Marriage Leave in the EC Collective Agreement vs. 5 days leave granted to members of other Bargaining Agents
June 23, 2005
To provide the background on this, we have to go back to May 2003. At that time, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal deemed that the Marriage Leave Article in federal public service collective agreements was discriminatory, in particular that it discriminated against couples in same sex relationships. It ordered the Treasury Board to take “such steps as are necessary to eliminate the discriminatory practice in the application of all collective agreements to which it is a party”.
Treasury Board took the position that if the Marriage Leave Article was discriminatory, then the simplest way to deal with it would be to remove it from all collective agreements. But in order for bargaining agents to accept this, they had to offer something in exchange. Their initial proposal was 3 days of leave which would be available only once in an employee’s career. In essence, Treasury Board wanted the bargaining agents to relinquish their right to five days marriage leave, with no limit on the number of times that this leave could be taken, to three days, once. If, for example, an employee used those three days for any other reason than marriage, that leave would be exhausted and the employee would be compelled to use other leave for purposes of getting married - for the duration of the employee’s career. One group in the federal public service accepted this proposal.
When the EC’s went to the bargaining table, they were offered three days, once in a career, in exchange for marriage leave. The EC Negotiation Team’s position was to extend marriage leave to same-sex couples. The offer of 3 days still stood as we proceeded to arbitration, when it was expected that the Supreme Court would rule shortly that a marriage between 2 people of the same-sex was consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. At the same time, it had not yet been made public that the PSAC had been offered 5 days in exchange for marriage leave. We stuck to our guns and the present EC Collective Agreement allows all couples, same-sex or not, five days of Marriage Leave, with no limit to the number of times you may take this leave.
EC members will have the opportunity to provide input on this issue prior to the next round of bargaining (spring 2006).
June 23, 2005
To provide the background on this, we have to go back to May 2003. At that time, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal deemed that the Marriage Leave Article in federal public service collective agreements was discriminatory, in particular that it discriminated against couples in same sex relationships. It ordered the Treasury Board to take “such steps as are necessary to eliminate the discriminatory practice in the application of all collective agreements to which it is a party”.
Treasury Board took the position that if the Marriage Leave Article was discriminatory, then the simplest way to deal with it would be to remove it from all collective agreements. But in order for bargaining agents to accept this, they had to offer something in exchange. Their initial proposal was 3 days of leave which would be available only once in an employee’s career. In essence, Treasury Board wanted the bargaining agents to relinquish their right to five days marriage leave, with no limit on the number of times that this leave could be taken, to three days, once. If, for example, an employee used those three days for any other reason than marriage, that leave would be exhausted and the employee would be compelled to use other leave for purposes of getting married - for the duration of the employee’s career. One group in the federal public service accepted this proposal.
When the EC’s went to the bargaining table, they were offered three days, once in a career, in exchange for marriage leave. The EC Negotiation Team’s position was to extend marriage leave to same-sex couples. The offer of 3 days still stood as we proceeded to arbitration, when it was expected that the Supreme Court would rule shortly that a marriage between 2 people of the same-sex was consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. At the same time, it had not yet been made public that the PSAC had been offered 5 days in exchange for marriage leave. We stuck to our guns and the present EC Collective Agreement allows all couples, same-sex or not, five days of Marriage Leave, with no limit to the number of times you may take this leave.
EC members will have the opportunity to provide input on this issue prior to the next round of bargaining (spring 2006).