REPORT OF THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Presented to the 98th Annual General Meeting
The best public service professionals in the world deserve the best union in the world. It’s my honour to report on another year of results for our members at PIPSC.
This was certainly a very productive year in terms of bargaining, as we renewed 24 collective agreements. The six core public administration groups (AV, CS, NR, RE, SH and SP) and several agency groups (AFS, NEB, NFB, NRC-LS, NRC-IS, NRC-TR and NUREG) concluded their negotiations. Members’ priorities on outsourcing, science integrity, professional development and wage disparities among regions or groups were favourably addressed in these agreements. In addition, the current sick leave plan was maintained and will remain in effect until a new Employee Wellness Support Program (EWSP) is agreed upon with Treasury Board. It has been an impressive turn of events and PIPSC members can be proud.
With the ink on the agreements not yet dry, the Negotiations Section has already started to develop the strategic framework for the next round of bargaining for groups under the Public Service Labour Relations Act, since the agreements will expire in 2018.
This round of bargaining has not been completed for all, however, as the CFIA-S&A and OSFI groups are in the process of binding conciliation and the CFIA-VM group’s case is going to be heard by a Public Interest Commission, a compulsory step before any job action. And the NRC-RO/RCO and CFIA-IN groups are still in bargaining.
A number of groups (CCC, HoC, CTC, CRPEG, JCC-RT, NAV Canada, NB CP, SUN-MET, SUN-RT, UOITP and YHC) who are with separate employers also signed agreements. Bargaining went smoothly as the threat of job action resulted in agreements for the NBs, CPs and UOITPs.
2017 saw an increase in needs around group plans (Pensions and Benefits). A review of the dental care plan is currently being discussed by the National Joint Council, work leading to the review of the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) has begun, and development of the EWSP is under way. The Negotiations Section also developed, in conjunction with the Training and Employment Centre, material for information sessions (Lunch & Learns) on retirement and insurance plan issues.
Make no mistake, this was a difficult round of bargaining—made particularly complicated by the Harper government. It did, however, reinforce important lessons: what our bargaining teams achieve at the table relies significantly on our influence over the political leadership in Ottawa. That’s why the Institute made a strategic decision to invest in enhancing our influence.
Since our last AGM, we have made a series of decisions to enhance our influence. We have brought our mobilization team together with our communications and policy teams. We have invested in incredibly powerful new tools of digital communications and member engagement, such as NationBuilder. We have begun implementing a strategic communications plan that reinforces the value of our members’ work to the lives of Canadians. We have lobbied ministers and parliamentarians on numerous occasions. We are implementing plans to strengthen our Better Together mobilization capacity and motivate a larger number of members to engage through online and offline actions. Our policy team has been strengthened with the appointment of PIPSC’s first Economist. In short, we are taking every possible step now so that PIPSC is in the strongest and most influential position it can be in future rounds of bargaining.
High quality representation is always a priority at the Institute. In the last year, we’ve continued to see a large volume of disability, accommodation, harassment / violence in the workplace and discipline matters. Of the 2,897 cases opened, 675 of them pertained to Phoenix or compensation concerns. The implementation of the new collective agreements has resulted in a significant increase in queries and grievances related to retro pay, and we expect demands from our membership will continue to rise.
To effectively manage and address our membership’s needs, we coordinated Phoenix Pay Centre related files; ensuring data on affected members as well as non-represented students, nation-wide were captured. Critical cases have been and continue to be monitored and escalated through appropriate channels. A Labour Relations resource has been assigned to work exclusively on Phoenix-related matters as of October 2, 2017. We have also expanded our strategy for fighting Phoenix by increasing our efforts at the departmental and agency level.
We continue to work on improving our tracking and case management system and a Labour Relations resource has been assigned to define the requirements for an improved system that will better suit the needs of representational service staff and the organization. Enhancing the system’s functionality will not only lead to greater efficiency in the management of cases, but also enable staff to better track the status of grievances, identify trends and issues, collect data, produce reports and capture the Institute’s position and state of the law on key labour relations issues.
Our Employment Relations Officers have been active on Labour Management Consultation Committees, NJC Committees and facilitated the election and appointment process for 9 National Consultation Team Presidents this past winter, and 10 processes are currently in progress. Our Regional Staff continue to provide great assistance to Institute constituent bodies and Steward and Regional Councils, group activities and steward development, among others.
In terms of classification work, among many accomplishments, the Institute has been involved in the completion and implementation of the ONF/CFIA-SR Group classification plan, has been successful at alleviating a long-standing back log of classification grievances and with the development of a new classification standard and occupational group definition for the CS Group.
Over the course of 2017, the Institute’s Legal and Dispute Resolution Services have filed several Applications requesting the Public Sector Labour and Employment Relations Board to include RCMP civilian members into appropriate Institute Bargaining Units. The Institute’s efforts in challenging a number of conservative-led legislation such as C-525, C-377, C-4 and C-59 were rewarded when the liberal government introduced legislation to repeal the anti-union bills in question. Legal Services have continued to provide input and assistance on various legislative initiatives affecting members (whistleblowing review, pay equity reform) and joined the Manitoba Federation of Labour in challenging the constitutionality of Bill 28 related to the Public Services Sustainability Act. The team has also assisted in applying the Institute’s Dispute Resolution and Discipline Policy. We have benefited from our team’s internal expertise to assist members in resolving conflicts with one another through facilitated discussions and mediation.
The Institute continues to advocate on behalf of our members in challenging decisions related to staffing processes and grievance arbitrations, this by way of judicial review applications and the advancement of complex and novel issues at labour boards and administrative tribunals. Legal Services were instrumental in resolving a number of proceedings related to the Phoenix Pay System debacle. Efforts in that regard will continue to be required for the next several months. We can be proud of the vigour with which we have defended our members acquired rights.
Over the course of the past year, the Institute trained 179 new stewards at our Regional Basic Steward Training programs and 314 stewards at our Regional Labour Schools Advanced Training program. Our in-house training programs result in cost savings and allow a higher level of staff participation.
On the Corporate Services side of the house, administration continues in the form of ensuring active members are reimbursed promptly, ensuring compliance with Institute policies, and offering advice and support to groups, branches, regions and others. We are continuing to work on introducing online claims and travel booking services for the near future.
It is also important to mention the work done in terms of collection of union dues, maintenance of the Institute data base and the administration of Constituent Bodies among other things. Of note, we have been diligently working with federal government compensation officers to secure arrears in union dues due to the introduction of the Phoenix Pay System. Since the inception of this initiative and in working through policy grievances related to dues collection, we have recovered substantial amounts in dues arrears for the Institute. In addition, we have negotiated successful settlement terms of numerous policy grievances related to dues owed which includes additional sessions with the bilateral teams through 2018.
Major strides have been made within the Institute’s Informatics Section in 2017. A modern PIPSC.CA website is now live and was released to rave reviews. This new website boasts a contemporary, clean look on both computer screens and mobile devices. The Institute will migrate to a new email system in shortly which will dramatically improve the quality of service to Institute membership and staff. Members’ email accounts will be converted to Gmail and staff will use Microsoft Outlook instead of GroupWise. This initiative is being done in collaboration with ITSP.
Finally, building on the Strategic Directions created by the Board of Directors in January 2016, the Institute Management Team has extrapolated three Key Results Areas and 10 Goals into 26 individual projects to be executed over the next three years. Each project has been assigned to accountable Directors with the organization. Attached is a highlight of the Institute’s strategic Directions adopted by the Board of Directors for the 2016-2018 period with goals, strategies and key result areas identified. The Management Team has spent considerable effort adapting organizational plans in each department directly linking the work of employees to the strategic objectives and key result areas of the Institute. We have also successfully introduced the Workplace Enhancement Program designed to ensure regular feedback between supervisors and employees on performance objectives and professional development.