EC Bargaining Update
January 18, 2012
CAPE filed for arbitration on December 14. As required it provided the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB) a list of outstanding issues brought to the table by CAPE, the language of the proposals, and a description of bargaining that occurred during the current round. On December 28, Treasury Board responded as required by the PSLRB with a list of its outstanding issues, the language of the proposals and its response to CAPE’s outstanding issues. In a letter that repeats almost word for word its response to a request for arbitration filed by another public service union, I.E.B.W., Treasury Board claimed that it disagreed with the union’s statement that there was an impasse at the bargaining table. Treasury Board stated that it would be open to mediation and that the PSLRB should not begin the process of setting up an arbitration board. CAPE communicated through legal counsel on January 6 its response to Treasury Board’s outstanding issues and provided more details describing what has occurred at the EC bargaining table. CAPE noted that the Public Service Relations Act clearly gives the PSLRB the authority to propose mediation at any time in the process and that the possibility of mediation should not be an excuse to delay the process of setting up an arbitration board (it should be noted further that in 2005 when CAPE was forced to arbitration by Treasury Board’s intransigence at the table, meditation occurred the day before the arbitration hearing). Treasury Board did not seem prepared at the table in this round of bargaining. Now, it appears that it is not prepared to make a case before a third party.
January 18, 2012
CAPE filed for arbitration on December 14. As required it provided the Public Service Labour Relations Board (PSLRB) a list of outstanding issues brought to the table by CAPE, the language of the proposals, and a description of bargaining that occurred during the current round. On December 28, Treasury Board responded as required by the PSLRB with a list of its outstanding issues, the language of the proposals and its response to CAPE’s outstanding issues. In a letter that repeats almost word for word its response to a request for arbitration filed by another public service union, I.E.B.W., Treasury Board claimed that it disagreed with the union’s statement that there was an impasse at the bargaining table. Treasury Board stated that it would be open to mediation and that the PSLRB should not begin the process of setting up an arbitration board. CAPE communicated through legal counsel on January 6 its response to Treasury Board’s outstanding issues and provided more details describing what has occurred at the EC bargaining table. CAPE noted that the Public Service Relations Act clearly gives the PSLRB the authority to propose mediation at any time in the process and that the possibility of mediation should not be an excuse to delay the process of setting up an arbitration board (it should be noted further that in 2005 when CAPE was forced to arbitration by Treasury Board’s intransigence at the table, meditation occurred the day before the arbitration hearing). Treasury Board did not seem prepared at the table in this round of bargaining. Now, it appears that it is not prepared to make a case before a third party.