Rates of pay not approved by collective agreement Last week, the Treasury Board Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer (OCHL) released updated guidance for departments on the use of paid leave under leave Code 699, which included ambiguous language about employees who must first exhaust other relevant forms of paid leave. It is due to enter into force on 9 November 2020. The OCH has also issued clarification documents that make it clear that the employer has chosen to violate the terms of collective agreements and the human rights of our members in the name of political expediency. From now on, the services are instructed not to take into account leave requests in accordance with article 55.01 of the PO`s collective agreement (similar clauses exist in all other public service collective agreements), which « provides for paid leave if circumstances that are not directly attributable to the employee prevent the employee from attending compulsorily » until all other forms of paid leave have been exhausted. including annual leave. We have made it clear to the employer that this is not the time to gut a well-functioning system to help members cope with the pandemic. Instead, they have decided to make changes that violate your collective agreement, your human rights and your Charter rights. It is not for the employer – or the managers to whom it delegates these decisions – to decide which rights are respected in the name of the policy and which are rejected. These guidelines unilaterally add conditions and restrictions that are not part of the PO`s collective agreement, which is a clear violation of the agreement and our freedom of association under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In addition, the employer`s gender analysis of these changes shows that the impact will disproportionately affect women and members of traditionally marginalized groups.
These actions are discriminatory and a flagrant violation of your rights, not to mention an affront to the employment relationship we strive to maintain in these unprecedented times. The employer had already tried to change the special leave with wage provisions before the start of the school year without consulting one of the unions. The unions fought together against this undisputed and potentially discriminatory change. This holiday remains an important advantage and is part of our working conditions, which are frozen. We continue to fight this recent change with other federal public sector unions. Formal negotiations with the employer have begun! It will be a long process to get to our first collective agreement, but it is extremely exciting to say that it has begun. The election campaign may take place at any time and is the sole responsibility of the candidate(s). Shortly after the end of the nomination period and at the request of the candidate(s), the Election Committee will send an email to members containing: the names of the candidates, the places of work and a URL link provided by the candidate that points to a website of their choice. It goes without saying that this year has been a year like no other. COVID-19 continues to challenge us and our communities in all respects, including our health, our responsibility to care for older children and parents, the economy, mental health, workplaces, and the list goes on.
I couldn`t be prouder to represent an incredible group of people who continue to be heroes essential to the safety of the public and public servants. Our Registrar, affectionately known as Karen LK, has just left CUPE 104 and has progressed and evolved after a very remarkable and long career in power. She will continue to work in the public service and will play a crucial role in supporting the Union`s relations and growth and management. Karen worked extremely hard for CUPE 104 before it was founded until its final day and was instrumental in getting us to where we are today. A very warm thank you to Karen for all she has done and will continue to do for us and for the entire public service in her new role. Currently, a leading researcher at Memorial University is researching PHCs and their mental health. We have an opportunity to make a difference here. I encourage everyone to consider this survey because the more information you get, the better.
Information and links to this survey can be found on our website (104.cupe.ca/2020/12/01/mental-health-study-for-public-safety-communicators-please-consider-participating/) and Facebook page. We need statistics and research to support our position and experience. We need facts and figures to support us when we want more support for mental health or when we say that we should have better pay for what we do, that we should not work as many years as we do until retirement, and so on. In its decision, the SCC found that job-sharing arrangements were more prevalent among women with young children. Therefore, the SCC found that the inability of members to redeem pension time while in a job-sharing role constituted a clear violation of subsection 15(1) of the Charter because of the disproportionate impact on women. Immediately following the decision, we wrote to the RCMP HR Director, the Director of RCMP Retirement Services and the Acting Director General of National Compensation Services requesting information on how this decision will be implemented. We are waiting for their direction. We look forward to this injustice being corrected and how exactly it will affect employees` job-sharing situations, as well as those who have had to switch to part-time work to support family responsibilities. On 10 March 2020, the Federal Supreme Court approved a settlement of the Tiller v.
Her Majesty the Queen. The class action lawsuit involves allegations of harassment and discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (« RCMP »). Our Union President joined several other public sector union leaders (17 in total) and yesterday sent a joint letter to the Minister of Finance to share our concerns (i.e., health, industrial relations and human rights) and ask him to ask his staff to backtrack in this new direction. We recently released an update on access to 699 Leave: (104.cupe.ca/2020/11/04/update-on-access-to-699-leave/). Despite all the unions, the employer has changed its orientation towards access to other paid leave (699). In some cases, the employer requires employees to take advantage of other forms of paid leave before granting access to other paid leave provisions (699) for COVID-19 related matters. On October 16, 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) issued a landmark decision on members who work in job-sharing situations and their ability to contribute to retirement (Fraser v. Canada (Attorney General), 2020 SCC 28).
Members who reduce their hours of work through job-sharing agreements have already been denied the opportunity to buy back their lost retirement time. However, members who work regularly and take unpaid leave (LWOP) can buy back their retirement time to compensate for LWOP time. This decision gives members who have reduced their working hours through job sharing the opportunity to buy back the time lost in their pensions. In addition, these changes are creating instability and uncertainty at a time when the second wave of the pandemic is hitting across the country. This endangers the mental health of the entire group and creates unnecessary barriers for those who want to follow public health guidelines for the benefit of all Canadians. If you have problems with the application of public holiday regulations related to the pandemic, please continue to contact your Regional President for assistance and advice. This includes the denial of another paid leave (699) for COVID-19 related issues due to the employer`s above-mentioned change of direction. If you hear of inappropriate requests or instructions from management, please let us know immediately. The sooner we know about the problems or potential problems, the sooner we can help solve them. This is the announcement of an election for the positions of Trustee (x3) on the Board of Directors of Local 104 in accordance with our by-laws. Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or record-keeping purposes.
It is not subject to Canadian government web standards and has not been modified or updated since it was archived. Please contact us to request a format other than the one available. If you are denied access to holiday code 699, contact your steward or regional president and we will assist you and, if necessary, immediately begin the process of filing a complaint on your behalf. In the meantime, we will also lodge a political complaint on behalf of the group. The analysis of other formal measures, including complaints to the Public Sector Industrial Relations and Employment Office, in the context of human rights legislation and with regard to the violation of your Charter rights, has already begun. First responder mental health is increasingly becoming a headline-grabbing and well-known issue, but unfortunately, the inclusion of public safety communicators (PSCs) in references to first responders is not widespread. We have an opportunity to change that! Nomination forms are available online at 104.cupe.ca/files/2020/11/Nomination-Package-Trustee.pdf. They must be scanned and emailed to elections@cupe104.ca before the end of the nomination period on 11/25/2020. Voting is done by electronic voting to the email address we have stored from your membership form. .