In 2012, the service employees and paramedical employees of Haldimand War Memorial Hospital (HWMH) in Dunnville voted in favour or unionizing with CLAC. The hospital management team reacted very aggressively against our attempts to unionize and terminated one of our key organizers.

We filed charges at the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) and the employee was reinstated. We fight for our members’ rights.

Read the OLRB’s decision at HWMH.

Unfortunately, the process for negotiating two new collective agreements with the hospital was no easier. The employer adamantly refused to negotiate acceptable increases to our wages and benefit packages.

We referred it to arbitration and won one of the highest arbitration awards for hospital paramedical and service staff in the province. The award included cumulative increases for specific classifications as high as 15.96% increase over three years (2013 to 2016).

Read the HWMH interest award and the HWMH supplementary award.

The best way to see that CLAC provides strong representation is to look at our collective agreements. We have negotiated collective agreement terms including pen¬sion, benefits, and wages that are equal to or superior to any other union in the province.

When you file a grievance with a CLAC trained union steward, your case is argued by a CLAC staff representative who attends your first grievance meeting. Having a third party represent you removes any influence the employer might have, because they are not paying the wages of the person representing you. You are.