CAPE President Claude Poirier appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance on May 6th to explain the injustice of an EC Conversion without negotiated rates of pay. Although C-10, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on January 27, 2009 and related fiscal measures (Budget Implementation Act, 2009) received Royal Assent on March 12th, the Committee has been asked by the Senate to continue to examine certain elements of C-10, including Part 10, the Expenditure Restraint Act.

Claude Poirier asked the Members of the Committee to table legislation that would firstly order the Treasury Board to return to the bargaining table to negotiate salary scales which correspond to the new EC Classification Standard and secondly, that would stipulate that these negotiations not be subject to the provisions in C-10 prohibiting the restructuring of rates of pay during the restraint period. Mr. Poirier specified that CAPE was not seeking at this time any changes to the annual percentage increases which had already been accepted by the members of CAPE.

Until the official transcripts of the Committee proceedings are available, Claude Poirier’s presentation is available here:

http://acep-cape.ca/pdfs/General/files/PoirierComitedesFinancesnationalesduSenat_e.pdf

Official Transcripts:

Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance
Tuesday, May 5, 2009, Wednesday, May 6, 2009