EC Conversion – the levels
July 24, 2008
Most of CAPE’s ES and SI members have been provided over the past two to three weeks with information from their departments in regards to the EC conversion process. General information about the process within each department has been posted or circulated. Advance Personal Notification letters have gone out to persons occupying ES and SI positions as well as to incumbents of ES and SI positions who may temporarily be in other positions. Letters have gone out to ES and SI employees who are on leave. With the exception of ES and SI employees who are occupying positions that are not going through the EC conversion process, everyone should have a clear idea of the anticipated classification of their position.
Those who are occupying positions that the employer expects to reclassify into other occupational groups (AS, WP, PM, etc.) have been advised for the most part. If you have not received an APN letter and if you have not been advised by your department that it intends to reclassify your position into another group, you should be pressing your supervisor for answers. Reclassification can occur at any time; and it is anticipated by CAPE that EC conversion will occur some time in 2009. You should know now what will happen to your position.
The APN letter that most of you have received identifies the anticipated EC level of your position. Your department has applied the EC classification standard to the work description that it anticipates will describe the work of your position on the date of conversion. The anticipated EC level is the result of the application of the standard and of only the application of the standard. It has no actual relationship to the ES or SI level of your position.
For example in theory, the EC classification level of an ES-04 position could be anything from EC-01 to EC-08. It all depends on the results of the application of the EC standard to the specific work description. The same is true of all ES and SI positions that are evaluated with the EC standard. The converse is also true. There will be positions classified at several different levels of the ES and SI standard that will fall on the EC-05 level, for example.
There are however aggregations. In part these aggregations result from similarities between on the one hand the ES and SI classification standards, and on the other hand the EC standard. With the SI classification standard the employer recognizes the value a SI brings to the work place in terms of: (1) skills and knowledge; (2) problem solving skills; (3) responsibility for contacts; (4) supervision. With the ES standard, the employer recognizes the value an ES brings to the work place in terms of: (1) the nature and complexity of work; (2) professional responsibilities; (3) supervision and/or coordination; (4) the impact of work; (5) representation. With the EC standard the employer recognizes that an EC employee brings value to the work place in terms of: (1) decision making responsibility; (2) leadership and operational management responsibility; (3) communication skills; (4) knowledge of specialized fields; (5) contextual knowledge; (6) physical effort; (7) sensory effort; and (8) working conditions. As many of the factors are similar, it can be expected that there should be some degree of aggregation of ES positions of a same level, for example, into a given EC level. Moreover, the aggregation has to do with a number of other factors including the point rating delimitation of levels in each standard.
Here is the table of correspondence that has been provided by most departments to their employees regarding the conversion:
Level 1 ES-01/SI-01 EC-01
Level 2 ES-02/SI-02 EC-02
Level 3 ---- /SI-03 EC-03
Level 4 ES-03/SI-04 EC-04
Level 5 ES-04/SI-05 EC-05
Level 6 ES-05/SI-06 EC-06
Level 7 ES-06/SI-07 EC-07
Level 8 ES-07SI-08 EC-08
It is safe to say that the parties at the table will be using the current pay lines for ES and SI positions as a starting point for bargaining the pay lines of positions classified with the EC standard because the relativity of the levels is similar. So, as a general indicator at this time it is safe to use the table above to anticipate relative salary situations on the day of conversion.
If you have been advised that your anticipated EC level is below your current ES or SI level as illustrated in the table, you should immediately speak to your supervisor. You may likely find yourself in a salary protected situation if adjustment to your work description and/or EC classification cannot be made before the conversion. You may not be satisfied with a salary protected situation.
You have between now and the OPN some time early in 2009 in order to address problems informally with your management. Do it now. After the OPN, if outstanding issues continue to concern you, you will have a short period of time to decide whether to file grievances.
July 24, 2008
Most of CAPE’s ES and SI members have been provided over the past two to three weeks with information from their departments in regards to the EC conversion process. General information about the process within each department has been posted or circulated. Advance Personal Notification letters have gone out to persons occupying ES and SI positions as well as to incumbents of ES and SI positions who may temporarily be in other positions. Letters have gone out to ES and SI employees who are on leave. With the exception of ES and SI employees who are occupying positions that are not going through the EC conversion process, everyone should have a clear idea of the anticipated classification of their position.
Those who are occupying positions that the employer expects to reclassify into other occupational groups (AS, WP, PM, etc.) have been advised for the most part. If you have not received an APN letter and if you have not been advised by your department that it intends to reclassify your position into another group, you should be pressing your supervisor for answers. Reclassification can occur at any time; and it is anticipated by CAPE that EC conversion will occur some time in 2009. You should know now what will happen to your position.
The APN letter that most of you have received identifies the anticipated EC level of your position. Your department has applied the EC classification standard to the work description that it anticipates will describe the work of your position on the date of conversion. The anticipated EC level is the result of the application of the standard and of only the application of the standard. It has no actual relationship to the ES or SI level of your position.
For example in theory, the EC classification level of an ES-04 position could be anything from EC-01 to EC-08. It all depends on the results of the application of the EC standard to the specific work description. The same is true of all ES and SI positions that are evaluated with the EC standard. The converse is also true. There will be positions classified at several different levels of the ES and SI standard that will fall on the EC-05 level, for example.
There are however aggregations. In part these aggregations result from similarities between on the one hand the ES and SI classification standards, and on the other hand the EC standard. With the SI classification standard the employer recognizes the value a SI brings to the work place in terms of: (1) skills and knowledge; (2) problem solving skills; (3) responsibility for contacts; (4) supervision. With the ES standard, the employer recognizes the value an ES brings to the work place in terms of: (1) the nature and complexity of work; (2) professional responsibilities; (3) supervision and/or coordination; (4) the impact of work; (5) representation. With the EC standard the employer recognizes that an EC employee brings value to the work place in terms of: (1) decision making responsibility; (2) leadership and operational management responsibility; (3) communication skills; (4) knowledge of specialized fields; (5) contextual knowledge; (6) physical effort; (7) sensory effort; and (8) working conditions. As many of the factors are similar, it can be expected that there should be some degree of aggregation of ES positions of a same level, for example, into a given EC level. Moreover, the aggregation has to do with a number of other factors including the point rating delimitation of levels in each standard.
Here is the table of correspondence that has been provided by most departments to their employees regarding the conversion:
Level 1 ES-01/SI-01 EC-01
Level 2 ES-02/SI-02 EC-02
Level 3 ---- /SI-03 EC-03
Level 4 ES-03/SI-04 EC-04
Level 5 ES-04/SI-05 EC-05
Level 6 ES-05/SI-06 EC-06
Level 7 ES-06/SI-07 EC-07
Level 8 ES-07SI-08 EC-08
It is safe to say that the parties at the table will be using the current pay lines for ES and SI positions as a starting point for bargaining the pay lines of positions classified with the EC standard because the relativity of the levels is similar. So, as a general indicator at this time it is safe to use the table above to anticipate relative salary situations on the day of conversion.
If you have been advised that your anticipated EC level is below your current ES or SI level as illustrated in the table, you should immediately speak to your supervisor. You may likely find yourself in a salary protected situation if adjustment to your work description and/or EC classification cannot be made before the conversion. You may not be satisfied with a salary protected situation.
You have between now and the OPN some time early in 2009 in order to address problems informally with your management. Do it now. After the OPN, if outstanding issues continue to concern you, you will have a short period of time to decide whether to file grievances.