After construction members voted down the tentative agreement reached at the end of August with Emera Utility Services (EUS), the negotiating committees were back at the table last week. The following are highlights of the final offer from EUS:

• 4-year contract
• 2.5% annual wage increase per year on the contract anniversary
• added total employer contribution of $1/hour to employee pension, an increase of $0.25/hour per year 
• per diem language remains the same as current contract (a contract which expires at the end of this month)
• increase in bank time from 45 hours to 90 hours
• payment for travel in line vehicles where there was no provision for compensation before
• boot allowance increase $50 over life of contract

This is the final offer from EUS. If this offer is not approved, conciliation is the next step and everything is back on the table for negotiation. Voting takes place on Wednesday, September 25th at the New Glasgow Holiday Inn from 3pm to 5pm. Votes will be held the same day for members working for EUS in Ontario and Newfoundland. Voting will also take place at the union office in Bayer's Lake on Friday September 27th from 9am to 5pm.

Five unionized workers received layoff notice at Nova Scotia Power this week, effective November 10th. These employees from NSP's Resource Management Centre participate in scheduling and dispatching crews in the field. The layoffs support NSP's ongoing initiative to trim the workforce and cut labour costs at NSP. On May 13th, 2013, NSP closed its Sydney-based fleet maintenance garage, resulting in the loss of five mechanics. On August 18th, 2013, four maintenance positions from the Tufts Cove generating station in Dartmouth were eliminated. There have also been a number of terminations in NSP's non-unionized workforce. 

Nova Scotia is now in a provincial election campaign. This is an opportunity to let your local candidates know what issues are important to you and to find out which party best represents your interests. Local 1928 has sent a survey to each of the political party leaders asking them to state their position on three issues: 1) the protection of negotiated benefits like defined benefit pension plans, 2) the maintenance of jobs (and ultimately customer service levels) at the provincial power utility, particularly in rural areas, and 3) maintaining the responsibility of Nova Scotia Power through provincial electrical regulations to inspect (and thus ensure safe) industrial, commercial, and residential wiring installations.
During an election campaign, candidates are obligated to respond to these kind of surveys---we will let you know what we discover about each of the political party leaders on these issues.

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The Canadian Labour Congress is offering "together FAIRNESS WORKS" leaders' seminars across the country from September 10th to 28th. These seminars are targeted to local union leadership and will introduce the goals and strategy for building greater member engagement, provide information and approaches for initiating activites related to the "together FAIRNESS WORKS project" or other campaigns and activities. The Halifax seminar will be held on Saturday September 14th. If you are interested in attending, please contact Business Manager Jeff Richardson.