The Canadian Association of Professional Employees has informed the Treasury Board that it will not be participating in any consultation pertaining to the four-day return-to-office mandate. As the decision has already been publicly announced, any so-called consultation process would be solely performative and in bad faith.
“We want it to be very clear: CAPE rejects this reckless and misguided policy,” said CAPE President Nathan Prier. “We have seen, and have communicated to our members, the seemingly bad faith approach to management-labour consultation on this issue and many others with TBS. Our participation in a meaningless consultation would only lend credibility to this move and we will not be seen to be condoning it in any way.”
The Treasury Board has wilfully ignored concerns raised by all unions about the current three-day mandate, while at the same time pushing forward with increasing RTO requirements. The government does not currently have the office space to implement this decision effectively or safely. Without addressing the many existing problems, the government is just compounding these issues.
Given the documented productivity gains, operational cost-savings, and many other advantages to flexible remote work rights in the federal public service, unions expect a good faith, evidence-based discussion on this critical issue. The lack of engagement or presentation of a coherent rationale from the employer means that the government’s decision is politically motivated and cannot be justified to taxpayers.
CAPE is currently considering all legal options to respond to the latest RTO mandate. The union will continue to protect members’ rights and their ability to do their jobs safely and effectively, while sounding the alarm to Canadians on the indefensible inefficiencies built into this policy decision.
CAPE members are thoroughly committed to winning remote work rights in their next collective agreement. All discussions about telework should be had at the bargaining table.
