Spring 2019
Message from the President - Opportunity
The CS Group recently held our annual Sub-group Presidents meeting on March 29, 2019.
My opening remarks at this meeting focused on opportunity.
I spoke of the opportunity we should take to share best practices, information on bargaining and discuss Group concerns. It was our opportunity to network, renew and make connections and engage in a critical discourse on the future direction of our Group and the role of our Sub-groups. Finally, we took the opportunity to strengthen the support we will need going forward to negotiate the best collective agreement.
Opportunity does not stop with the Sub-group Presidents. It’s there for all of us.
We now have the opportunity to demonstrate an enduring and undivided support for our bargaining team. We need send a clear message to Treasury Board that we deserve to be compensated fairly for the work we do and that those negotiating on our behalf do so with 16, 000 members standing strong behind them.
We have the opportunity to continue to fight unbridled contracting out with diligence, singular purpose of mind and the knowledge that IT work belongs to CS members. We also must turn our minds to the scourge of precarious work and its impact on the quality of life and future generations. Much more on that in a future newsletter.
Lastly, we will address the ever-changing face of IT and enforce our new language on technological change. It ensures our members be trained to provide the support for new systems and processes like Cloud and AI as they are planned and implemented.
We are given much opportunity and we need to avail ourselves of it if we are to move forward, protect our work and make the gains we deserve.
In Solidarity,
Stan Buday
Proudly CS since 1998
Sub-Group Presidents’ Meeting
The Sub-Group Presidents met in Halifax on Saturday, March 30th and dealt with a full business agenda. After a welcome from President Stan Buday, they had a discussion on the NOC led by Pierre Touchette, received a bargaining update from Robert Tellier and Denise Doherty, an update from the Contracting Out Action Team (COAT) and a classification update from Pierre Touchette. Stacy McLaren presented a brief history of the CS Group before we all cut into the CS Group 50th Birthday Cake. After a full discussion on Sub-Group activities led by Rob Scott, mobilization materials were distributed before we adjourned the meeting.
Thank you, Rob Scott and all your organizers, for another great Sub-Group Presidents’ meeting.
Help Us Do Better!
By Robert Tellier, CS Group Bargaining Officer
No one believes that our collective agreement gets renewed magically or automatically. In an ideal world, our employer would provide us with working conditions free from any kind of abuse. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Defending our employment rights is what we do during each new contract renewal. The renewal process is so complex that it’s virtually never-ending.
Support from members is key to negotiating a new collective agreement that aptly represents common interests. This support is the result of a daily collective effort that is coordinated through our Stewards in the workplace. The recent fights have by no means been easy. The government set itself some objectives that have turned back the clock on working conditions in Canada. Let’s not forget that we lost our terminable allowance and that, more recently, our sick leave plan has been under attack.
The strength of our union relies in large part on mobilization in the workplace. This mobilization refers to the ongoing work by Stewards and other militants to foster solidarity, to raise member awareness of union issues and work-related problems, and to develop a sense of belonging in the workplace.
Broadly defined, mobilization means using strengths (human resources), and engaging and uniting those strengths for joint action. It means coming together to secure better working and living conditions, but with individual free choice.
Mobilization cannot be imposed. It involves creating conditions that will motivate and give purpose to members. Purpose is intertwined with our vision and the values we are defending. Motivation is an individual concept as well. We don’t motivate people, people motivate themselves. On the other hand, we can create optimal conditions for motivation. And the CS Group and PIPSC are doing just that!
We are currently at the bargaining table to renew our collective agreement and improve it. With members standing by us, we are committed to ensuring fair working conditions and wages.
Join the campaign!
Know Your Collective Agreement
Did you know that, according to your current Collective Agreement, you are entitled to professional development on an annual basis?
18.04 Professional development
a. The parties to this agreement share a desire to improve professional standards by giving employees the opportunity, on occasion, to:
i. participate in training, workshops, short courses or similar out-service programs to keep up-to-date with knowledge and skills in their respective fields;
ii. conduct research or perform work related to their normal research programs in institutions or locations other than those of the Employer;
iii. carry out research in the employee’s field of specialization not specifically related to his assigned work projects when, in the opinion of the Employer, such research is needed to enable the employee to fill his present role more adequately;
iv. participate in language workshops, or courses or immersion programs to improve and/or attain their language competencies;
and
v. participate in the Joint Learning Program. The Joint Learning Program (JLP) is a partnership between the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
b. An employee shall receive professional development yearly to participate in one or more of the activities described in paragraph 18.04(a). The nature of the professional development, duration and timeframe will be discussed between the employee and the Employer, and be subject to management approval.
c. Subject to the Employer’s approval, an employee shall receive leave with pay in order to participate in the activities described in paragraph 18.04(a).
d. …
h. Professional development under this article shall not be unreasonably denied.
If you have a question about this, or any other article in the
CS Group Collective Agreement, please contact a CS Steward.
Executive Spotlight
Well it’s been 10 months since I was elected to the CS National Executive. I knew when I decided to run if I was elected it was going to mean a lot of work and more time away from home. That was an understatement, the amount of work this Executive is responsible for is huge. With all the challenges facing the CS group there is more than enough work for everyone.
Did I make the right choice? Am I happy I made this decision? You bet! I am continually impressed with the efforts and dedication this Executive puts forth. And we certainly couldn’t do this without all of our Stewards and activists. Every CS member is important, and my goal is to inform, educate, support and learn from as many as I possibly can.
Be proud, be strong, support your Bargaining Team and never hesitate to reach out for help.
Proud CS and new kid on the block!
Yvonne Snaddon
CS Group Member at Large
CS History - A timeline of the early years
By Stacy McLaren, Membership Officer & Secretary
- 1965 New federal reclassification happened, Computer Systems Administrators group (first CS group designation)
- 1967 Collective Bargaining was introduced by act of Parliament. CS Group met with representatives of both PSAC and PIPSC. After these meetings, the group wrote to PIPSC asking them to form the CS Group representation which the Institute did and applied to the Public Service Staffing Relations Board (PSSRB) to be certified as the bargaining agent for the group.
- 1968 The PSAC filed an intervention against that certification by PIPSC
- 1969 March 11 PSSRB certifies PIPSC as the CS Group’s bargaining agent.
- 1970 First survey of members on dispute settlement route with overwhelming vote for arbitration.
- 1976 First CS subgroups formed
- 1978 First year that the Executive of the CS group elected by mail in ballot of all members.
- 1980 First time that the conciliatory strike route was decided for dispute resolution route.
CS’s being very vocal and visible
This photo was published in Le Droit on May 1, 1991 with this caption:
1,000 Public Employees in the Street:
Traffic on part of Bank Street was paralyzed yesterday by Public Service employees who marched between Parliament Hill and Treasury Board, at Esplanade Laurier, tying up traffic for several blocks.
Our public service is the best in the world. You give your best at home and in your community. Every day you challenge yourself to do better.
Isn’t it time for your employer to do the same?
Labour Relations & Consultation
My name is Dean Corda, the Labour Relations and Consultation Officer on your CS Group National Executive.
In addition to sharing the workload of the Group’s Contracting Out Action Plan, I participate in the PIPSC Working Group on Consultation. The WGC is tied to the Advisory Council meeting, which usually takes place the following day, but that’s an article for another newsletter.
WGC 101
The Working Group on Consultation is a meeting of the PIPSC Departmental, Agency and Provincial Employer Presidents of Consultation. It was created in 2004 with a mandate to provide guidance, advice, and recommendations to consultations. The meeting remains those things but has also evolved into a forum for discussion, education, and collaboration among PIPSC Groups.
Recent topics of discussion were the Group’s Contracting Out Action Plan, to which I provide updates at the 4 meetings held per year, the “New Staffing Direction”, GC workplace (formerly Workspace 2.0/3.0 and Activity Based Workspace), Phoenix, Scientific Integrity among others.
Treasury Board has attended to make presentations on topics such as the HR-to-Pay project and GC Workplace. This has given PIPSC opportunities to make comments and ask questions at high level before these initiatives are launched.
In the next newsletter I’ll discuss the Advisory Council and its role within your Union.
In solidarity,
Dean Corda
Labour Relations and Consultation Officer
CS Group National Executive
Call out to Members – Promote the work we do!
The members of the CS Group do very valuable work for the Government of Canada, in the service of Canadians.
We are looking for members who would like to write a short feature of the work they do that we can share with our employer in Bargaining, and in future editions of this newsletter.
Example:
Name: Karim Chaggani
Department: Shared Services Canada (SSC)
Title: IT Security Analyst
I have been a CS, since 2007. First in DND as Assistant Information Systems Manager in a CF Recruiting Centre, until 2012. Then in SSC in Network and End Users Branch from 2012 to 2017, and since 2017 I’ve been working in the business intake area of Security in SSC. I work with Business requirement documents, submitted by Business Analysts for partner departments and SSC, to vet the Business requests for Security requirements that may need security solutions to be in place. I work with our Security service lines to achieve this and communicate the requirements and associated costs back to the Business Analyst. This makes security a forethought rather than an after thought. We are being proactive and making sure solutions are secure, before they go out.
Thank you
Karim Chaggani
CS Executive – Member at Large
Important 2019 Dates
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CS Group Meetings |
Date |
CS Group Elections |
|---|---|---|
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April 4th |
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Bargaining w/TBS |
April 15-18 |
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May 15th |
Send Ballots |
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Bargaining w/TBS |
May 27-30 |
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June 5th |
Voting Closes |
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Executive Meeting |
June 7th |
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CS AGM |
June 8th |
Announce Election Results |
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Strategic Planning |
August 22-23 |
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Executive Meeting |
August 24th |
LINKS:
If you have an idea for a future Newsletter or you have an article to contribute … please contact at the email address above.
Tony Goddard
CS Group
Communications Officer
