Translation Bureau Local Newsletter – September 2007
September 12, 2007
September again, already. For many of us, it means back to business and a resumption of activity.
For those of you occupying an SI position, September also means another step towards conversion to the new EC category, and the negotiation of the new pay scales in the upcoming collective agreement. One more reason to monitor the CAPE Web site closely, and read all the relevant information. If it has not already been done, the employer should also provide you with a current work description. If you are still waiting, it is up to you to demand one, as it is for every unionized public servant. The file is still open on this issue.
TRs will not remain unaffected by the resumption now under way. The various sectors of the Bureau have a full slate of projects, some of which could have an impact on your day to-day activities. The new professional model, workload, availability, ergonomics, offices, professional and specialized training, and well-being are just a few examples of subjects we shall be discussing with the employer.
Workforce succession is a problem in every sector. With the mass departures expected over the next five or six years, we have some difficulty in understanding the rigid attitude of some decision-makers. We are still seeing cases in which recent mothers are being denied a gradual return to work with a part-time schedule, whereas flexible arrangements of this kind are available to retirees who are coming back to help out. The Local is taking every opportunity it can to defend your interests: consultations, private meetings and so on. Where consultation and informal discussion prove unsuccessful, CAPE staff will step in to intervene with the employer.
September is also the time for the call for nominations for some positions on the Executive of the Local. Members will be electing candidates to five positions: President of the Local, one of the representatives of Francophone Translators (André Picotte’s position) and representatives of Anglophone translators, interpreters and ECs.
Collective agreement bargaining, the first session of which was held this summer, will resume in November. The parties normally meet for three days at a time. Apparently, the round now getting under way will involve difficulties for the employer in finding dates on which all members of its team — and they are legion — are available.
This fall, the Local is considering a revival of its Manager of the Year Award. We all know who the standouts are: the ones that demonstrate imagination in managing their unit, and manage to motivate their staff and deal with the problems inherent in our profession and our clientele under conditions that are not always easy. I am sure there will be no shortage of nominees. In this way, we hope to put behind us—or re-inspire!— those who generate work for our labour relations officers and apply their imagination instead to finding new ways to interpret the collective agreement and the policies of the Bureau, the Department and Treasury Board. Another open file you can monitor on the CAPE Web site.
Welcome back, and enjoy the last days of summer!
Claude Poirier
September 12, 2007
September again, already. For many of us, it means back to business and a resumption of activity.
For those of you occupying an SI position, September also means another step towards conversion to the new EC category, and the negotiation of the new pay scales in the upcoming collective agreement. One more reason to monitor the CAPE Web site closely, and read all the relevant information. If it has not already been done, the employer should also provide you with a current work description. If you are still waiting, it is up to you to demand one, as it is for every unionized public servant. The file is still open on this issue.
TRs will not remain unaffected by the resumption now under way. The various sectors of the Bureau have a full slate of projects, some of which could have an impact on your day to-day activities. The new professional model, workload, availability, ergonomics, offices, professional and specialized training, and well-being are just a few examples of subjects we shall be discussing with the employer.
Workforce succession is a problem in every sector. With the mass departures expected over the next five or six years, we have some difficulty in understanding the rigid attitude of some decision-makers. We are still seeing cases in which recent mothers are being denied a gradual return to work with a part-time schedule, whereas flexible arrangements of this kind are available to retirees who are coming back to help out. The Local is taking every opportunity it can to defend your interests: consultations, private meetings and so on. Where consultation and informal discussion prove unsuccessful, CAPE staff will step in to intervene with the employer.
September is also the time for the call for nominations for some positions on the Executive of the Local. Members will be electing candidates to five positions: President of the Local, one of the representatives of Francophone Translators (André Picotte’s position) and representatives of Anglophone translators, interpreters and ECs.
Collective agreement bargaining, the first session of which was held this summer, will resume in November. The parties normally meet for three days at a time. Apparently, the round now getting under way will involve difficulties for the employer in finding dates on which all members of its team — and they are legion — are available.
This fall, the Local is considering a revival of its Manager of the Year Award. We all know who the standouts are: the ones that demonstrate imagination in managing their unit, and manage to motivate their staff and deal with the problems inherent in our profession and our clientele under conditions that are not always easy. I am sure there will be no shortage of nominees. In this way, we hope to put behind us—or re-inspire!— those who generate work for our labour relations officers and apply their imagination instead to finding new ways to interpret the collective agreement and the policies of the Bureau, the Department and Treasury Board. Another open file you can monitor on the CAPE Web site.
Welcome back, and enjoy the last days of summer!
Claude Poirier