Treasury Board Bargaining
Questions and answers on the tentative agreements
Bargaining demands
Q. What happened to the bargaining proposals being submitted through the input call this summer?
A. For this expedited process, our bargaining teams determined their priorities based on the Program of Demands as well as outstanding demands from the last round and emerging issues that have surfaced since then.
Q. How were membership bargaining demands incorporated into this process?
A. The bargaining teams from the previous round were recalled and met to discuss the main priorities for this expedited process. The teams determined these priorities based on the Program of Demands as well as outstanding demands from the last round and emerging issues that have surfaced since then.
Q. Is it too late to submit our demands?
A. Yes. The deadline for submitting your demands to your local has passed.
Bargaining Teams
Q. Why were the bargaining teams from last round being used?
A. Given the fact that we are engaging in early exploratory discussions with Treasury Board, we could not follow the normal process to elect new bargaining teams. The PSAC called back the teams from the last round because they were elected by members, they are familiar with outstanding demands, and they have bargaining experience.
Ratification
Q. Is PSAC recommending voting in favour of these tentative agreements?
A. The PSAC bargaining teams for the PA, SV and EB groups are recommending acceptance of the tentative agreements. The PSAC National Board of Directors fully supports the bargaining team's recommendation.
Q. What are the timelines for ratification of the PA, SV and EB tentative agreements?
A. Ratification votes for these 95,000 members will take place between October 20, 2010 and November 30, 2010. The schedule of ratification meetings will be posted on PSAC's regional web sites. Contact the regional office closest to you, or your local or branch, for more specific information on the time and place of your ratification meeting and vote.
Public Service Health Care Plan
Q. Will this bargaining process deal with aspects of the Public Service Health Care Plan?
A. Changes to the Public Service Health Care Plan are negotiated in a separate process every five years. These negotiations involve all the federal bargaining agents through the PSHCP Trust. The last round of negotiations resulted in major changes to the Plan which became effective April 1, 2006 for a five-year period. PSAC, through its Components, sent out a call for demands earlier this year. No dates are scheduled yet for the next round of negotiations.
Occupational Group Structure
Q. What progress has been made on the occupational group structure review?
A. PSAC continues to participate in the consultation process around the Occupational Group Structure as agreed to in Appendix G of the PA Collective Agreement.
While it is clear that the Employer has failed to move as quickly as we would like, some progress is now being made. Treasury Board has commenced the consultation process with five of the largest departments involving PA members. We anticipate that 2011 will involve a much more active consultation process regarding options for changes to the occupational group structure affecting the PA group.
PA Group – Compensation Advisors
Q. The PA tentative agreement includes a yearly allowance of $2,000 for Compensation Advisors. How will the allowance be paid and it is pensionable?
A. The PA tentative agreement includes a yearly terminable allowance of $2000 for Compensation Advisors for the duration of the new agreement (June 21, 2011 to June 20, 2014). It will be payable bi-weekly and it will be pensionable.
Q. Why is the retention allowance that was negotiated for Compensation Advisors only $2,000? And why does it only apply to AS-2 Compensation Advisors.
A. When the process of expedited bargaining began, the PA bargaining team put forward a proposal for an allowance for compensation and benefits advisors that would have addressed the entire stream of AS compensation staff.
Initially, the employer refused to do anything to address the issues facing the compensation community, saying they did not believe there were any problems to be addressed. It was through the determination of the PSAC and the PA bargaining team that the issue was kept on the table. It was only in the final stage of negotiations that the employer came back and put anything on the table.
Although the $2,000 per year allowance in the tentative agreement fell short of what we proposed, it is much higher than what the employer initially tabled. It is also the first time we have been able to get the employer to recognize they face a retention problem for this group of workers.
The employer's proposal only addresses the AS-2 Compensation Advisors. The AS-2 level is where the vast majority of Compensation Advisors are classified, in accordance with past grievances fought and won by the PSAC.
Canada Revenue Agency
Q. The CRA concluded a tentative agreement at the end of September that does not include any changes to severance pay entitlements. Why not?
A. Notice to bargain for the CRA was served by the PSAC on July 2nd of this year, and demands were exchanged on July 6th. No changes to severance entitlements were tabled during the initial exchange of demands, and could not be added later on in the bargaining process. The tentative agreement between the CRA and the PSAC was announced on October 1st, 2010. If ratified, the new CRA collective agreement will be into effect from the date of signing through to October 31, 2012.
Classification
Q. Which classification groups are affected by the tentative agreements?
A. The Program and Administrative Services (PA) bargaining unit includes members in the following classifications: Administrative Services (AS), Information Services (IS), Program Administration (PM), Welfare Programs (WP)
Communications (CM), Data Processing (DA), Clerical and Regulatory (CR), Office Equipment (OE) and Secretarial, Stenographic and Typing (ST).The Operational Services (SV) bargaining unit includes members in the following classifications: Firefighters (FR), General Labour and Trades (GL), General Services (GS), Heating, Power and Stationary Plan Operations (HP), Hospital Services (HS), Lightkeepers (LI), Printing Operation - Supervisory (PR(S) and Ships' Crews (SC).
The Education and Library Science (EB) bargaining unit includes members in the following classifications: Library Science (LS), Education (ED) and Educational Support (EU).
Q. Whatever happened to the MOU on the Occupational Group Structure Review and classification reform?
A. Discussions with Treasury Board on the Occupational Group Structure Review have been ongoing. Because of the size of the task, the tentative agreement includes an extension of the deadline for the initial review and redesign to December 2011.
Q. What bargaining unit am I in?
A. Here is a table of Treasury Board job classifications and their bargaining units.
| Job classification | Description | Bargaining unit |
|---|---|---|
| AS | Admin Services | PA |
| CM | Communications | PA |
| CR | Clerical and Regulatory | PA |
| DA | Data Processing | PA |
| DD | Drafting and Illustration | TC |
| ED | Education | EB |
| EG | Engineering and Scientific Support | TC |
| EU | Educational Support | EB |
| FR | Firefighters | SV |
| GL | General Labour and Trades | SV |
| GS | General Services | SV |
| GT | General Technical | TC |
| HP | Heating, Power and Stationary Plant Operation | SV |
| HS | Hospital services | SV |
| IS | Information Services | PA |
| LI | Lightkeepers | SV |
| LS | Library Science | EB |
| OE | Office Equipment | PA |
| PI | Primary Products Inspection | TC |
| PM | Programme Admin | PA |
| PR(S) | Printing Operations (Supervisory) | SV |
| PY | Photography | TC |
| SC | Ships' Crews | SV |
| ST | Secretarial, Stenographic and Typing | PA |
| TI | Technical Inspection | TC |
| WP | Welfare Programmes | PA |
Pay Increase
Q. Will there be an automatic increase on our paycheck immediately following the expiry of our current contract?
A. The pay increase will take effect on your pay cheque the first day of your new collective agreement.
Family leave
Q. What are the added benefits in the new provision for family-related leave?
A. The new provision on family-related responsibility leave is included in your total of 37.5 hours per year. Your bargaining team negotiated more flexibility in this provision with a new 7.5 hours for situations such as attending school functions, school or daycare facility closure and appointments with financial, legal and other professional representatives.
Questions
Still have questions?
If you have any questions regarding the bargaining process, please send an email to: bargaining@psac-afpc.com.
Your questions will be reviewed and answers will be provided in the Frequently Asked Questions section whenever possible. Given the volume of inquiries by members, we will not be able to respond to everyone individually.
Date Modified : 2013/04/09
