that addressed the employer’s need for flexible breaks and our need for end of shift protection. HandiBus has been reassured by Access Calgary that this flexibility on breaks would protect our market share. Before the ink was dry Access Calgary stripped another 15,500 hours of service from HandiBus  and sent it to Access Taxi service causing an additional seven employees to loose their jobs this December. Merry Christmas right?

Ahhh…, the July 2011 wage reopener with the City of Calgary. That went south real quick. Fortunately after a couple of months of going back and forth on the fundamentals of each other proposals, the City agreed that their original proposal was probably flawed. Through the communication we had with you the membership and your vocal expressions of your opinion on the City’s proposal, the Employer realized the impact their proposal had in the work place. In the final days of negotiations, they agreed to our original proposal and provided a small signing bonus as a show of good faith. This corrects the inequity our Local had as a result of receiving our increases six months after most other Locals. Also, it leaves your Negotiations Committee somewhat optimistic that this mood will carry over into the current round of negotiations. Our Agreement expires on December 31,2011 and we have exchanged proposals and met with the City several times to discuss these proposed changes.   We are looking at a 2 year deal, which will be a continued focus for us in 2012.

The Civic Cafeteria and Calgary HandiBus agreements expire at the end of 2012 so there won’t be any activity on those agreements until late in the year, however, given the absolute breach of trust we experienced through the last round at HandiBus we need to correct a lot of things before we ever start negotiations. If we cannot get some support from the funders to Access Calgary, I can’t think of anybody that will prevent job action after that agreement expires. There is virtually no reason whatsoever for our members to trust Calgary HandiBus or the bargaining process.

Access Calgary has diminished the role of Calgary HandiBus and its Board of Directors to symbolic roles simply required by legislation so as to comply with the Societies Act of Alberta. What was once an award winning world-class operation respected across North America and supported by every aspect of the City of Calgary is now an underfunded reactionary body responding to the whim of Access Calgary management. And it’s the clients that are complaining the most. Too bad it’s Access Calgary they have to complain to. The Labour Minister never hesitated for a minute to advocate for what was referred to as, the most vulnerable segment of society. Lets see if any politicians or senior management at the City have the will to protect the same. Selling Special Needs Transportation to the lowest bidder is a slap in the face to the Community and to Calgary HandiBus.

2012 is going to be a busy year, but our team is up to the task it will be well worth it.

In Solidarity,

Mike Mahar   Doug Johannes   Rick Ratcliff    Bill Johnson