After intense negotiations, the CS Group bargaining team was very disappointed to announce that we did not reach a tentative agreement with the Treasury Board Secretariat.
We have been presented with a 3-year offer that follows the Treasury Board trend and does not address the 1.5% pay gap between CS members and our counterparts at the Canada Revenue Agency.
You should have your say on the direction of this round of bargaining. We have two options: to accept the employer’s last offer, or to reject it and take job actions up to and including a strike until we reach a deal.
That’s why in December we will hold a vote on the employer’s last offer. If you vote for the employer’s last offer, we will consider that to be a ratification vote. That would end this round of bargaining and allow us to regroup for the next round.
If you vote against the employer’s last offer, we will hold a strike vote and mobilize our resources toward job actions and further negotiations.
In terms of salary, we were offered a 3-year term with economic increases over 3 years starting in December 2018 (2.8%, 2.2%,1.5%).
This offer includes the same provisions PIPSC secured for other groups in the core public administration:
- Domestic violence leave
- Updated maternity and parental benefits
- A broader definition of family for family-related leave
- An agreement to review harassment procedures
- A commitment to use gender-inclusive language in the collective agreement
- $500 for late implementation of the contract
The offer does not include any concessions from the previous collective agreement.
But the employer’s offer does not address the pay gap that was central to your bargaining team’s demands. Your negotiation team worked hard on this issue. We made a breakthrough when the Public Interest Commission (PIC) unanimously recognized the unfairness of this pay gap – even though it recommended that “the wage gap be closed in a future round of bargaining as soon as the economic situation allows."
Full details of the offer will be provided in a package similar to what we provide for ratification. The details will be posted to your group page shortly.
Keep an eye on your email for updates!