April 22, 2008
Negotiations at Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The week of negotiations that concluded April 4 ended without any real progress towards a new Collective Agreement. Despite the fact that the parties exchanged positions on almost all the outstanding issues – including the CFIA position that the contract should be renewed as is, except where the employer is seeking concessions – there was no substantive progress beyond some editorial and other minor changes.
The negotiating team read with interest the recent report to Parliament on the state of the public service prepared by the Clerk of the Privy Council. In response to looming demographic imperatives and increasing competition for talent from the private sector, Kevin Lynch, Clerk of the Privy Council and head of the public service has called for new approaches and new ideas. Unfortunately, that message doesn't seem to be getting through to CFIA negotiators at the table.
Nevertheless, there were some in-depth exchanges on a number of issues:
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Sick Leave – The employer wants the right to request medical certificates in all circumstances and is seeking to eliminate the extra two days sick leave available to shift workers;
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Hours of Work for General Labour (GL) and General Service (GS) employees – The employer continues to refuse to reduce the 40-hour week for these employees to 37.5 hours as Canada Revenue Agency has done;
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Injury-on-duty Leave – We have a proposal on the table that would protect an employee's right to remain on IOD Leave as long as it is certified by the Workplace Safety Insurance Board. The current Treasury Board policy observed by the employer is not subject to the Grievance Procedure in the Collective Agreement and the employer does not apply the policy in a consistent manner;
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Bereavement Leave – The Union is seeking to change the timeframe to working days and is also trying to build some flexibility into how the leave can be used. For its part, the CFIA still wants to tie the leave to either a funeral or a memorial service and continues to opt for “consecutive days” language that would prevent the leave from being split to cover both situations; and,
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Mobility Rights for employees – The Union is seeking to attain Personnel Selection leave so that members will be permitted to participate in competitions or selection processes outside of the CFIA and Agriculture Canada. In addition, the Union is bargaining to allow members to transfer sick leave and vacation leave credits between CFIA and other government departments or agencies. With respect to Maternity and Parental leave, the Union is trying to gain protection from having to pay back benefits when transferring to or from other government departments or agencies.
Employer Policies
There were also specific discussions on a number of Employer Policies. Employer Policies have force and effect on employees, however, they are not necessarily grievable unless they form part of the Collective Agreement.
Harassment. Whereas the employer's policy deals with harassment (both personal and sexual) as well as abuse of authority, the collective agreement deals only with sexual harassment. The union is seeking agreement on language to incorporate all three in the Collective Agreement.
Leave with income averaging. There is currently no language in the Collective Agreement for this.
Staffing recourse policy. The Union has been attempting to put language addressing staffing recourse in the Collective Agreement since 1997.
Leave with or without pay. In addition to relying on Treasury Board policies, the employer has some of its own policies on this as well. We are attempting to include some of these in the Collective Agreement in order to prevent inconsistencies in how the employer uses its “Discretion” when making decisions. For example, the policy on “Inclement Weather” is one area that needs to be administered more equitably.
Pay Parity
Note that there was a preliminary statement by the Union negotiating team addressing the issue of Pay Parity with other sectors of the Public Service. We have put the employer on notice that this will be a priority for the union when we table our full pay position.
We encourage the membership to read both the Union and The CFIA bargaining proposals and to provide feedback to the team member in your area.
Your Team returns to the bargaining table May 12-15.
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Date Modified : 2008/04/22
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