November 7, 2008
Statistical Survey Operations Bargaining Units
Going Nowhere Fast
The SSO Regional Office Interviewer bargaining team had a frustrating session of negotiations with the Employer from October 20 - 22, 2008.
Your Negotiating Committee is extremely disappointed by the lack of progress at the bargaining table. It appears that the Employer's bargaining team either does not have a mandate to conduct meaningful negotiations, or it is simply unwilling to do so.
Once again we explained our proposal to expand the definition of harassment in the Collective Agreement to include personal harassment and abuse of authority, consistent with recent changes in legislation. We asked the Employer to explain why it is acceptable to have a clause in the contract that defines sexual harassment but does not mention other grounds of harassment and workplace violence that are also prohibited by law. We did not receive a response.
We discussed the Union's proposal to amend Article 49 to allow employees to have access to their performance evaluation files more than once a year, and in the presence of a Union representative. The Employer said that if an employee asks to be accompanied by his or her Union representative, such request would not be denied, but so far the employer has refused to add that language to the agreement.
We also amended our proposal under Article 46 in order to provide employees with a full shift off with pay when they take their Personal and Volunteer leave days. Currently, the amount of time credited towards these leave days is calculated by dividing the total of an employee's Assigned Work Week (AWW) by five. This means, for example, that an employee with a 20-hour AWW is only credited with 4 hours towards his or her leave day irrespective of the length of the shifts actually worked. In such cases, the employer has said that if the employee wants credit for a full shift, he or she must supplement the prorated time with annual leave.
The Employer's response was to propose that it would no longer require employees to dip into their annual leave to make up a full shift. This proposal simply means that an employee who is taking his or her Personal or Volunteer leave day would not get paid for the full value of the shift they are actually taking off. This is unacceptable.
Some progress was made on the issue of the need for better communications with respect to pension and retirement options. The Employer is committing to annual seminars, but so far we have not reached agreement on actual language.
Finally, your team is very upset that the Employer continues to waste taxpayer dollars by insisting on negotiating separately with the RO and FI teams. The two collective agreements are almost identical, the Union has at least a dozen identical proposals, and all of the Employer's demands are identical. Despite this, SSO management continues to insist on the wasteful practice of discussing the issues twice – separately, at both tables. This is a shameful waste of both time and money and very disrespectful to all of our members in both bargaining units.
We are still negotiating future dates with the Employer. These dates will be posted on the website as soon as possible.
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee
Rudy Mehra, Western Region
Rejean Amyotte, Central Region
Jeanne Elson, Atlantic Region
Elisabeth Woods, PSAC Research Officer
Gail Lem, PSAC Negotiator
Date Modified : 2010/01/29
