Competition #: 2025-8
Posting date: May 23, 2025
Closing date: June 6, 2025
Duration: Indeterminate
Classification level: Level 5
Salary: $114 354 - $141 134
Number of positions: 1
Status: Unionized
About the Association
The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) is a dynamic and progressive union representing over 25,000 professional employees in the federal public sector. At CAPE, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable environment for all our members.
Our organization offers a:
Progressive work environment
Flexible Work Model & Remote work opportunities
Seamless transition for public servants
Great work-life balance
Position Summary
Under the direction of the Director of Negotiations and Research, the Research Officer provides advice, research, information and assistance on labour, employment, and collective bargaining and approved campaign objectives, related to the general welfare of CAPE’s membership. Depending on portfolio, the Research Officer can support CAPE’s development, refinement, and execution of open bargaining processes. The Research Officer designs, plans, and carries out, and delivers a variety of research that may be required for CAPE to better represent its members. This role also provides general labour, campaign, and employment information to staff and CAPE membership and represents CAPE at employer and inter-union meetings.
Requirements
Education & Experience
Master’s degree in industrial relations, political science, sociology, economics or a closely related discipline.
4 to 7 years’ experience in a related field.
Experience in bargaining based on portfolio.
Strong commitment to and knowledge of the labor movement and socio-economic justice.
Note: Equivalent combinations of education and/or experience are considered.
Key responsibilities
Conceives research plans and carries out research in support of collective bargaining and campaign objectives, analyses information, drafts bargaining proposals, reviews contract language, draft bargaining updates, carries out pay analysis, and makes recommendations on the collective bargaining positions of CAPE bargaining units.
Create campaign research tools
Conducts surveys of CAPE membership on collective bargaining and other issues; designs surveys and chooses the methodology, analyses findings and prepares reports interpreting results and making recommendations.
Depending on portfolio, supports CAPE’s development, refinement, and execution of open bargaining processes including the coordination of member meetings relative to the bargaining preparation.
Depending on portfolio, create reporting mechanism for bargaining updates delivered by Locals and takes minutes and keeps track of bargaining preparation meetings.
Conceives, conducts research and provides analysis, advice and material concerning the political, social, economic and collective bargaining interests of CAPE, and provides advice and assistance to the Director of Negotiations and Research, and to CAPE Committees.
Provides information to the membership on CAPE policies and labour relations, employment, and campaign matters affecting the general membership.
Prepares policy documents that will serve as the basis for presentations to Parliamentary committees and stakeholders
Reviews changes to federal employment and staff relations legislation and regulations, and changes to policies of the federal government, Treasury Board, Public Service Commission, Library of Parliament, employers of other CAPE members and National Joint Council, keeps abreast of trends and jurisprudence beyond the federal public service, and prepares briefs
Reviews and synthesizes information related to the labour movement and the working conditions / general welfare of the membership
Contributes articles and research to CAPE publications and to the CAPE website.
Represents CAPE at inter-union meetings
Selects and produces and directs to file documents that record information on duty related matters; recommends an appropriate filing system for these documents.
May perform other duties as assigned.
Other skills and abilities
Demonstrated ability to research and prepare briefs, research and policy reports on a wide range of subjects, including sector analysis, conjunctural analysis, collective bargaining trends and outcomes, labour market performance, and fiscal and social policy
Experience in mobilization and other campaign work, depending on portfolio.
Demonstrated ability to work independently with union committees.
Previous experience with applied research in a trade union, government or advocacy environment.
Ability to research and understand labour laws and jurisprudence.
Intermediate to Advanced understanding of principles and practices of mediation, negotiation, facilitation and arbitration (portfolio dependent)
Based on portfolio, experience of the principles and procedures of collective bargaining.
Ability to use methods and procedures to analyze pay and benefits data provided by Labour Canada, Statistics Canada, the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board, and other collective bargaining research organizations.
Ability to use of quantitative and qualitative resource methods, sources, and techniques of data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
Ability to use of research tools, electronic as well as traditional.
Knowledge of methods to carry out research and sources of labour relations information including research databases.
Knowledge of union protocol, principles and values.
Condition of employment
Must meet the language requirement of the position.
Additional Information
Candidates must be fluently bilingual in both English and French at the time of application. This position requires advanced proficiency in both spoken and written English and French, and candidates should be prepared to demonstrate this fluency during the recruitment process.
If you are Indigenous such as First Nations, Inuit or Métis, a person within an equity-deserving groups, or a person of color, we encourage you to self-declare in this recruitment process. This self-declaration information may be factored into selection decisions and to address CAPE’s commitment to increase representation for these groups.
CAPE is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please contact rh-hr@acep-cape.ca. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.
An eligibility list of applicants may be established from this process to staff similar positions within CAPE.
Acknowledgment of receipt of applications will not be sent; we will contact applicants when the screening and interview phases are completed.
The recruitment committee reserves all rights to use any methods that they deem appropriate to evaluate the applicants.Communication for this process will be sent via email. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that accurate contact information is provided and updated as required and to update their personal information when it changes. Applicants who apply to this selection process should include an email address that accepts email from unknown users (some email systems block these types of email).
Time-sensitive correspondence may be transmitted via email, and it will be the applicant's responsibility to check their email regularly. Failure to respond to communications may result in elimination from this process.
CAPE may decide to use top-down or random selection or any other additional qualification to determine the number of applicants who will be considered for the next stage of the evaluation.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should submit their resume and a cover letter outlining their interest in the position and relevant qualifications and contact information for two professional references to rh-hr@acep-cape.ca by June 6, 2025.
To ensure your application is considered, please clearly demonstrate in your cover letter your experience in at least three of these requirements:
Collective bargaining analysis and trends
Labour market performance, fiscal or social policy
Mediation, negotiation, facilitation, or arbitration
Quantitative and qualitative research methods
Analysis of pay or benefits data
Use of research tools and databases
We thank all applicants for their interest in this position.
