Well we have been without a contract for a year and a half now. Over the months there were two votes which were not accepted by the majority, so the bodies went to conciliation. It was a whole lot of "we are having meetings" without anything real details coming to us.
Nothing changed work wise. There was no job action. I appreciated that both parties agreed to media blackouts. I really hate when it gets to each side publicly slamming the other. The whole story never quite seems to be heard that way.
So about two weeks ago, apparently our contract was settled. The two sides felt they had done as much work as they could and it was simply accepted by our governing body. It honestly feels very weird not having a vote. I am not saying it was good or bad.....just weird.
Our raise is less than 2% each year and will officially appear on our paychecks at the end of March. The raise does not meet currently cost of living estimates for our province. (does anyone's?) It will be interesting to see what the net is, after deductions. Deductions are approximately 42% of my cheque (taxes, CPP, EI, membership fees, and our money that comes off our cheque to go into our pension plan).
My hope is that the net takes me back up to where I was two years ago, before all the deductions increased.
As for the backpay, we will get that at the end of April. There is one full school year (10 months) plus the 6 months of this school year. Again, no real clue what that net will be after deductions.
Of course this meant a small windfall was coming into our house. You know what that means.................. Murphy came! (with a vengeance)
To be continued....
Not Much Working Out Monday
2 hours ago
6 comments:
Oh, no, what did Murphy do now? Glad your contract is settled... and Kudos for getting your retro so quick. We're getting our raise on the 12th, and retro the 26th of march. Still no word on when the arbitration starts to get us on track with the rest of Canada and their wages...
52%!!! That is absolutely insane. Is that a typo? Does that much go into your pension?
I heard from quite a few of the teachers in town about not having a vote. Glad you will be getting your retro pay soon enough; but that 52% deductions is a hard pill to swallow...
It means a truckload of taxes!! But thank goodness it's all over!!
Sam - hope it works out smoothly for you. Prolonged negotiations, especially heated ones, are no fun.
ND - funny, I had never calculated how much is for pension LOL. 11% of gross goes to pension. The other 31% are for various deductions, taxes, etc
SS - I am sure everyone has their own contractual stressors. I love my job most of the time and that certainly helps.
Jane - no kidding. We did job action a few years ago and, while short (unlike BC), I hated the media bashing.
That is a long time for a union to be out of a contract isn't it? Good thing there was no strike for you. When will the changes take affect - have they told you yet?
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