History
Until August 1992 CUPE 1326 represented the Secretaries, Accountants, Library Assistants, and Clerks (known as SALAC) and General Labour and Trades, Allied Services and Audio-Visual Group (known as GLTA).
In August 1992 certification orders were filed with the Industrial Relations Board on behalf of the two groups to dissolve our relationship with CUPE and become the UNB Employees Association. In December 1992, after a long struggle, the membership of CUPE Local 1326 voted to leave the union and become members of the UNBEA. UNBEA was certified on January 22, 1993, as a bargaining agent for SALAC. On January 29, 1993, after the Industrial Relations Board rejected a challenge by CUPE regarding the vote taken by members of the now GLTA group, the association received certification to represent the unit. Assets of approximately $16,000.00 were seized by CUPE so the Association started out with a zero bank account. LaVerne McCallum Deakin was hired as the Business Agent in February 1993. At that time the office was situated across from the Bookstore that also housed the Security office. UNBEA moved to the site we are now on, known as Building 10, Garland Court on June 17, 1993.
Mancel Langin was voted as the first President of UNBEA, serving from 1993-1994. He was succeeded by Mack Cammack from 1994-1997. Dave Brown took the helm from 1997-1999, after which Currie Langley from 1999-2012. After Currie stepped down, Scott Shannon took over, followed by Richard Gaigneur, then Marc Prosser who began as interim President and officially took the position in early of 2014. On January 21, 2015 at the Biennial General Meeting, Augustine Brideau won the position of President and in January 2017 Ernie Caissie was elected President for a two-year term. At the April 17, 2019 membership meeting, the Executive Officers were elected to a three year term with Ernie Caissie elected for a second term as President.
In 1993 there were 380 members in both SALAC and GLTA, today the number is around 347 with 132 members in the GLTA Unit and 215 members in the SALAC unit. The Security unit joined the Association in 1994. The collective agreements signed in May 1993 between UNBEA and UNB was the first contract negotiated by UNBEA. Since then the Association had negotiated 6 collective agreements.
On March 11, 2015 at a Special Meeting, the UNBEA membership voted overwhelmingly in favour of merging with Unifor! In April 2015, we learned that our new name would be Unifor Local 4504.
Since then, Unifor Local 4504 has negotiated 2 collective agreements, with the first expiring September 30, 2018. On January 14, 2019 members of Unifor Local 4504 voted to ratify the collective agreement between UNB and Unifor Local 4504 with an expiry date of September 30, 2021.
As Unifor Local 4504 we continue to work diligently with the employer to create the best working conditions for members.