Feds set aside $545-million to finance new contracts reached with big unions

After more than a year in office, the Liberal government has reached tentative agreements with several large bargaining units representing thousands of civil servants, though those without deals are signalling they won’t settle until they get exactly what they want. Alain Belle-Isle, a spokesperson for the Treasury Board Secretariat, said in an emailed response to questions this week that the government has now concluded tentative settlements with 12 of 27 bargaining units representing over three-quarters of public service employees for which Treasury Board is the employer, and hopes to reach new deals that are "fair and reasonable" for both employees and Canadians through "respectful and good faith negotiations." He noted that the supplementary estimates tabled by the government earlier this month included $545-million to ensure that retroactive payments and salary increases are available, some dating back two years, in the event that tentative agreements reached late last year are ratified by March 31, the end of the current fiscal year. Supplementary estimates lay out funds for parliamentary approval in addition to the bulk of the budget funds contained in the main estimates. The Public Sector Alliance of Canada, the largest of the federal unions, reached a four-year deal in December covering 68,000 members that will see a 1.25 annual increase to base salaries, retroactive to June 2014, and an extra 0.5 per cent market adjustment increase. Market adjustments are typically defined as increases in wages to reflect broader salary growth in the external marketplace. It also maintains the existing sick leave program that the former Conservative government threatened to replace with a short-term-disability plan, the Ottawa Citizen reported. Currently, public servants get 15 days of sick leave a year, and unused days are banked from year to year. The Conservatives proposed eliminating banked days and replacing the sick-day regime with a disability plan. The Liberal government began negotiations with that proposal on the table, but refused to legislate it into force as the Tories originally envisioned. The new deal covered four of PSAC's five bargaining units, with border services employees being the sole hold-out to remain in talks with Treasury Board, the organizational arm of the federal government that acts as the official employer. PSAC collectively represents 180,000 public sector workers, and was among the most vocal opponents of the Conservative government's sick-leave overhaul. The border services unit’s most recent negotiating session ran from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, according to the Treasury Board website, at which point talks reached an impasse. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, the second largest union for federal civil servants, was the first to reach a deal with the government back in December. It features the same pay hike as the PSAC deal, and applies to four of its six bargaining units. The pact also includes an agreement for the union and government to study a new employee wellness and support plan that will be negotiated in a different process during the next round of contract talks, the Citizen reported. The proposed plan would remove the 13-week waiting period for workers before they qualify for long-term disability, while dropping the number of sick days to nine. Employees would be able to bank no more than three sick days from year to year, though that would end when the new plan is introduced. The existing sick plan remains in effect until a new pact is reached. The bargaining units collectively represent some 20,000 federal workers, including researchers, scientists, auditors, and those in medical occupations. However, another 30,000 workers under the PIPSC umbrella remain without a deal, including 11,000 at the Canadian Revenue Agency, most of whom are employed as auditors, and thousands more at the National Research Council and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, according to union president Debi Daviau. Some federal organizations, like the CRA, have separate employer status and are able to engage in collective bargaining directly with employees, independent of the Treasury Board. The two PIPSC bargaining units that remain in negotiations with Treasury Board are mostly made up IT workers and engineers, and are the union’s “most militant” as they won’t settle until their demands are met, she said. “They are prepared to stand up for themselves if they don't get fair wage increases,” said Ms. Daviau. “They are organized. They are ready to fight if they need to. That's why they are ." The IT workers unit is one of the union’s largest, representing roughly 15,000 employees, while the other unit has 1,500 members. Ratification votes for the units that have reached tentative agreements are running for the next four weeks, and results should be known by the end of March. But even with the agreements ratified, labour peace may be short-lived. The labour agreements for the PIPSC bargaining units, and for many other unionized public sector workers, originally expired in 2014, while the tentative pacts are for four years. If approved, the deals would go into effect retroactively, starting from when the previous agreements expire, meaning they will all lapse by the middle or end of 2018. Mr. Belle-Isle said the government is "committed to promoting a culture of respect for, and within, the federal public service," and has taken important steps to accomplish this, including working to repeal laws relating to financial disclosure for unions and union certification, and legislation imposing a new sick leave system on public servants that were unpopular with labour unions. The Liberal government has also committed to tabling pay equity legislation for federally regulated workplaces by the end of 2018, he added. Ms. Daviau said PIPSC deliberately “didn't want to complete” negotiations for a new deal with the former Conservative government because of its inflexible negotiating stances on wage increases and curtailing sick leave. After the Liberals took over in November 2015, she said it took six months before the new government “was in any position to bargain meaningfully at the table,” though the union was able to make progress after a series of meetings in the summer. Ms. Daviau said this led to the “breaking of the logjam” on issues like sick leave, contracting out work, and preserving scientific integrity—an important consideration for a union that represents many scientists and researchers. She added that the union’s overall relationship with the government has “improved significantly,” and members feel like they are “definitely being heard.” The Canadian Association of Professional Employees, which represents around 13,000 employees of the federal public service of Canada, has seen its two bargaining units both reach tentative agreements with the Treasury Board. Voting on the deals started on Monday, and will run for a two-week period. CAPE membership is composed of analysts and research assistants at the Library of Parliament, and translators, interpreters, terminologists, economists, and social science services employees in the federal public service. Smaller unions still seeking agreements While PSAC, PIPSC, and CAPE represent a large share of federal workers across Canada, several smaller unions, collectively representing thousands of civil servants, typically in highly specialized fields, also remain in contract talks with the government. The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers will head back to the bargaining table in April for two weeks of scheduled talks as negotiations on a new deal approach their third year, with no end in sight. Union president Jason Godin expressed deep frustration with the failure to make any headway with the government, calling the pace of talks “extremely slow,” and “pretty worrisome.” The union, which represents 7,300 corrections officers, is currently bargaining with both the Treasury Board and Corrections Canada on pay and non-monetary issues. The most recent contract expired at the end of May 2014. The major sticking point in talks, according to Mr. Godin, is the failure of Treasury Board to recognize correctional officers are vastly different than other civil servants, and have this reflected in a new contract. He said the union is asking the government to institute a fair discipline process for guards that would see an end to suspensions without pay pending investigations and to commit to arming all inmate escorts from medium or maximum security institutions, among other proposals. Meanwhile, the Canadian Federal Pilots Association says the major stumbling block in talks with the government is a change to the licencing regime for pilots. The union bargains on behalf of the 450 pilots who work for Transport Canada, the Transportation Safety Board, and NAV Canada on aviation inspections, flight testing, licence enforcement, certifying operators and aircrafts, air navigation system design, and safety analysis and promotion. According to the union, cuts by the Conservatives in 2011 drastically limited the ability of federally-employed pilots to fly government aircraft, thus jeopardizing their licence eligibility. This is because, at the time, pilots in Canada couldn’t legally operate an aircraft unless they had served as a captain or co-pilot for a flight within the past five years or completed a flight review with an instructor. But in the fall of 2016, Transport Canada changed the rules to allow pilots to retain their licence as long as they underwent testing in a flight simulator. The union, though, argues this decision jeopardizes public safety, as the skills necessary to operate an aircraft deteriorate without regular use. CFPA’s most recent contract with the government expired in January 2015. The next negotiation session is scheduled for this month. mvigliotti@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

Civil Circles

Feds set aside $545-million to finance new contracts reached with big unions

The Liberals are looking to hammer out deals with remaining smaller bargaining units. Thousands of civil servants remain without contracts nearly three years after most expired in 2014.

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Civil Circles

Feds set aside $545-million to finance new contracts reached with big unions

The Liberals are looking to hammer out deals with remaining smaller bargaining units. Thousands of civil servants remain without contracts nearly three years after most expired in 2014.

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