This morning I walked in to my office to find a letter on my desk saying annual increases are upon us and, in a nutshell, everyone gets 4% but if you were on probation on July 1st you get 0%. I completed my 9 month probation period on July 9th.... just 8 days later.
This amounts to a $170/month difference in my paycheck (do the math and you can figure out how much I make at the U of L LOL) so I decided to look into it more. Turns out, the collective agreement between AUPE (of which I am a member) and the U of L states that all employees are eligible for a 4% increase every July 1st unless they 1. lack merit or 2. have excessive absences... neither of which is applicable in my case. I double checked and probationary employees ARE NOT exempt from this rule.
So I wrote to HR. I'm paraphrasing but their response amounts to... we decided to do it this way years ago but it's not in the collective agreement because it has never been an issue. Well baby, it's a frickin issue now!!!!! It is literally in writing that I should get an increase retro-active to July 1st and I'm going to either....
- file a grievance and fight for my money or
- leave and find a non-union job elsewhere where I don't have to fight for my basic employee rights that the employer has agreed to
I have started the process for both of the above. Not sure which one will come in to effect first though. Wish me luck.
3 comments:
File a grievance. Let the union fight with you to get your money. They can even bring in lawyers to fight on your behalf - that's what you pay dues for. If your raise is in writing in the agreement, you have solid ground to stand on.
Unions: a blessing and a curse, both at the same time.
I find the concept of unions rather interesting, perhaps I should write a post on it. I think I'll do that. :)
Oh, and good luck. I hope you get the raise on your *cough cough* salary. (We're probably one of the most mathematically gifted families in the world. You don't really think we wouldn't do the quick math and figure out your salary, did you?)
Good luck - that is completely ridiculous! I really don't think they have a leg to stand on since it's not in the collective agreement. But it might take more money and effort to fight it than it's worth.
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