A year ago now, your bargaining team informed you our planned face-to-face negotiation session was cancelled and pushed to the following month. We were committed to fight for you to have the best collective agreement we could achieve, and we feel we were able to cross that finish line this year.
This hard work has paid off and just in time for holiday celebrations! On the December 11th paycheque, you may have noticed our retro pay was in the bank account for most of our SP membership. You may have felt that the retro pay was not as high as in the past. Well, there’s an explanation: we reached an agreement in record time! So, we were only behind for just one year...
For those of you who may have had a leave without pay or have any other complex situation, it may not be the case. In those situations, a manual calculation and intervention by the Pay Centre may be needed and could take up to 560 days, as indicated in the collective agreement, for Treasury Board to give you your retro pay.
For an explanation how to calculate your retro pay, please see below.
Again, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support all along the bargaining round, leading us to reach this deal for you.
Sample Retro Explanation
Total Retro Estimate = Period-1 Estimate + Period-2 Estimate
Period-1 Estimate: (Earnings between 1-Oct-2018 & 30-Sep-2019) x 2.816%
Period-2 Estimate: (Earnings between 1-Oct-2019 & the day before your salary was adjusted*) x 5.082%
*Most SP members had their salary adjusted effective October 3, 2019
Example:
A PC-3 was earning the maximum salary as of September 30, 2018 (98777). Their salary was adjusted based on the new collective agreement effective October 3, 2019. The individual worked continuously from October 1, 2018 until October 2, 2019. They didn’t receive any compensation over and above their base salary (no OT, acting etc.).
Approximate earnings in Period-1 (1-Oct-2018 & 30-Sep-2019) = 98777 (this is the full annual salary)
Approximate earnings in Period-2 (1-Oct-2019 & 2-Oct-2019) = 752.26 (this is equal to 2 days pay)
Period-1 Estimate = 98777 x 2.816% = 2781.56
Period-2 Estimate = 752.26 x 5.082% = 38.48
Total Retro Estimate = 2781.56 + 38.48 = 2820.04
(This is a gross amount and does not account for taxes and deductions.)
Helpful Definitions:
Annual Salary = Defined by the collective agreement based on your personal situation.
Biweekly Salary = Annual Salary ÷ 26.088
Weekly Salary (37.5 h) = Annual Salary ÷ 52.176
Daily Salary (full time) = Weekly Salary ÷ 5
Hourly Rate = Weekly Salary ÷ 37.5
REMEMBER: these are approximations and the numbers will vary depending on your own personal situation.
Better Together!
Bryan Van Wilgenburg, Judith Leblanc and your SP Group Bargaining Team