2.3% Market Adjustment

2020-06-26

Our hearing at the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) about the 2.3% market adjustment we were denied in 2016 was previously scheduled to occur this week (June 22-24). To our great disappointment, all FPSLREB hearings, including ours, were postponed due to COVID-19. A new hearing date has not been scheduled yet by the FPSLREB.

We are still very active on this case and the employer has not been cooperative with some pre-hearing disclosure. This was the cause of the delay back in December. We have been escalating this matter and our lawyers are working on this. We are ready and it is far from over. You can rest assured that if this is not resolved by the time we hit the bargaining table, it will be one the first items brought up. We are not done with this by any stretch of the imagination.

The Public Service Police Operations Support group (PO – TCO and IMA subgroups) is pay matched to the Civilian Member Law Enforcement Support group (LES – IM and TO subgroups). These groups are pay matched to the Regular Member (RM) pay and have been decades. This may change during the collective bargaining process; however, our position is that it has not changed yet and no changes to this pay structure has ever been communicated to us.

In 2016, RMs were given a 2.3% market adjustment pay increase and we were denied this same pay increase. Around the same time, we applied for union certification and the RCMP has been trying to re-write history after the fact.

We will not let this go. By all accounts, we should have been provided this same pay increase in 2016 and we will keep fighting to make sure that we get it.

COVID-19 Update #3

Information updated to the Canada.ca Illness and Leave page on April 6, 2020
Employee leave policy
All employees that are in good health and able to work should continue to work remotely, wherever and whenever possible. If it is not possible for you to do so, you may be granted ‘Other Leave With Pay (699)’.

Managers may need to examine individual cases on their own merits (i.e. choosing to travel to affected areas contrary to public health advice, those who are at increased risk of more severe outcomes due to various factors, etc.).

If you are unable to work because of COVID-related illnesses, you will also be eligible for ‘Other Leave With Pay (699)’. This means that you are:
• diagnosed with COVID-19
• experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
• at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19, as described by the Public Health Agency of Canada and cannot work remotely
• living with a dependant that is at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19, as described by the Public Health Agency of Canada, and cannot work remotely

If you are at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19, or living with someone who is, you are expected to be in regular contact with your manager, who will assess the need for continued leave. This assessment will take into account your working conditions, the protective measures in place at your work site, and the need of services for the safety and security of Canadians.
 
As a member of the federal public service, you are asked to adopt a good faith approach in using this leave, keeping in mind the need to provide critical services to Canadians at this time. Your manager will ask you to attest to the situation preventing you from working.

 

If you have questions regarding the RCMP’s official and current procedures regarding COVID-19 and its various issues, please ensure you consult the “COVID-19 – Addressing Important Topics for Employees” page on the Infoweb.  If you do not have access to the Infoweb, please reach out to your manager or check the RCMP’s public website for information.   If you have specific workplace concerns that are not being addressed by management, don’t forget to contact your steward or Regional Chairperson for assistance.

We wish to thank everyone for your amazing work and dedication during these difficult times.
Additional resources:

COVID-19 Information as provided by RCMP Management

Update #2

Vulnerable employees

Public health officials know there is an increased risk of more severe outcomes for some Canadians:
– aged 65 and over
– with compromised immune systems
– with underlying medical conditions

If you fall into one of these categories, we urge you to speak to your manager and work from home if able to, or if unable to telework, to submit “other leave with pay,” (leave code 699). At this time, public health officials have indicated there is insufficient evidence to say that pregnant women are at greater risk, however we encourage our pregnant employees to consult their health care providers and talk to their managers about working from home.

If you have questions regarding the RCMP’s official and current procedures regarding COVID-19 and its various issues, please ensure you consult the “COVID-19 – Addressing Important Topics for Employees” page on the Infoweb.  If you do not have access to the Infoweb, please reach out to your manager or check the RCMP’s public website for information.   If you have specific workplace concerns that are not being addressed by management, don’t forget to contact your steward or Regional Chairperson for assistance.

We wish to thank everyone for your amazing work and dedication during these difficult times.
Additional resources:

COVID-19 Update #1

Our President has been involved in daily teleconferences with senior members of the Treasury Board and the RCMP. There are several key topics including working conditions and occupational health and safety. As part of the National Joint Council (NJC), our Union has a voice at all of these meetings along with other bargaining agents currently representing employees of all federal government departments, which includes the RCMP.

As part of the NJC and also as part of the RCMP National Occupational Health and Safety Policy committees, we have been advocating on many fronts.

  • We have raised concerns about the lack of communication from RCMP management as well as the inconsistent application of Treasury Board and RCMP directives. We are pleased to see that this is improving.
  • We are continuing to push to ensure that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is ready and available to our members, if needed.
  • We are trying to ensure availability of high demand hygiene items such as hand sanitizer and wipes.
  • We are ensuring Telecom Operators and Intercept Monitors are included in Business Continuity Planning at all levels because disruptions to the critical functions performed by our members would have significant impacts on public safety and emergency response.

It is very important that everyone follows the guidance and advice from federal / provincial / territorial health authorities. The Public Health Agency of Canada has excellent information and updates available on its website – https://www.canada.ca/covid-19.

Anyone who has travelled out of the country needs to self isolate for 14 days. This includes all of our members. We are not exempted from this. If your manager is telling you to come to work anyway, please contact your Steward and/or Regional Chairperson for assistance.

We are all driven and dedicated to our work and often feel compelled to go to work when sick so that we do not “let our co-workers down” or “have them run short”. Please consider the bigger picture and try looking at it from another perspective. If one person goes in sick, the potential is there to make others sick, and so on. Although the intention may be good, this has the possibility to significantly decrease available staffing resources or even wipe out an entire workplace. Staying home when you are sick will actually help the staffing and workload situation.

At this point, management should be providing extra hand sanitizer, wipes, and tissues. They should be arranging your work site so that you are all working a safe distance away from each other.

These are some examples of management actions that are reasonable and encouraged:

  • Reduce or restrict communal items, such as magazines.
  • Reduce staffing levels to the minimum required to maintain critical operations.
  • Have employees work from home, if they are able and it makes sense.

The following are examples of actions that, at this point in time, are not reasonable:

  • Restricting employees from eating at their workstations.
  • Advising sick employees to come to work.
  • Advising employees in self-isolation to come to work if they are feeling fine.
  • Asking employees to provide a doctor’s note.

Things are changing on a daily basis. It is possible that some of us may be redeployed to ensure critical operations across the country. It is also possible for leave to be cancelled and / or restricted further. There are provisions in RCMP policy and the TC collective agreement that deal with re-deployments as well as leave cancellations. If you have travel plans or have booked / paid for vacations over the next while, now is the time to review the applicable policies and articles in the collective agreement to be aware of your responsibilities as well as the responsibilities of the employer in these situations.

Please continue to let your Steward or Regional Chairperson know of any issues at your work site. If there are unreasonable requests or directives coming from management, we will work to resolve them.

These are uncertain times and things are changing on an hourly basis. Thank you all for your flexibility and dedication to keeping Canadians safe. We will get through this together.

Executive contacts – https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/

Contact us – https://104.cupe.ca/contact-us/

Deeming and Phoenix

The Treasury Board President made a big decision on delaying deeming and we are watching closely to see how this will be implemented.

We agree that delaying the transfer of almost 4000 Civilian Members of the RCMP from a stable and working pay system to the broken Phoenix pay system was the correct thing to do. There are many thousands of public servants who are struggling on the Phoenix pay system including many within our very own union local. The focus for the government must be on our current Public Service Employees by ensuring all resources are dedicated to ensuring every one is properly and promptly compensated.

We understand that some members put in retirement papers in advance of deeming and, due to the postponing of deeming, want to change their retirement plans. We were originally assured that the RCMP would deal with this on a case-by-case basis. Earlier this week, the RCMP’s Chief Human Resources Officer advised us that they were choosing not to allow any employee to rescind their retirement plans. Obviously, this is not acceptable.

In 2017, when deeming was postponed, the RCMP allowed anyone who was impacted by the decision to change their retirement plans. Our President has made our concerns crystal clear to senior RCMP management, including the Commissioner, as well as to senior management at the Treasure Board. A letter, co-signed by our President and the PIPSC President, Debi Daviau, has been sent to senior management of the RCMP and the Treasury Board. The RCMP Commissioner has since advised that she will need time to look into this, given the current events, and in the meantime, she will ask RCMP Compensation Services to hold off on processing any retirements that employees have requested to cancel. If you are impacted, please do not hesitate to request your retirement be rescinded. Please also consider advising your Regional Chairperson so they can keep our President in the loop when dealing with the employer.

The legislation passed in 2013 provided the employer with the option to convert Civilian Members to Public Service Employees at a later date, if they chose to do so. There were decisions made by the employer in advance of potential deeming and before Telecommunications Operators and Intercept Monitors were unionized that has caused disparity within our groups. We will correct this together through the collective bargaining process.

This disparity created by the employer continues to be deeply troubling and difficult for all of our members. Our members have demonstrated great flexibility and patience through these uncertain times. We represent all categories of employees and deeming has effects on both Civilian Members and Public Service Employees. We will continue to advocate strongly for all of our members, regardless of category imposed by the employer.

Please continue to reach out to your local Steward or Regional Chairperson with any issues and we will work together with you to resolve them.

Executive contacts – https://104.cupe.ca/contacts/

Contact us – https://104.cupe.ca/contact-us/

Bargaining Update

We have been in contact with the Treasury Board to reaffirm our desire to move ahead with bargaining as soon as possible. They have advised that they are not yet ready. Meanwhile, our bargaining team continues to work hard on preparations. It is important to note that deeming does not affect bargaining and we are all eager to get to the table.

We do not know if the Regular Members (RMs) will go to the bargaining table before us but it is important to know that their situation is not the same as ours. We are not in the same position as them. We have two different categories of employees as well as two completely different sets of terms and conditions of employment and various employer policies that we are bringing forward into one single contract.

We are eager to get this formally going but we also do not want to rush this very important process of bargaining our first contract. We have a different negotiator than the RMs and we are not queued up in front or behind them.

We have CUPE National’s support and immense experience behind us and they continue to actively assist us with researching other contracts, benefits, and precedents to support our position when bargaining.

Government Forcing More Employees to Failed Phoenix Pay System

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb 9, 2020

The Government of Canada is planning on removing almost 4000 additional employees from their stable, working pay system and forcing them onto the Phoenix pay system debacle as early as May 2020. The Phoenix pay system remains broken and unstable. It continues to cause Canadians irreparable financial hardship, mental anguish, and is destroying people’s lives. It is unconscionable and irresponsible for the Government to willfully force more employees, who are currently on a working pay system, onto the Phoenix pay system.

The Government should be directing all available resources to resolving the tens of thousands of outstanding pay issues caused by the Phoenix pay debacle. Instead, the Government has spent significant time, money, and other resources preparing to force these additional employees onto the broken Phoenix pay system.

On January 30th, 2020, at an information session for RCMP employees, the Government and the RCMP boasted about implementing over 2000 “fixes” to Phoenix and told employees in attendance that they have thoroughly tested their transition measures. They refused to provide information about how effective these fixes have been and in some cases the fixes had only been implemented the night before the information session.

To this day, the Government states that “The pay issues currently being experienced by public servants are unacceptable, and we are working tirelessly at all levels to resolve them.” https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/remuneration-compensation/services-paye-pay-services/centre-presse-media-centre/mise-a-jour-update-eng.html

CUPE Local 104 represents approximately 1200 RCMP employees across Canada who are police communication specialists, including 9-1-1 Call Takers / Dispatchers, Police Telecommunicators, and Communications Monitoring Analysts.

Active petition supported by Member of Parliament Lenore Zann: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2417

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Phoenix Petition

The government is planning on moving almost 4000 of our Civilian Member (CM) colleagues onto the HORRIBLE and broken Phoenix pay system. It is destroying peoples lives financially and more. RCMP CMs are already on a great pay system that isn’t going anywhere and will continue to pay the Regular Members (who are not being made to move to Phoenix). Our PS colleagues that are already on Phoenix need all the help and attention they can get without having resources diverted to the CM’s. Everyone deserves to be paid completely and on time. EVERYONE!

PLEASE feel free to sign and share FAR AND WIDE to friends, family, acquaintances etc and feel free to encourage all of them to do the same. To sign please click on button on the bottom of petition that says “sign the petition” and then check your email (and your junk/spam folder) to finalize your vote.

Link to Petition