News

Since the last bargaining meeting, the VAU has conducted member meetings to seek the response of our members to St. John’s wage offer. Our members overwhelmingly rejected the wage offer. To sum-up member feedback, the offer was seen as being too little, and lacking in a career path or any reward for years of service.

The VAU representatives at Tuesday’s meeting formally rejected St. John’s wage offer and have tabled a revised wage claim in keeping with feedback from our members. The proposed wage schedule is shown in the table below.

The rationale behind the revised claim was explained to the St. John representatives who stated that they ‘took on board’ the feelings of members. It was also noted that the feedback from non-union staff representatives mirrored the feedback from union members.

St. John will consider the revised wage claim and a response is expected at the next bargaining meeting which will be held on 18^th October.

The VAU is hopeful that an appropriate wage structure can be agreed between the parties and that other aspects of the new agreement can be negotiated and settled in the near future. We would like to remind any members who have not submitted their bargaining nomination form (nominating the VAU as your bargaining representative) to please do so ASAP. The more of these forms received by St. John, the stronger our bargaining position becomes. Strength comes from numbers!

If you have any questions about the nomination forms (or other EA matters) please contact Bruce Fine or Kerry McLean at the VAU (details below).

The VAU will continue to update members as bargaining continues.

IN SOLIDARITY!