You can download our Collective Agreement and other documents by visiting the Documents page. Also, the Employers must ensure that all Employees receive a hard copy of the Collective Agreement. If you do not have a current Collective Agreement, contact your supervisor and request one. The Collective Agreement may also be on the EMC employee/website.

Currently, the Dues Structure, automatically deducted from your pay by the Employer and electronically deposited to the Union, is 2.0% of your base salary. That is on your regularly scheduled shifts, for which you receive regular rate pay. Union dues are not paid on any overtime rate earnings above your regular scheduled income of 42 hours per week. Part-Time Employees and Casuals pay dues at that same rate on all regular hours, not on wages paid to the employee at the overtime rate. The minimum dues owed monthly are one hour of pay at Step 1 of your respective job class.

Dues, deducted by the Employer and sent to the union, are used for the day-to-day operations of the Local Union. For example, rent for office space, administrative expenses, staff wages, costs associated with representing individual issues (legal consult, arbitrator fees, etc.), and paying separate membership Per capita Dues to the International Union.

Yes, a member who is away from the workplace, is not doing Bargaining Unit work, and/or is not receiving an EMC paycheck from which union dues are automatically deducted, such as when on STD, LTD, WCB, L.O.A, for school etc., and who do not have their union dues submitted to the Union by the Employer has to pay Dues.

There is a requirement that the union office submits funds monthly for each member to the International Union, including while the member is away from work. These funds are submitted to the International Union to keep you registered as a current member and have rights to representation, access to International Representatives when required and certain protections under the umbrella of an International Union etc. If you are away from work and not having your union dues submitted to the Union by the Employer, it will be your responsibility to submit your payment. Failure to do so will lead to losing your “good standing” status.

This has always been a requirement but was reinforced at the AGM on May 27th, 2022. Unpaid dues will be backdated to August 2022. All members who are not receiving a paycheck from the Employer and subsequently not having their union dues remitted to the Local Union by the Employer will be required to submit a sum equal to one hour of pay at Step 1 of your job class care per month to the Local Union (this amount may, from time to time, be increased by the International Union). This will apply to all Local 727 members. The formula is: If the number of hours you have worked before leaving differs from the minimum one hour of pay at Step 1 of your respective job class, you will be obligated to pay the remainder. The following month will be one hour of pay at Step 1 of your respective job class.

Submission of dues can be made online through the Dues page or by mailing a registered check or money order to IUOE Local 727 PO Box 38013 Dartmouth NS, B3B 1X2 or by cash payment in person to the office manager at 202 Brownlow Avenue, 3rd floor, suite 420 by making an appointment to do so, between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm, and 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm Monday to Thursday. In addition, targeted notifications related to this requirement may be forwarded to members.

Yes; however, if a member cannot afford to pay dues while off work due to lack of income or other financial hardship, they may request a stay of dues by contacting the Business Manager. Any decision by the Business Manager to permit a stay of dues for any member(s) will be considered a without prejudice decision on a case-by-case basis. Contact the office at office@iuoe727.ca about your circumstances. Dues are mandatory but can be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Members who do not pay their per capita dues may be suspended from having certain membership rights until the amount owing has been submitted to the Local Union. To name a few rights which would be suspended; voting on a Union topic or Tentative Agreement, having access to the website, attending/logging in to a meeting etc., filing a grievance for specific issues, being eligible to sit on committees or be a steward as well as a possibility of a loss of membership status.

Yes, new members must pay an Initiation fee, and any members that lose their good standing must pay a Reinstatement fee in order to regain their "good standing" status after catching up on their owed dues.

• Initiation fee: One hour of pay at Step 1 of your respective job class.
• Reinstatement fee: One hour of pay at Step 1 of your respective job class.

Please refer to the Executive Page under About.

The Local is an autonomous Local under the umbrella of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) International Office in Washington, DC. Initially, the local Paramedic group was in the IUOE Local 968 with the office in Kentville, NS. In Local 968, you were under your own Collective Agreement; but were in a Local Union with University Employees, Trades Workers, Steam Engineers, and other non-Paramedic employees. After a majority of the provincial Paramedics in Local 968 petitioned the International Union for an autonomous Local that could be theirs alone, Local 727 was formed in 2007. LifeFlight is also in Local 727 and Transport Operators since 2021.

• Make sure to fill out any offered survey so we can retrieve province-wide feedback regarding union issues. • Check the calendar and attend/log in to union meetings. Encourage other members to do the same! • Ensure you have your email address registered at the time of login to the website so you can receive and read all our emails and notifications of updates to the website information. Also, if rumours are afloat and you want to know the union side, call and ask. Simply accepting random opinions and gossip without inquiring into it is irresponsible and cannot answer your question.

As with any organization, there are rules and guidelines to follow. For access to union finances under Section 76 (3) of the Trade Union Act: Every member of such trade Union shall, on application to the secretary or treasurer of such trade union, be entitled to a copy of such statements free of charge. While unavailable online, any member may follow the appropriate protocol to view the financial statements.

You may want union representation whenever you are asked to meet with the Employer for other-than regular business (i.e. if the Employer asks you to attend a meeting relating to an investigation, a complaint against your actions or practice, or at any time when you feel there may be disciplinary action either at that meeting or subsequently at some point following that meeting).

If you are unsure, you should:

1. Ask your supervisor what the meeting is pertaining to and if there is, or may have, discipline involved.
2. Contact your Shop Steward or Regional Steward. They will advise you and take direction from the Union office if required.

Do not wait until hours before any meeting, as we need to schedule our days, and stewards are not always available to attend a meeting with you on short notice. Your stewards and their contact information are on the Shop Steward Directory. If your site does not have a steward, contact the Local Union Office for directions. If your site does not have a steward and you are interested in representing your fellow paramedics, contact your Regional Steward or the Union Office.

A grievance is a complaint by a Bargaining Unit Employee that the Employer violates the terms or conditions in the Collective Agreement, a law, or a standard of employment or policy.

If you believe a violation of said terms or conditions has occurred, contact your steward for direction. If your base does not have a steward, contact the Regional Steward or Local Union Office for advice.

Only stewards, regional stewards, and union representatives can file your grievance. It is a requirement that your signature and the signature of the steward or union representative be on the grievance form before it is submitted to the employer. See Article 11.0 of the Collective Agreement.

Key Points of Filing a Grievance and Related Collective Agreement Articles

• 11.01 a) The Employee has discussed their complaint with the supervisor; the supervisor has had twenty-four (24) hours to fix the problem. (Note: the grievance form may be introduced when the employee first speaks to their supervisor; or, following that, if the supervisor does not fix the issue to the employee's satisfaction with the complaint.)
• 11.02 Step 1) The grievance is filed within the timelines as per the Collective Agreement.
• (11.01 a) Five (5) days after the employee became aware of the circumstance.
• 11.02 Step 1) Employee could reasonably be expected to be mindful of the occurrence of the event giving rise to the grievance, but in no case more than thirty (30) days after the occurrence of the event.
• 11.02 Step 1) Ensure that the Griever and the Steward’s signatures are on the grievance form and the correct lines.

Information regarding the dates and times of union meetings and other events can be found on the Events Calendar page. The Union office or Regional Stewards will facilitate these meetings. Meetings or information Sessions are held in person or online through electronic login in the form of a web meeting so that more members may participate.

Check the dates for the next planned Information Session and send your question/concern at least two weeks before the posted session date you wish to attend. These can be emailed to kevin@iuoe727.ca and cc office@iuoe727.ca.

All members in good standing can attend membership meetings regardless of classification.

An email will be sent out prior to an AGM, listing the proper way to send a motion and the deadline for submission. The deadline for motions is, on average, a month before the scheduled AGM. New Motions CAN NOT be made during the AGM.

In-person proposal meetings will be scheduled when negotiations are being planned. Members in good standing may attend these meetings and submit their proposals to the business manager. If you cannot participate, please give your proposal to a fellow medic to submit on your behalf

A Negotiating Committee is a group of up to six Bargaining Unit Employees chosen to represent the membership during negotiations with the Employer.

The committee's primary focus is to tentatively agree to accept terms and conditions to the point where there is a draft document addressing the Bargaining issues. The committee, by the rule of democratic design, accepts or rejects offers or counteroffers from the Employer during Bargaining (see Article 9.04).

The process has many facets and may, depending on specific or random nuances from time to time, follow a different pattern. However, in bullet form, the process stages are generally as follows:

1. The Union files written notice with the Employer that it intends to negotiate amendments to the terms and conditions of the Collective Agreement. This notice, by virtue of language, cannot be filed more than two (2) months before the expiry of the Collective Agreement (see Article 36.01).
2. Following this, meetings are scheduled so the Union and Employer can meet to exchange proposals. During these ‘exchange’ meetings, negotiations of the items are not carried out; instead, they allow the parties some time to explain the purpose of the proposal to each other fully.
3. Following the exchange of proposals, meetings are scheduled to negotiate. However, due to the complexity of negotiating a Collective Agreement with a private employer funded by a Provincial body, some time is required between these regular negotiation meetings to evaluate proposals, rebuttals, counteroffers, and Provincial replies.

Coming soon...

Registering as a member of this website, you enter your personal information into the union’s new database. This allows the union to have accurate membership statistics and up-to-date mailing addresses for voting ballots and other correspondence. In addition, surveys will be used to gather opinions and feedback.

The Union can monitor all aspects of the website. In cases of improper use and sharing of confidential or other sensitive or private information, the union can block a/the member from using the website. In cases of extreme issues, the Union may immediately ‘block’ the use of the website without warning.