CUPE

Local 410

Greater Victoria Public Library Employees

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• Bargaining Agents
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• Who is the GVLRA?
• What is Pay Equity

Bargaining Agents

Summary

To oversimplify, CUPE Local 410 negotiates a collective agreement with the GVPL Board's bargaining agent, the GVLRA, on which the Library board has only one seat and one vote.

Read on for a full explanation.

The Library Workers

CUPE Local 410 is chartered with CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public employees, as an autonomous local. It is the official bargainning agent of all staff of the Greater Victoria Public Library with the exception of cleaners, some security people, and designated management (exempt) employees.

From time to time CUPE Local 410 negotiates with its employer to agree upon a Collective Agreement, which defines the rights and obligations of Library Workers. CUPE Local 410 has an elected executive team of officers who represent the members of the union at the bargaining table.

The Employer

First we have the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL) which is directed by the GVPL Board and is the technical employer of the library workers. GVPL serves 8 local municipalities and is constituted by these municipalities under an intermunicipal agreement. GVPL is governed by the Library Board.

So, can representatives of CUPE Local 410 just sit down with the Library Board to hammer out an agreement?

No! The Board is a member of the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association GVLRA), which is registered as their bargainning agent. CUPE Local 410 negotiates with the GVLRA and not with the Library Board.

The GVLRA is made up of representatives from several local municipal governments as well as a representative from the GVPL Board. We've done the research for you, and identified the members of the GVLRA. Oddly enough, it wasn't an easy task to just find out who we were bargaining with! (pdf)

The Finances

As you can see, the situation is complex. To make matters worse, while municipal politicians have direct control over their municipality's budgets, the Library Board has no such control. Once an agreement between the Library Board (represented by the GVLRA) and the library workers (represented by CUPE Local 410 executives) has been reached, the GVPL Board must then go ask the Municipalities for funding to implement any pay increases that might have been negotiated. It is conceivable that one or more of the municipalities might refuse such funding, although this has not happened yet.