TO Group Ratifies Tentative Agreement

On April 17, ballots were counted. The tentative agreement has been ratified. NRC has been advised. The NRC now has to get the approval of the Governor–in–Council. We do not know how long this will take and we have no control over the timing. Once the GIC has approved the tentative agreement, it will be signed by the RCEA and the NRC. From that date of signing, NRC will have 150 calendar days to implement the terms of the new agreement, including retroactive pay.

AD Group – The bargaining team met in early March. At that time, a decision was made to propose a settlement to NRC. The proposal was to renew the collective agreement as is, with the exception of rates of pay which would be increased as per the budget legislation. The proposal was submitted on March 16. We are awaiting the response of NRC.

AS Group – The bargaining team met in early March. At that time, a decision was made to propose a settlement to NRC. The proposal was to renew the collective agreement as is, with the exception of rates of pay which would be increased as per the budget legislation. The proposal was submitted on March 16. We are awaiting the response of NRC.

CS Group – The bargaining team met in early March. At that time, a decision was made to propose a settlement to NRC. The proposal was to renew the collective agreement as is, with the exception of rates of pay which would be increased as per the budget legislation. The proposal was submitted on March 16. We are awaiting the response of NRC.

PG Group – The bargaining team met in early March. At that time, a decision was made to propose a settlement to NRC. The proposal was to renew the collective agreement as is, with the exception of rates of pay which would be increased as per the budget legislation. The proposal was submitted on March 16. We are awaiting the response of NRC.

OP Group – The bargaining team met in early March. At that time, a decision was made to propose a settlement to NRC. The proposal was to renew the collective agreement as is, with the exception of rates of pay which would be increased as per the budget legislation. The proposal was submitted on March 16. We are awaiting the response of NRC.

There is currently a great deal of speculation about the possibility of a fall general election. If this happens, it may further delay all attempts to get the collective bargaining process moving forward. Other public service unions are still waiting to see some movement from the Treasury Board. In several cases, the Treasury Board has requested the establishment of Arbitration Boards. It appears that they are hoping to get low awards from these Arbitration Boards which will set precedents for the groups which will follow. Several of the public service unions are challenging these requests as they do not feel that TB has bargained in good faith.

In other cases, bargaining agents are proceeding along the Public Interest Commission route which could lead to strikes in the Public Service.

For the RCEA, this means that our bargaining will continue to be delayed. The Treasury Board will not give NRC a mandate to bargain until its major agreements have been resolved. The TB does not want separate employer agreements to set any kind of a precedent which could be cited by other public service unions. NRC is aware that we would like to commence bargaining as soon as possible and that we consider these delays unreasonable.

All our agreements have expired and all our groups have served notice to bargain. Three groups, OP, PG and TO, have submitted bargaining proposals. The TO Group had September bargaining dates scheduled but NRC cancelled them due to the unavailability of some of their bargaining team members. Bargaining for the TO Group has been rescheduled for October 1, 2, 28 and 29. We do not know if NRC will have a mandate by those dates. Bargaining has yet to be scheduled for the other groups.

We had hoped that things would start to move forward in the fall. Under normal circumstances, the current government is very slow with its approval and mandating process. If a fall election is called, it is more than likely that such approvals will slow down even more.

The RCEA is aware that retroactive pay does not make up for the lack of timely wage increases. Unfortunately, the ability to bargain in a timely manner is dependent upon the government being prepared to move forward. This does not seem to be the case at this time.

AD Group: Some volunteers have come forward to serve on the bargaining committee. Meetings will be scheduled over the summer to review issues and prepare demands.

AS Group: Some volunteers have come forward to serve on the bargaining committee. Meetings will be scheduled over the summer to review issues and prepare demands.

CS Group: Some volunteers have come forward to serve on the bargaining committee. Meetings will be scheduled over the summer to review issues and prepare demands.

PG Group: Nothing to report at this time.

OP Group: Nothing to report at this time.

TO Group: Tentative bargaining dates have been scheduled for Sept. 9 and 10. NRC hopes to have a mandate by that time.

Recently, Treasury Board released a document called “Policy Framework for the Management of Compensation”. In it, Treasury Board sets out specific principles and an approach to managing compensation in the public service. The document has this to say about separate employers such as NRC:

Separate agencies may exercise their own human resources authority granted by their enabling statute or by Order in Council. This authority may be unconditional or subject to conditions such as prior consultation with or approval by Treasury Board. Separate agencies are employers in their own right. Most separate agencies require the approval of the Governor in Council to enter into collective agreements with the bargaining agents representing their employees. By Cabinet directive, 1967, the Governor in Council requires separate agencies, in advance of bargaining, to obtain from the President of the Treasury Board their collective bargaining mandates, including the objectives to be pursued and the limits to be observed.

This clarifies the difficulties that both the RCEA and NRC have with respect to collective bargaining. On the one hand, Treasury Board says that separate employers are employers in their own right. In the same breath, they identify the limitations to that right. It is these limitations that impact and delay our bargaining with NRC. These limitations are beyond the control of the RCEA. We are forced to wait for Treasury Board to identify and issue bargaining mandates prior to the commencement of any real or meaningful bargaining.

AD Group: Notice to bargain has been served. It is now time to form a Bargaining Committee. The role of the Committee is to select a Group Chairperson, formulate demands, determine bargaining strategy and select a bargaining team. The Committee meets during lunch hours and normally up to 5 meetings are required. If anyone is interested in being on the Bargaining Committee, please contact joan@rcea.ca.

AS Group: Notice to bargain has been served. It is now time to form a Bargaining Committee. The role of the Committee is to select a Group Chairperson, formulate demands, determine bargaining strategy and select a bargaining team. The Committee meets during lunch hours and normally up to 5 meetings are required. If anyone is interested in being on the Bargaining Committee, please contact joan@rcea.ca.

CS Group: Notice to bargain has been served. It is now time to form a Bargaining Committee. The role of the Committee is to select a Group Chairperson, formulate demands, determine bargaining strategy and select a bargaining team. The Committee meets during lunch hours and normally up to 5 meetings are required. If anyone is interested in being on the Bargaining Committee, please contact joan@rcea.ca.

PG Group: Bargaining demands have been submitted. We once again must now wait until NRC receives a mandate from Treasury Board to commence bargaining. While Treasury Board has commenced bargaining with its own bargaining units, 27 of 28 agreements are up for negotiation, they have yet to determine or release any pay mandates.

OP Group: Bargaining demands have been submitted. We once again must now wait until NRC receives a mandate from Treasury Board to commence bargaining. While Treasury Board has commenced bargaining with its own bargaining units, 27 of 28 agreements are up for negotiation, they have yet to determine or release any pay mandates.

TO Group: Bargaining demands have been submitted. We once again must now wait until NRC receives a mandate from Treasury Board to commence bargaining. While Treasury Board has commenced bargaining with its own bargaining units, 27 of 28 agreements are up for negotiation, they have yet to determine or release any pay mandates.

AD Group: The collective agreement was signed on January 11, 2008. Changes in the new agreement are effective this date.

AS Group: The collective agreement was signed on January 11, 2008. Changes in the new agreement are effective this date.

CS Group: The collective agreement was signed on January 11, 2008, after the expiry date of the agreement. Changes in the new agreement are effective this date.

AD, AS and CS Groups: We are still waiting to sign the collective agreements. The last communication from NRC on this stated:

“We have still not been able to get GIC approval for the AD, AS and CS CAs. Confusion seems to exist between the minister’s office and PCO as to who can support the submission for GIC approval. We’re still working diligently to try and resolve the situation ASAP and I’ll keep you informed as things progress.”

And

“We only just yesterday (Nov. 5, 2007) received confirmation from the PCO that the Minister was the only person who could recommend to the Parliamentary Committee that a collective agreement be entered into.

All the concerns regarding delays, impact of the arbitral awards and negative impact on your members and the employer/bargaining agent relationship have been made. We will be treating these files as a top priority.”

All members should note that only the items covered by the Arbitral Awards have already been implemented. Any other changes, such as a day being equal to 7.5 hours and the change in sick leave (certified and uncertified), will only take effect on the date of signing of the agreements.

CS Group: Notice to Bargain will be served within several days. Although we will be serving this notice, we will not be able to commence the bargaining process until several other groups have been settled. Please note that the TA will remain in effect until a new “new” agreement is negotiated with an effective date of December 22, 2007.

PG Group: Demands still remain to be formulated.

OP Group: Several meetings of the Bargaining Committee have been held and the final set of demands is very close to being finalized and submitted.

TO Group: Bargaining demands have been submitted.

AD Group: While NRC has 90 days from May 14, 2007 to implement the pay and new annual leave provisions of the Arbitral Award, the remaining changes to the collective agreement will not become effective until those items are signed off. As with prior collective agreements, these items require the approval of the Treasury Board and the Governor in Council. We do not know when these will be signed off.

AS Group: While NRC has 90 days from May 14, 2007 to implement the pay and new annual leave provisions of the Arbitral Award, the remaining changes to the collective agreement will not become effective until those items are signed off. As with prior collective agreements, these items require the approval of the Treasury Board and the Governor in Council. We do not know when these will be signed off.

With respect to the new cap on carry over of annual leave, we are still waiting to commence discussions with NRC about grandfathering provisions. The RCEA has also requested a hearing before the Arbitration Board, to examine this issue. Until such time as final decisions are made, it is the view of the RCEA that AS group members should not allow themselves to be pressured to liquidate any annual leave. If anyone is being told that they must now liquidate banked annual leave in excess of 35 days, please let us know at office@rcea.ca.

CS Group: While NRC has 90 days from May 16, 2007 to implement signing bonus and terminable allowance provisions of the Arbitral Award, the remaining changes to the collective agreement ( with the exception of pay) will not become effective until those items are signed off. As with prior collective agreements, these items require the approval of the Treasury Board and the Governor in Council. We do not know when these will be signed off.

We have confirmed with NRC that they will be implementing the wage changes within the 90 day period, even though the salary adjustments were not part of the Arbitral Award.

OP Group – Notice to Bargain was served on July 5, 2007.

PG Group – No news to report at this time.

TO Group – No news to report at this time.

TO Group: We have served notice to bargain for the Technical Category (TO). We have held one meeting with members of the group who have expressed a willingness to serve on the bargaining committee. Another meeting is scheduled, from the meeting a group chairperson will be elected or acclaimed by the participating members. Once the group chairperson is identified, a notice will be posted on our website. All group members are welcome to forward comments and/or suggestions regarding changes for the collective agreement to the RCEA office (ofiice@rcea.ca) or the group chairperson. These comments and suggestions will form part of the demand setting process.

PG group: We have served notice to bargain for the Purchasing and Supply (PG) Group. We have held one meeting with those members of the groups that had expressed a willingness to serve on the bargaining committee. Since only two members came forward, they will serve as joint chairpersons. The joint chairpersons are Gerry Kennedy (gerry.kennedy@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca) and Diane Gaudette (diane.gaudette@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca). All group members are welcome to forward comments and/or suggestions regarding changes to the collective agreements to the RCEA office (office@rcea.ca) or the group chairpersons. These comments and suggestions will form part of the demand setting process.

OP Group: We will be serving notice to bargain for the Operational Category (OP). We have held two meetings with those members of the groups that had expressed a willingness to serve on the bargaining committee. From these meetings, a group chairperson was acclaimed by the participating members. The group chairperson is Peter Sullivan (pete.sullivan@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca). All group members are welcome to forward comments and/or suggestions regarding changes to the collective agreements to the RCEA office (office@rcea.ca) or the group chairperson. These comments and suggestions will form part of the demand setting process.

AD Group: The RCEA presented its brief at the Arbitration Board hearing scheduled on April 17 and 18, 2007. The RCEA will update the website as soon as we receive a decision from the Board.
AD Brief

AS Group: The RCEA presented its brief at the Arbitration Board hearing scheduled on April 19 and 20, 2007. The RCEA will update the website as soon as we receive a decision from the Board.
AS Brief

CS Group: The RCEA presented its brief at the Arbitration Board hearing scheduled on April 24 and 25, 2007. The RCEA will update the website as soon as we receive a decision from the Board.
CS Brief

AD Group: Arbitration Board hearing scheduled for April 17 and 18, 2007, 9:00 a.m.

AS Group: Arbitration Board hearing scheduled for April 19 and 20, 2007, 9:00 a.m.

CS Group: Arbitration Board hearing scheduled for April 23-26, 2007. This is a public hearing. It will be held at 235 Queen Street, C.D. Howe Building, 7th Floor, West Tower, Room 712, 9:00 a.m. All visitors to this building must obtain a visitor’s pass from the Commissionaire’s desk at the ground floor entrance off Queen Street.

PG Group: No news at this time.

OP Group: No news at this time.

TO Group: No news at this time.

AD Group: The Public Service Labour Relations Board has established the Terms of Reference for the Arbitration Board. We are in the process of preparing our Brief. We anticipate hearing dates in April (due to the availability of the Board members).

AS Group: The Public Service Labour Relations Board has established the Terms of Reference for the Arbitration Board. We are in the process of preparing our Brief. We anticipate hearing dates in April (due to the availability of the Board members).

CS Group: We have requested that the PSLRB establish an Arbitration Board. Our demands have been referred to the Board. We are waiting for the PSLRB to establish the Terms of Reference.

PG Group: NRC has told us that the agreement should be printed and distributed next week.

OP, PG and TO Groups: It is time to start our preparations for the next round of bargaining. If members are interested in participating on the various Bargaining Committees, please send your name, email address and telephone number (by email) to joan@rcea.ca. Once the Committees are established, we will begin the process of preparing demands.

Pay Equity Update

NRC has provided the RCEA with the following information:

As stated in the settlement, NRC’s obligation is to pay all active employees by March 31, 2007. As for the terminated employees, we must receive the acknowledgement cards and NRC must pay by the later of March 31 2007 or 90 days following receipt of the cards. We are anticipating being able to start making the payments by the middle of February 2007 with the reception, verification and release of cheques by end of February, beginning of March 2007. Please note that this includes the active employees and the terminated ones for which we have received cards.

Number of terminated (SOS) accounts: 948 employees
Number of employees with no mailing address: 47
Number of packages sent to terminated employees: 901 (948 – 47)
Number of returned and completed acknowledgement cards to date: 402
Number of returned packages with wrong address: 204
Number of packages sent but not yet returned (floating): 295

If you know of anyone who has not yet sent their acknowledgement cards in, please encourage them to do so.

The RCEA is attempting to get more information about the “taxability” issue. We are aware of the rumours going around and will update the members on the facts as soon as possible.

The RCEA wishes all members a happy and safe holiday season. We are looking forward to 2007.

AD Group: An arbitration brief is being prepared. We are waiting for the establishment of the Arbitration Board and the scheduling of hearing dates.

AS Group: An arbitration brief is being prepared. We are waiting for the establishment of the Arbitration Board and the scheduling of hearing dates.

CS Group: The RCEA has requested that an Arbitration Board be established. We are waiting to hear from the PSLRB.

OP Group: No news at this time.

PG Group: We are still waiting for the collective agreement to be printed. We are told it should go to the printer this week. NRC has explained that the delay is due to the fact that PIPSC raised a number of concerns with respect to the French translation of the grievance process language. Presumably, NRC delayed the printing of our agreement because they wanted to have the same French translation in all agreements.

TO Group: No news at this time.

AD Group: Request for establishment of an Arbitration Board has been made. The RCEA is preparing an Arbitration Brief.

AS Group: Request for establishment of an Arbitration Board has been made. The RCEA is preparing an Arbitration Brief.

CS Group: Bargaining took place on October 16 and was scheduled to resume on November 1, 2006. This date was postponed until November 20, 2006 due to the fact that NRC does not yet have a mandate from Treasury Board.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: No news to report at this time.

TO Group: No news to report at this time.

AD Group: Bargaining sessions took place recently for the AD and AS groups. The AS group met on September 25th while the AD group met on October 3rd. After only one day of bargaining for each group, it became apparent that settlements were not possible. Both groups felt very strongly that, with agreements that expired in April 2005 and with delays since at least November 2005 when our demands were submitted, at the very least, any settlement should mirror comparable public service agreements. The main sticking points were the deletion of the current Marriage Leave provision and the addition of 5 additional days of annual leave, and in the case of the AS group, the addition of new steps to address the compression problem at levels 1 to 4. Table 1 in the public service (the main point of comparison used by NRC) has this additional 5 days of annual leave as do many other groups in the public service.

Your bargaining teams felt that adding 5 extra days of annual leave would clearly benefit the majority of members, while the deletion of marriage leave would only impact a very small minority. The teams felt that it was very important to keep pace with the public service. NRC, for its part, did not invoke the usual refrain that Treasury Board had not given them a mandate (permission) to provide this benefit. Rather, they claimed they were not interested in extending this benefit and also could not afford to do so. We have estimated the cost of extending this benefit to the AS group, for example, to be approximately $210,000. Surely keeping NRC employees in line with their public service counterparts is worth this amount.

The next step, for both groups, is to request the establishment of Arbitration Boards to hear each case. Arbitration Boards are three person tribunals under the Public Service Labour Relations Act. After the submission of oral and written arguments, these Boards render final and binding decisions on outstanding items to be contained in collective agreements.

In the case of both groups, we will be seeking decisions on several outstanding items, including pay and duration.

The respective bargaining teams have decided that, despite the length of time since the expiry of the current agreements, they will not be hurried into poor agreements. They feel it is more important to get the best agreements possible. We trust that all AD and AS group members will support the RCEA in this.

AS Group: Bargaining sessions took place recently for the AD and AS groups. The AS group met on September 25th while the AD group met on October 3rd. After only one day of bargaining for each group, it became apparent that settlements were not possible. Both groups felt very strongly that, with agreements that expired in April 2005 and with delays since at least November 2005 when our demands were submitted, at the very least, any settlement should mirror comparable public service agreements. The main sticking points were the deletion of the current Marriage Leave provision and the addition of 5 additional days of annual leave, and in the case of the AS group, the addition of new steps to address the compression problem at levels 1 to 4. Table 1 in the public service (the main point of comparison used by NRC) has this additional 5 days of annual leave as do many other groups in the public service.

Your bargaining teams felt that adding 5 extra days of annual leave would clearly benefit the majority of members, while the deletion of marriage leave would only impact a very small minority. The teams felt that it was very important to keep pace with the public service. NRC, for its part, did not invoke the usual refrain that Treasury Board had not given them a mandate (permission) to provide this benefit. Rather, they claimed they were not interested in extending this benefit and also could not afford to do so. We have estimated the cost of extending this benefit to the AS group, for example, to be approximately $210,000. Surely keeping NRC employees in line with their public service counterparts is worth this amount.

The next step, for both groups, is to request the establishment of Arbitration Boards to hear each case. Arbitration Boards are three person tribunals under the Public Service Labour Relations Act. After the submission of oral and written arguments, these Boards render final and binding decisions on outstanding items to be contained in collective agreements.

In the case of both groups, we will be seeking decisions on several outstanding items, including pay and duration.

The respective bargaining teams have decided that, despite the length of time since the expiry of the current agreements, they will not be hurried into poor agreements. They feel it is more important to get the best agreements possible. We trust that all AD and AS group members will support the RCEA in this.

CS Group: Bargaining is scheduled for October 16, 2006.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: No news to report at this time.

TO Group: We will be establishing a bargaining committee shortly. Members interested in serving on this committee should send an email to office@rcea.ca.

AD Group: Bargaining is scheduled for September 28 and 29.

AS Group: Bargaining is scheduled for September 25 and 26.

CS Group: Bargaining is scheduled for October 16.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: The printing of the new agreement has been delayed due to the ongoing negotiation of some common items, such as maternity provisions and the grievance procedure. There is now agreement on these issues and the agreement should be printed soon.

TO Group: No news to report at this time.

AD Group: The RCEA has made several requests to NRC to schedule bargaining dates. So far, NRC has not come back with any dates, although they have advised us that their mandate proposal was at the level of the President of the Treasury Board. They tell us that this will be one of the first mandate proposals that the new government will be dealing with and that they are unable to commence bargaining until all final approvals have been given.

AS Group: The RCEA has made several requests to NRC to schedule bargaining dates. So far, NRC has not come back with any dates, although they have advised us that their mandate proposal was at the level of the President of the Treasury Board. They tell us that this will be one of the first mandate proposals that the new government will be dealing with and that they are unable to commence bargaining until all final approvals have been given.

CS Group: The Public Service CS Group has reached a tentative agreement. We have approached NRC to see how soon we can begin our bargaining now that PIPS has settled. They are examining the PS settlement and will get back to us shortly.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: The new collective agreement was signed on May 23, 2006. NRC has 90 days in which to implement the terms of the new agreement, including all retroactive pay adjustments.

TO Group: No news to report at this time.

AD Group: The RCEA has made several requests to NRC to schedule bargaining dates. So far, NRC has not come back with any dates, although they initially indicated that bargaining would likely begin in April. With April right around the corner, it remains to be seen whether they can meet this commitment.

AS Group: The RCEA has made several requests to NRC to schedule bargaining dates. So far, NRC has not come back with any dates, although they initially indicated that bargaining would likely begin in April. With April right around the corner, it remains to be seen whether they can meet this commitment.

CS Group: We are still waiting to see what happens with the PIPS CS Group. NRC is not prepared to bargain until the issues with the public service group are resolved. We appreciate the patience of all our members during this time. We know that this is taking an abnormally long time. PIPS requested the establishment of a Conciliation Board in February 2006. Once a Board is established, a hearing will be held. The Board will then issue a report and seven days after the release of the report, PIPS will be in a legal strike position.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: The collective agreement has been ratified. We are still waiting to sign the new agreement. In early March we were told that the approval documents had been sent to the Minister of Industry. Once approved they would then be sent to the Governor-in-Council for final approval. NRC has not replied to requests for further information on the approval process.

TO Group: No news to report at this time.

Pay Equity: A case conference was held on March 10, 2006. Dates for the hearing process were established. The hearing before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal is now scheduled for January to April 2007. The RCEA, with our legal counsel, is in the process of identifying witnesses and preparing all necessary documentation. We are determined to make our case before the Tribunal.

AD Group: No news to report at this time.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: No news to report at this time.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: Tentative agreement reached on January 25, 2006. Ratification packages will be sent out shortly.

TO Group: New agreement signed. Members should start receiving retroactive pay shortly.

Pay Equity: The CHRC invited the parties to indicate whether they were interested in participating in a mediation process. The RCEA indicated that it would participate in mediation, while the NRC declined. As a result, the file has now officially been referred to a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. A case conference will be held within the next few weeks. The RCEA is in the process of confirming legal representation and preparing the case to be presented before the Tribunal. Our legal counsel advises us that the Tribunal will likely be convened within the next 6 months.

AD Group: Demands have been submitted. Bargaining will likely not take place until the new year.

AS Group: Demands have been submitted. Bargaining will likely not take place until the new year.

CS Group: No news to report.

OP Group: No news to report.

PG Group: We are still waiting for NRC to get its mandate and schedule bargaining dates.

TO Group: The collective agreement has been ratified. NRC has been notified. We hope to sign the new agreement before Xmas.

Pay Equity: The Canadian Human Rights Commission has decided to refer our complaint to a Human Rights Tribunal. Our legal counsel is in the process of writing to the Commission to determine what this means, what the timeframes look like, whether the Commission will provide legal counsel to the RCEA before the Tribunal and whether the Commission will be conducting a study. Once we have answers to some or all of these questions, more information will be posted on the website.

AD Group: The bargaining committee met on October 19 to begin the process of formulating demands. It will meet again on November 16.

AS Group: The bargaining committee will meet on October 31 to begin the process of formulating demands.

CS Group: No news to report at this time.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: Bargaining was scheduled for the week of October 24. It has been postponed for several weeks, until such time as NRC has a formal mandate to discuss all demands.

TO Group: There has been a delay in getting the ratification package out. We are waiting to confirm the rates of pay with NRC prior to sending out the package. We hope to have it out by the end of next week.

AD Group: Due to several unforeseen delays, preparations for bargaining will not take place until late September or early October.

AS Group: Due to several unforeseen delays, preparations for bargaining will not take place until late September or early October.

CS Group: Bargaining demands have been submitted. We are waiting for bargaining dates.

OP Group: Back pay should have been received by now. We understand that the new collective agreements have been printed. It is NRC’s responsibility to provide each member with a copy of the new agreement. If you have not yet received the new copy, you should contact your HRG. Do not contact the RCEA office about this as we have not yet received any copies.

PG Group: We are still waiting for NRC to respond to our requests to establish bargaining dates. We do not understand the delays.

TO Group: Bargaining in July had to be postponed. It is scheduled to resume October 3, 6 and 7.

Pay Equity: The Canadian Human Rights Commission investigator has recommended that the complaint be referred to a Human Rights Tribunal. We have raised the issue of who will represent the RCEA and whether the CHRC will conduct an investigation prior to a Tribunal hearing. We are waiting for a response. We are hopeful that the CHRC will provide more assistance, but we are aware of their resource limitations and the RCEA is prepared to take some actions should the matter be referred to Tribunal without an investigation.

AD Group: No news.

AS Group: No news.

CS Group: We are waiting to see what happens with the Canada Revenue Agency group as they are awaiting the results of their Conciliation Board hearing. They may be in a strike position shortly. The Treasury Board CS group is scheduled to go back to the table at the end of June. We are keeping a close eye on all these developments.

OP Group: The new collective agreement was signed on May 25. NRC has 90 days in which to implement the terms of this agreement. On another front, we are working with a classification consultant in reviewing both Controller and PLA jobs with a view to having more appropriate comparisons for the next round of bargaining.

PG Group: – Bargaining demands have been finalized and submitted to NRC. We have notified NRC that we wish to begin bargaining as soon as possible.

TO Group: – Bargaining took place on June 13 and 14. Many non-pay issues were resolved. The next bargaining dates are scheduled for July 20-22. At this time we expect that NRC will be in a position to discuss all outstanding issues including rates of pay.

AD Group: Notice to Bargain was served on April 27. The next step will be for the bargaining team to meet and begin formulating demands. This will likely occur in the fall.

AS Group: Notice to Bargain was served on April 27. The next step will be for the bargaining team to meet and begin formulating demands. This will likely occur in the fall.

CS Group: We are still waiting to see what happens with the PIPSC CS Group. They were recently successful in getting their terminable allowance restored. This will remain in effect while bargaining continues. It remains to be seen if they can maintain the allowance into their next collective agreement.

OP Group: The Minister of Industry has signed off on the collective agreement. It is now scheduled to go before and be signed by the Governor-In-Council on May 10. If it is signed by the GIC on that date, we will try and arrange a signing date for the week of May 16. Once it is signed by the RCEA and NRC, the employer has 90 days to implement the terms of the new agreement, including retroactive pay.

PG Group: An arbitral award has been issued for the PIPS group. We will be studying this award. The bargaining team will meet shortly to finalize our demands.

TO Group: Bargaining will commence on May 6 with the exchanging of proposals. Future bargaining dates will scheduled in June and July.

AD Group: No news to report at this time.

AS Group: Received responses to requests for participation on the next Bargaining Team. A meeting will be scheduled to pick a chairperson.

CS Group: The Bargaining Committee met on January 28, 2005. Demands are being prepared.

OP Group: A tentative collective agreement was reached on February 8, 2005. The ratification process is underway and the ballots will be counted on March 14. If the agreement is ratified, NRC will then proceed with its own approval process, through Treasury Board and the Governor-in-Council. Once this is completed, a new agreement will be signed. NRC will have 90 days from that signing date to implement the terms of the agreement.

PG Group: The Bargaining Committee is meeting on March 16, 2005 to review and finalize demands.

TO Group: The Bargaining Committee met on February 23, 2005. It will meet again on March 9 to review and finalize demands.

AD Group: No news at this time.

AS Group: A Bargaining Committee needs to be established. We will be sending out a memo to all members in the NCR asking whether they wish to participate. A meeting will then be held for all those who have replied and a committee and a chairperson will be selected.

CS Group: The CS Bargaining Committee is meeting on January 28 to begin the process of formulating bargaining demands. Any members who have issues they would like to see addressed in the next round of bargaining should send an email to joan@rcea.ca. With respect to the terminable allowance, the RCEA has approached NRC about extending the allowance. We have been advised that NRC will extend the terminable allowance for six months. As everyone now knows, the public service CS Group has seen its terminable allowance terminated. PIPSC has filed a complaint with the Public Service Staff Relations Board and it will likely be heard in February or March.

OP Group: Bargaining is scheduled for February 7 and 8.

PG Group: In response to our request for input, a small number of members sent in their concerns. These will be used in the formulation of demands. The public service PG Group is scheduled to go to arbitration at the end of March. We will be waiting to see the results of the arbitration process.

TO Group: A new TO Bargaining Committee has been established with Jeff Fraser as Chairperson. The committee met on January 25 to begin the process of formulating demands. It will meet again on February 23.

AD Group: No news to report at this time.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: Notice to bargain has been served. The CS Bargaining Team will be meeting on January 14 to start planning for the next round.

OP Group: Bargaining is scheduled for January 11 and 12.

PG Group: No news to report at this time.

TO Group: Notice to bargain has been served. A bargaining committee with a new chairperson is being established and a meeting will be held in the new year.

AD Group: The Minister of Industry has approved the tentative agreement and it has been sent on to the Treasury Board and the Governor-in-Council. WE do not know when it will be signed.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: The collective agreement expires on December 21, 2004. We will shortly be serving notice to bargain and will be inviting members to send input.

OP Group: We anticipated that bargaining would resume in September, however the uncertainty surrounding the situation in the Public Service has delayed matters. The conciliation board report for PSAC Table 2 was released on September 10, 2004. It failed to address most of the important outstanding issues and certainly did not provide a foundation for further bargaining. Table 2 members are now on strike. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE RCEA??? Table 2 members will be striking primarily over pay and the wage gap identified in the Table 2 Joint Pay Study. These issues also directly affect the OP Group. While we could likely go back to the bargaining table with NRC, it is unlikely that they will be able to deal with these wage gap issues. It is recommended, therefore, that we wait until at least October to resume bargaining. We should have a better idea by then of how some of these issues are being resolved.

PG Group: A request for input for PG group members was sent out via email on August 17. To date, we have received responses from only 3 members of the group. If group members have any concerns or if there are any items in the collective agreement that have posed problems or that they would like to see changed, please send your comments to joan@rcea.ca.

TO Group: The agreement will expire in February 2005. A request for input will shortly be sent out to all members. While the last survey provided us with good basic data, it was decided that this time, members would be invited to identify issues and concerns directly.

Workforce Adjustment Policy: The Workforce Adjustment Policy is a joint document that deals with what happens in the event of job cuts. It covers the identification of surplus employees, the marketing of surplus employees, the rights and obligations of surplus employees and the benefits available. The last policy was negotiated almost 10 years ago. Two years ago, the RCEA and PIPS jointly prepared demands and recommendations for a review of the Policy. That review, with NRC, was completed on July 5, 2004. Significant changes have been agreed upon and the new policy will now form part of all collective agreements. The new policy should be signed and implemented shortly. If you have any questions, please call the RCEA office.

Pay Equity: As reported in January 2004, the Canadian Human Rights Commission recommended that the file be referred to a Human Rights Tribunal. Both the RCEA and NRC objected to this, as this would have allowed the CHRC to wipe its hands of the matter and required both the union and the employer to argue a full case before the Tribunal. The issue with our pay equity complaint is that there is no study that deals with the situation going back to 1985. This is what we were relying on the CHRC to complete. To go before a CHRC tribunal without such a study would certainly mean that our complaint would fail. We have written to the CHRC and demanded that they fulfill their mandate and conduct a study. To date, the only response that we have received is a letter advising us that their Pay Equity Section is now comprised of one person, whose responsibility it is to deal with all the outstanding files. We have not heard from the CHRC since that letter.

The situation does not look good. We cannot argue for pay equity back to 1985 or at least 1990 without a study. We do not have the staff or financial resources to conduct such a study. (The consultants that NRC almost hired estimated the cost of such a study as close to $1 million.) We have to rely on the CHRC and they do not seem able or willing to carry out such a study.

We are in the process of consulting with legal counsel to determine if there is another approach that can be taken in this long running dispute. Further information will be posted as it becomes available.

AD Group: The collective agreement was ratified. NRC has been notified and will sign the new agreement once the required approvals, from Treasury Board and the Governor-in-Council, have been received.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: No news to report at this time.

OP Group: Bargaining took place on July 20 and 21. Progress was made on non-pay issues. Bargaining should resume in September.

PG Group: Email request for input went out to all members. To date, only 2 members have provided input. In order to formulate demands, more responses are required. Email your views to joan@rcea.ca.

TO Group: No news to report at this time.

AD Group: Bargaining is scheduled for June 23 and 29.

AS Group: The collective agreement was ratified. NRC has been notified. They have sent the package to the Privy Council Office. We are waiting for a signing date.

CS Group: No news to report at this time.

OP Group: Bargaining is scheduled for July 6, 7 and 8.

PG Group: No news to report at this time.

TO Group: No news to report at this time.

The President of the Treasury Board recently announced that the freeze on reclassifications has been lifted.

AD and AS Groups: NRC has indicated that they will be ready to proceed with bargaining very shortly.

OP Group: NRC is still waiting to receive its mandate. No dates have yet been scheduled.

PG Group: The Minister of Industry has signed off on the tentative agreement. It still requires the approval of the Governor-In-Council. The RCEA has made repeated calls to NRC about the length of time that this is taking. We will have an expired agreement at almost the same time that we sign a new one. That is unacceptable. This tentative agreement was reached on November 28, 2003. It is now March 2004 and we do not have a signed agreement. NRC needs to speed this process up.

CS Group: No news at this time.

TO Group: No news at this time.

The following information applies to all RCEA bargaining units. The recent announcements by the Prime Minister and the President of the Treasury Board have caused a great deal of confusion and uncertainty. The Treasury Board is still sorting out the ramifications of the announcements. While this is being done, collective bargaining is temporarily being put on hold. The TB has delayed its bargaining with the PSAC until at least February 2004. The same type of delay will likely impact the AD, AS and OP groups. NRC has begun the mandate process for the these groups, but thus far a mandate has not been received. We anticipate that bargaining may resume in March 2004.

The ratified new agreement for the PG group will go ahead. We are waiting for the appropriate approvals prior to the signing of the agreement.

NRC has decided to adopt the freeze on reclassifications. This will be in place until the end of the fiscal year (April 2004). It will not apply to those reclassifications that have already been agreed to.

Staffing actions may take place in the context of filling vacant positions or those of employees on leaves of absences. No new positions will be created and staffed at this time.

There is no freeze on already negotiated pay increases or annual pay increments.

For the AD Group, with respect to Pay Equity, the CHRC has recommended that the case be referred to a Human Rights Tribunal. We are in the process of responding to this recommendation. We are insisting that while a Tribunal hearing is appropriate, that the CHRC must still fulfill its role and undertake the pay equity study in order to determine the size of the wage gap. We will see what they decide.

AD Group: No news to report at this time.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: The new collective agreement was signed on December 8, 2003. NRC has 90 days in which to implement the terms of the new agreement.

PG Group: The ratification package has been sent out. Once all the ballots are received, even if it is prior to the January cut-off dates, the votes will be counted.

OP Group: The bargaining committee met to review demands. Another meeting will be held in the new year and the demands will be finalized.

TO Group: Members should now have received their retroactive pay. Please note the following: the new increment in the last (expired) collective agreement only became effective on April 1, 2001. Members who received that increment on that date would have had to wait 12 months to receive the new increment under the new agreement. So although the agreement says that the new increment is effective February 14, 2002, it will only be applied on April 1, 2002. This may have an impact on retroactive pay adjustments. Those members who received the last new increment after April 1, 2001 will have to wait 12 months from the date of their last increment to receive the new one.

AD Group: Bargaining demands have been sent to NRC.

AS Group: Bargaining demands have been sent to NRC.

CS Group: NRC has provided us with the following chronology of events as they relate to the process of getting the new collective agreement signed:
Friday, 5 September – Reached tentative agreement.
Tuesday, 9 September – Sent request for approval to Treasury Board.
Thursday, 2 October – Received Treasury Board approval.
Wednesday, 8 October – Sent request for Minister Allan Rock’s approval.
Week of 27 October – Pat Mortimer followed-up with Minister’s office; they said it is coming.
Tuesday, 4 November – Received a call from Minister’s office. Officer asked a few questions and said it will be sent shortly.
Wednesday, 12 November – Still not received approval.
November 13 – NRC was advised that the package had gone to the Governor in Council.
November 14 – NRC was advised that due to the upcoming government changes, the agreement would not be approved until December.

As such, it appears that we will not be able to sign the new CS collective agreement until some time in December.

PG Group: Conciliation is scheduled for November 19, 2003.

OP Group: The Bargaining Committee is scheduled to meet on November 20 to begin preparations for the upcoming round of bargaining.

TO Group: No news to report at this time.

AD Group: The bargaining committee is meeting on October 22 to review the results of the bargaining questionnaire. Demands and pay data will also be reviewed. Once demands are finalized, they will be submitted to NRC and bargaining dates will be scheduled.

AS Group: The bargaining committee is meeting on October 29 to review demands and pay data. Once demands are finalized, they will be submitted to NRC and bargaining dates will be scheduled.

CS Group: The tentative agreement has been ratified and NRC has been notified. NRC is now going through their approval process. We expect that the new agreement will be signed within several weeks.

OP Group: A meeting of the bargaining committee will be scheduled shortly.

PG Group: Bargaining broke off on September 22. The RCEA applied to the PSSRB for the appointment of a conciliator. One has now been appointed. We anticipate that conciliation will take place in November.

TO Group: No news to report at this time

Pay Equity: No news to report at this time

Performance Bonus: While the Performance Bonus Program was in effect, the RCEA challenged NRC’s refusal to publish the names of bonus recipients. That challenge was heard in the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division. The Court recently ruled that NRC was not within the law to refuse to provide the RCEA with the names of recipients. The RCEA will now receive that list of names from NRC. Here is the web site that cites the Performance bonus court decision: http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fct/2003/2003fc1116.html.

Volunteer and Personal Days: Members should be aware that in those collective agreements that currently provide for both the volunteer and personal days, the leave must be taken in one day blocks. It cannot be taken by the hour or the half day.

AD Group: A bargaining questionnaire has been sent out. The deadline for return is October 3. Members who are interested in serving on the bargaining committee should send an email to Joan Van Den Bergh at: joan@rcea.ca.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: A tentative agreement was reached on September 4. The ratification package has been sent out; the deadline for return is October 1.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: Bargaining will resume on September 22, 2003.

TO Group: Members voted to accept the new collective agreement. It will be signed on September 19. NRC then has 90 days in which to implement the terms of the new agreement.

AD Group: A bargaining questionnaire has been developed and will be sent out shortly.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: Bargaining will commence on August 25 and continue during the first week of September.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: Bargaining will resume on September 22, 2003.

TO Group: The ratification ballots will be counted on August 15, 2003. If the agreement is ratified, NRC will be notified immediately. We anticipate that it will be signed by the end of September.

AD Group: No news to report at this time.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: No news to report at this time.

OP Category: Notice to bargain has been served. Demands still need to be prepared and submitted.

PG Group: Bargaining took place on June 9 and July 8. Progress was made on non-monetary items. Another bargaining date has been scheduled for July 24.

TO Group: Bargaining took place on June 19. Progress was made on many items. Bargaining will resume on July 10.

Please note, where there is nothing to report, no update will be provided.

AD Group: Notice to bargain has been served.

AS Group: Notice to bargain has been served.

CS Group: We are waiting for NRC to get a mandate to bargain. No bargaining dates have been scheduled.

PG Group: Bargaining has been scheduled for June 9, 2003. While NRC does not yet have a mandate to bargain pay, we are hopeful that they will be in a position to deal with other bargaining issues.

TO Group: Bargaining has been scheduled for June 19, 2003. While NRC does not yet have a mandate to bargain pay, we are hopeful that they will be in a position to deal with other issues and that they will shortly have a pay mandate.

We are aware that most members are very frustrated with the pace of negotiations. So are the RCEA and your bargaining team. Below you will find a letter to Dr. Carty. It is an example of the type of letter that you could send to Dr. Carty to let him know how members feel.

Dear Dr. Carty:

As a member of the TO Group, I would like to express my unhappiness with the pace of collective bargaining between the RCEA and the NRC. Our contract expired on February 13, 2002, almost 18 months ago. The RO collective agreement expired on July 19, 2002 and they already have a new agreement. This is not acceptable. The TO Group is always left behind. I urge you to return to the bargaining table and to conclude a new agreement for the TO Group. Please show us that all NRC employees are equally important.

Sincerely yours

AD Group: No news to report at this time.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: The Bargaining Team has been established and is in the process of preparing initial bargaining demands.

OP Group: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: NRC has completed its analysis of our demands and is in the process of securing a bargaining mandate.

TO Group: The bargaining sessions that were scheduled for March 24 and 25 have been postponed. We expected that NRC would have a mandate by now and that they would be able to address many of the outstanding bargaining demands. In fact, NRC has not yet even approached Treasury Board for its mandate. They tell us that they are still reviewing our proposals. We have made it very clear to NRC that this is unacceptable and that we expect them to make every effort to secure the mandate and to bargain with us in a timely manner.

Pay Equity: Several meetings have been held with the consultant. It became apparent at these meetings that the issue of retroactivity of any pay inequity needed to be dealt with now rather than somewhere down the road. We have therefore been working on the development of a new methodology that will allow us to review jobs going back to 1985 in order to determine whether there was a pay inequity and, if so, how large it was. The need to structure the study around a 14 year period will undoubtedly add some time to the process, but will, we believe, save time in the long run and more importantly, provide us with more reliable and accurate data.

AD Group: No news to report at this time.

AS Group: No news to report at this time.

CS Group: No news to report at this time. PIPS is still in bargaining for its CS Group and is running into some difficulties with Treasury Board. It is in the best interests of our group to wait and see what happens with the Public Service bargaining.

OP Category: No news to report at this time.

PG Group: Bargaining demands have been submitted to NRC. They are in the process of preparing their mandate request to Treasury Board. Once they have received a mandate, bargaining sessions will be scheduled.

TO Group: The bargaining sessions that were scheduled for January 27 and 28 were postponed until March 2003. NRC anticipates that it will have a mandate to bargain by then and your Bargaining Team felt that it was best to wait until such time as NRC could engage in meaningful discussions at the bargaining table.

Pay Equity: A contract to conduct the pay equity study has been signed with the Hay Consulting Group. The process will begin in February with a two-day training session for all participants. The RCEA has also engaged the services of a classification specialist to assist us during the pay equity study.