With the start of 2025, we would like to provide current and former CFIA-VM members with updates regarding the multi-decade job content and classification grievance campaigns.
PIPSC has been firmly committed in its advocacy for your rights - exploring all legal avenues and utilizing every available resources to hold the CFIA to account. This year, we have resolved a number of job content issues and are in the final stages of some classification issues. We also obtained a landmark decision from the Public Service Labour Relations and Employer Board this spring which cements the rights of former incumbents. This decision confirms that former incumbents should indeed have the right to challenge retroactive decisions affecting their classification - further confirming the rights of former incumbents to retroactive salary adjustments in the event of a reclassification.
Unfortunately, CFIA continues to push back. The Agency continues to present ridiculous challenges to common-sense decisions, invent obscure and legally dubious procedures, and refuses to meaningfully collaborate in solutions. What’s more, despite significant improvements to a number of job descriptions, the employer has reached the technically impossible conclusion that no changes are needed to the classification and factor ratings of modified job descriptions. PIPSC remains perplexed how a job description can be significantly improved, including as ordered by a board member, without this having any impact on classification. Whenever appropriate, we have advised you to grieve these decisions, and as a result, two grievance campaigns were launched between August and October 2024.
Classification Grievances scheduled in 2024:
- Veterinarian Program Specialist/Advisor/Coordinator - decision number 59651 (Vallières): Rejected at final level grievance hearing in April. File closed;
- Veterinarian Program Officer/Evaluator/Analyst - decision number 59652 (Paré): Rejected at final level grievance hearing in May. Under Judicial Review by the federal court;
- Regional Veterinary Officer - decision number 59670 (Charpentier): Rejected at the final level hearing in September. File closed;
- Supervisory Veterinarian - decision number 59668 (Coupal): Hearing postponed by the employer until March 14, 2025
Hearing Participation
Grievors generally are eligible to attend their grievance hearing and their participation is very important in cases where they provide testimony to back up legal and technical arguments. In job content hearing, grievors’ presence is critical since they provide proof and explanation regarding the changes needed to the job description. On the other hand, in classification, the PIPSC expert will base their arguments entirely on technical comparisons between the job description as written and other technical or official documents. For example, the expert might compare phrases in a job description to those in similarly phrased job descriptions with higher classification levels. This is why grievor participation in classification grievances is, generally, not appropriate or helpful.
Going Forward: Stay in touch
CFIA has made it very difficult for PIPSC to get in touch with its members. The agency has long delayed providing the names of parties affected by 20+ year retroactive decisions and outright refused to provide contact information. PIPSC is only provided with partial contact information of its members while active. As such, it is essential that all current and former members keep their PIPSC records up to date. We also strongly recommend you immediately communicate wit PIPSC whenever the employer communicates information or decisions with you that may affect your rights. Because we do not always have the ability to contact affected members, we strongly encourage CFIA VMs to regularly visit their group page for updates.
While PIPSC will do its best to contact anyone affected by an employer decision, current and former members are expected to keep their union informed of developments. Remember, the law will, generally, not allow members to file a grievance if they miss a deadline - even if this is as a result of missing an email or not receiving direction from PIPSC. Help your union help you by staying in touch and being diligent with the website. We also encourage members to spread the word with former colleagues - some of these decisions go back to 2001, which means staying in touch is not always easy.
Legal Framework
Under your CFIA VM collective agreement, you have the right to an official, complete and current job description that includes your classification and point rating (article E1.01). Like most things in the collective agreement, you can challenge your job description using the grievance procedure, which has three levels and is heard before an employer representative. Grievances can be sent to arbitration at the court-like tribunal called the PSLREB. Arbitration provides a fair, independent and binding decision.
Classification, on the other hand, is not in your collective agreement due to a prohibition in federal public service labour law legislation. This means the employer controls the entire process. CFIA has created a one-step grievance procedure for classification where it determines whether its own classification decision was fair and correct. This decision cannot be appealed to an independent tribunal. Decades of perplexing classification decisions have given PIPSC officials little to no faith in the fairness of this final and binding process.
In certain extreme cases, CFIA decisions, including classification, can be sent to the federal court through a process known as judicial review. Here, an independent judge reviews a decision to determine if an egregious error of law or facts was made. The judge may order the decision be revised - they do not determine an outcome, they simply order the decision making body (ex: the CFIA classification committee) to review their decision. The bar for such an order is very high - this process is generally reserved for clear errors.
What’s Next in 2025
In 2025, we are expecting advancement for the following grievances:
-Judicial Review decision on the classification of the Veterinarian Program Officer/Evaluator/Analyst - decision number 59652 (Paré);
- Classification hearing for the VM-02 Supervisory Veterinarian - decision number 59668 (Coupal): scheduled for March 14, 2025
- Classification hearing for the VM-01 Veterinarian - decision number 59666 (Abraham): date to be determined
As always, PIPSC will endeavour to keep grievors and members updated via email and web post. Please remember to check back to the website regularly.