Exceptional Circumstances: the One-Year EC Tentative Agreement
July 17, 2006
CAPE's EC bargaining committee worked for four months preparing a set of approximately 40 proposals that would reflect the priorities, concerns and interests of the organization's ES and SI members.
The intent was to present proposals to the Employer that would be the object of bargaining over the next several months. The committee realized that the possibility of a long period of bargaining existed from the outset. The bargaining committee was working on the premise that the 2006 round was the round during which CAPE and Treasury Board would come to an agreement regarding an entirely new set of pay lines for conversion to the new EC classification standard. From the Foreign Service Officers’ experience of conversion negotiations we have learned that it can take a considerable amount of time. So, the committee prepared for the long haul.
However, the premise of this classification conversion round was that the employer would come to the table with a conversion results database that would chart where all ES and SI positions would land in the new EC classification world. Without this data, CAPE could simply not negotiate pay as it would not be able to measure the real effect of the new pay scales on the membership.
Shortly before the first meeting of the Association with Treasury Board at the bargaining table on June 19, the employer (PSHRMAC) advised CAPE that the database would be ready, at the earliest, well into 2007. This meant that CAPE was faced with the prospect of bargaining with a long interruption of several months of inactivity before it could even look at the classification data that would then require analysis for the negotiation of pay.
The delay seemed unreasonable to CAPE's bargaining committee: it appeared that an agreement would in all probability be signed in 2008.
The committee thought that for CAPE to have proceeded normally at the bargaining table, presenting a full package of proposals, receiving a full package of proposals, and going through the full bargaining process would have been to accept the delay and to engage in a process that would see no improvements to the collective agreement benefits of ES and SI members for at least two years.
The EC bargaining committee decided that this was not in the membership's interest. Therefore, CAPE proposed to Treasury Board a tentative agreement that could be signed immediately, so that our members could benefit immediately from new provisions including pay adjustments. The proposal was for a one-year deal, which meant that the parties would come back to the table when the conversion data base was expected to be available.
In spite of these exceptional circumstances, Treasury Board did not immediately agree to the proposal. After further talks on the problems that the delay would entail, some talks involving the president of CAPE and Treasury Board officials, the Board and CAPE came to a mutually acceptable tentative agreement for a one-year contract.
The parties thus had what could almost be called an interim deal. All of the changes will be immediately available (the day the agreement is signed) if the contract is ratified and once the contract is signed by the parties. Members will not need to wait to 2008. The many other proposals that CAPE had prepared will be part of the package that will be brought to the table, shortly, in 2007.
This unusual process will not delay the availability of any additional gains as we anticipate that bargaining beginning in 2007 should be completed in 2008 and that improvements will be available in 2008 to members as would have been the case had we not convinced Treasury Board to accept a one-year deal.
Unusual,… yes. But the net gain is for our ES and SI members: money now, leave now.
July 17, 2006
CAPE's EC bargaining committee worked for four months preparing a set of approximately 40 proposals that would reflect the priorities, concerns and interests of the organization's ES and SI members.
The intent was to present proposals to the Employer that would be the object of bargaining over the next several months. The committee realized that the possibility of a long period of bargaining existed from the outset. The bargaining committee was working on the premise that the 2006 round was the round during which CAPE and Treasury Board would come to an agreement regarding an entirely new set of pay lines for conversion to the new EC classification standard. From the Foreign Service Officers’ experience of conversion negotiations we have learned that it can take a considerable amount of time. So, the committee prepared for the long haul.
However, the premise of this classification conversion round was that the employer would come to the table with a conversion results database that would chart where all ES and SI positions would land in the new EC classification world. Without this data, CAPE could simply not negotiate pay as it would not be able to measure the real effect of the new pay scales on the membership.
Shortly before the first meeting of the Association with Treasury Board at the bargaining table on June 19, the employer (PSHRMAC) advised CAPE that the database would be ready, at the earliest, well into 2007. This meant that CAPE was faced with the prospect of bargaining with a long interruption of several months of inactivity before it could even look at the classification data that would then require analysis for the negotiation of pay.
The delay seemed unreasonable to CAPE's bargaining committee: it appeared that an agreement would in all probability be signed in 2008.
The committee thought that for CAPE to have proceeded normally at the bargaining table, presenting a full package of proposals, receiving a full package of proposals, and going through the full bargaining process would have been to accept the delay and to engage in a process that would see no improvements to the collective agreement benefits of ES and SI members for at least two years.
The EC bargaining committee decided that this was not in the membership's interest. Therefore, CAPE proposed to Treasury Board a tentative agreement that could be signed immediately, so that our members could benefit immediately from new provisions including pay adjustments. The proposal was for a one-year deal, which meant that the parties would come back to the table when the conversion data base was expected to be available.
In spite of these exceptional circumstances, Treasury Board did not immediately agree to the proposal. After further talks on the problems that the delay would entail, some talks involving the president of CAPE and Treasury Board officials, the Board and CAPE came to a mutually acceptable tentative agreement for a one-year contract.
The parties thus had what could almost be called an interim deal. All of the changes will be immediately available (the day the agreement is signed) if the contract is ratified and once the contract is signed by the parties. Members will not need to wait to 2008. The many other proposals that CAPE had prepared will be part of the package that will be brought to the table, shortly, in 2007.
This unusual process will not delay the availability of any additional gains as we anticipate that bargaining beginning in 2007 should be completed in 2008 and that improvements will be available in 2008 to members as would have been the case had we not convinced Treasury Board to accept a one-year deal.
Unusual,… yes. But the net gain is for our ES and SI members: money now, leave now.