Tag Archives: bargaining

Treasury Board Bargaining Resumes in January

Four bargaining teams will be back at the table with Treasury Board, with the assistance of a mediator, to continue negotiations for new collective agreements.

The Education and Library Science (EB) and the Technical Services (TC) groups will return to negotiations the week of January 16, 2017.
The Operational Services (SV) and the Border Services (FB) groups will return to the bargaining table the week of January 30, 2017.

Tentative agreement reached for PA table

On December 14, 2016, the Program and Administrative Services (PA) table reached a tentative agreement, covering over 68,000 federal public service workers. The deal includes significant breakthroughs on “common issues,” such as sick leave and workforce adjustment.

A version of this article was originally published on the PSAC website.

Tentative Agreement Reached for PA Table – Important Breakthroughs on Common Issues

(Article updated Dec. 21)

A tentative agreement between PSAC and Treasury Board has been reached for the PA table, covering over 68,000 federal public service workers. The deal includes significant breakthroughs on “common issues,” such as sick leave and workforce adjustment, the details of which were hammered out by the common issues committee earlier this week.

“I am proud of our negotiating teams for standing strong during these two long, difficult years at the table. A deal for our largest group, as well as agreements on key common issues, is a significant victory,” said Robyn Benson, PSAC National President. “I am equally proud of our members for their strength and solidarity. It is because of them that our teams were able to prevent the concessions on sick leave that the employer had been pushing for.”

Common issues need to be implemented at all tables

The issues agreed to between the employer and the common issues committee, composed of members from all five Treasury Board tables, will need to be accepted by each specific table. PA is the first table to formally accept the work of the common issues committee, which covers sick leave and the workforce adjustment appendix.

Sick leave

The sick leave articles of our collective agreements will remain unchanged.
The parties have negotiated a Memorandum of Agreement to establish a Task Force to develop recommendations on measures to improve employee wellness and reintegration of employees.
Any future enhancements to the regime would need to be negotiated and agreed to by both parties.
PSAC’s four principles are included in the MOA: sick leave provisions will be contained in the collective agreement, provide for wage replacement, protect and grandfather sick leave banks, and will not be administered by a third-party provider. Any enhanced sick leave regime shall contain, at minimum, these four principles.

Workforce adjustment appendix

What we achieved represents the most significant improvements in workforce adjustment since it was first signed as an appendix into PSAC collective agreements in 1998.
Changes will reduce involuntary layoffs by allowing volunteers to come forward to leave the public service during times of workforce adjustment.
Employees will now have up to fifteen months to find an alternation match.
More union involvement, ensuring employees have the right to union representation during the process.
Limits to contracting out.
Improvements to the monetary provisions, including the education allowance and transition support measures.

Monetary gains

The agreement with the PA table contains significant improvements to monetary compensation for members. This includes a wage increase and allowances for certain occupations, such as compensation advisors and employees of Correctional Service of Canada. The total compensation for all PA members amounts to a minimum increase of five and a half percent over the four years of the collective agreement, plus a $650 signing bonus.

The wage increase is 1.25 per cent for each year, plus a point five percent (0.5%) market adjustment for 2016.

Helping workers meet family demands

It has been agreed that a committee will be established to look at childcare needs. Better family leave, including provisions for extended family, have also been negotiated.

Other notable gains

The PA team has achieved improvements to working conditions for members working in call centres.

This agreement has language recognizing gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination.

The Memorandum of Understanding that established the task force on Mental Health in the workplace is also contained in this agreement. The mandate of the task force includes identifying ways to reduce and eliminate the stigma associated with mental health issues, improving communication on mental health challenges in the workplace, and implementing the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. The MOU was agreed to earlier in the bargaining process, in 2015, and the task force has already been hard at work ever since.

Download: Summary of Tentative Agreement reached for the PA Group on December 17, 2016 [Bilingual PDF]

A version of this article was originally published on the PSAC website.

Treasury Board Bargaining: Employer Agrees to Mediation

PSAC and the Employer returned to extended negotiations from November 1 to November 9, after the Liberal government promised to bring a new mandate to the table. At the end of that bargaining session, PSAC requested mediation. On November 29, PSAC received confirmation that the government had agreed to this mediation.

Dec. 5 update: The Common Issues committee and PA bargaining team will resume negotiations with Treasury Board, with the assistance of a mediator, the week of December 12.

More information will be provided once it becomes available.

A version of this article was originally published on the PSAC website.

FB Bargaining Team Spends Nine Days in Talks with CBSA

Our CIU/PSAC bargaining team for Border Services spent nine days (November 1 to 9) in talks with the CBSA and Treasury Board for a new collective agreement. We reiterated our key issues.

Fair wages: Our proposals seek to achieve wage parity with the broader law enforcement community. We tabled a market adjustment to bring us in line with the RCMP wage grid. The employer’s wage position on the general economic increase is a .75 per year, which will not even keep pace with the rising cost of living.

Retirement reform: We are seeking a commitment from Treasury Board to support the introduction of a retirement regime consistent with other federal law enforcement agencies.

New protections: We need new protections in the context of discipline (PSI and SRI), and against abuse of authority. We also need improved legal indemnification protections. We are demanding contract language to protect against the replacing of officers at land, air and sea port-of-entries with machines. Finally, we are looking for language that protects officers that are unsuccessful in CDT and Firearm Recertification.

Hours of work: Our team is seeking a paid meal period that is on par with other law enforcement agencies, as well as protections against management’s unilateral cancelation of compressed work weeks and telework arrangements. It’s also time for an increase in the shift premium.

Sick leave: We continue to seek improvements to the current sick leave regime. We’ve made some progress over the last session on this issue. The Employer has proposed a Memorandum of Agreement to deal with sick leave, in order to allow for discussion. We have been very clear that any discussion must respect our principles. Our principles with regard to sick leave remain the same – it must be contained in the collective agreement, it must provide for wage replacement, sick leave banks must be preserved and there must be no third party provider.

WFA: So far the government has refused to address our key proposals with regard to the Workforce Adjustment Appendix. Given the stress and turmoil that many PSAC members faced during the four-year period of public sector cuts and layoffs, we want to ensure that WFA operates in a fair, transparent and impartial manner.

Mediation: PSAC has suggested further bargaining with the assistance of a mediator.

For more information concerning FB negotiations, be sure to visit psacunion.ca/fb.

A version of this article was originally published on the PSAC website.

PA Bargaining: Little Movement from the Employer

The PA bargaining team returned to the bargaining table from November 1-9, 2016, only to find the employer’s mandate was largely unchanged.

Some Gains: Our team was pleased to make progress on improved language for bereavement and family related responsibility leave and on disciplinary meetings. The employer also partially addressed both the proposals for an improved allowance for compensation advisors and the harmonization of allowances for our members who work in federal prisons.

Allowances – Falling short: Despite some progress, the employer’s move on each of the allowances falls short of what the union is trying to achieve for members. On other critical proposals, such as changes to the definition of family, union leave, term employees, and contracting out, there has been no response at all.

Mediation: PSAC has suggested further bargaining with the assistance of a mediator.

Please visit psacunion.ca/pa for more updates.

A version of this article was originally published on the PSAC website.