E1 - Without Precedent or Prejudice

Transcription

1 Employer Proposals For Amendment of the Central and Unified Collective Agreement (expiring December 31, 2012) Between The Crown in Right of Ontario as Represented By Management Board of Cabinet And Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) This document contains items requested by the Crown in Right of Ontario as represented by Management Board of Cabinet in collective agreement negotiations with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). These items are submitted without prejudice to any future proposed amendments or additions and subject to any errors or omissions. These items are also without prejudice or precedent to the Employer s position on any and all grievances between the parties. The Employer reserves the right to amend or withdraw its proposals or to introduce counterproposals to the Union s proposals during negotiations. Page 1 of 9

2 ARTICLES 80 (CENTRAL) and UN 17 (UNIFIED) Term Two-year term for the new Collective Agreement (covering the period of January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014). ARTICLE UN 16 (UNIFIED) Salary No across the board wage increases for duration of collective agreement. This is consistent with the direction outlined in the 2012 Ontario Budget and the agreements reached with teachers and AMAPCEO. SALARY PROGRESSION FREEZE AND IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW WAGE STRUCTURES (CENTRAL) No movement within salary ranges for two years. Establish a new lower minimum step that is 3% below the current minima. In a letter dated July 16, 2012, the Minister of Finance set out expectations for collective bargaining in the Broader Public Service. This letter communicated the government s expectation that bargaining partners meet certain criteria including that collective agreements not allow for increases in compensation for two years. Recent agreements with Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA), Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO), Association of Professional Student Services Personnel (APSSP) & the Association of Management Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO) were all consistent with the expectation outlined in the minister s letter. The Employer is also seeking to amend existing wage grids to incorporate a new lower minimum step. Current employees would not see any decreases in salaries. Employees in the OPSEU bargaining unit currently achieve the maximum rate faster than employees in other groups in the OPS. ARTICLES 53 and 78 (CENTRAL) Termination Pay Align termination pay entitlements upon retirement for OPSEU employees with entitlements for the PEGO, AMAPCEO and ALOC/ OCAA bargaining units by eliminating the entitlement for new regular OPSEU represented employees. We propose to cap entitlements for existing employees. Termination pay on retirement is not a normative entitlement in the broader public sector. Page 2 of 9

3 APPENDICES 9 and 18 (CENTRAL) Termination Pay under Reasonable Efforts Align entitlements for employees who accept a job offer under the Reasonable Efforts provision with entitlements under the Employment Standards Act. It does not seem reasonable to provide termination payments when there is continuity of employment, as was the case in the transfer of employees to the Canada Revenue Agency. ARTICLE 7 (CENTRAL) Pay Administration Amend Article 7.2.1, 7.3 and to align with the transition rules the parties negotiated for the Customer Service Representative classification series in ServiceOntario and with language recently negotiated with AMAPCEO. Employees would receive salary protection so that they would remain at their current rate of pay until the maximum of the new salary range catches up to their current rate of pay. ARTICLES 44 and 71 (CENTRAL) Short Term Sickness Plan Amend Short Term Sick Leave Plan (STSP) entitlements. Restructuring of sick leave provisions was a feature of the recent teacher s and AMAPCEO negotiations. Proposed amendments include: (a) Reduce pay for absences over and above six (6) and subsequent days of illness from 75% pay to 66 2/3% pay to align OPSEU represented employees with the entitlements negotiated with AMAPCEO. (b) Implementation of two (2) unpaid days in the event an employee has more than six (6) Continuous Periods of Absence due to sickness or injury, similar to many agreements which cover approximately 9,000 OPSEU represented employees in the hospital sector. (c) Ability to top-up STSP to 75% pay with vacation credits only. NEW APPENDIX (CENTRAL) Attendance Management Provide notice that the Employer intends to expand the Attendance Support and Management Program to other program areas where necessary to move the absenteeism levels within a program area towards the enterprise attendance threshold. Page 3 of 9

4 ARTICLES 39 and 67 (CENTRAL) Supplementary Health and Hospital Insurance Introduce a paramedical envelope with a maximum annual dollar limit instead of pervisit limits or service-specific caps to provide employees with greater flexibility in their use of paramedical services. ARTICLE UN 5 (UNIFIED) Shift Schedules Shorten the requirement for notice of change in schedule from 120 hours in advance of the starting times of the shift originally scheduled to 24 hours. ARTICLE UN 9 (UNIFIED) Call Back Equalize entitlements for call back so that employees who are called back to work more than once in one four hour period are entitled to a minimum of 4 hours of call back pay whether they have to physically return to the workplace or not. Employees would continue to be paid a minimum of four hours pay at 1 ½ times their hourly rate. ARTICLE 20 and APPENDIX 40 (CENTRAL) Employment Stability The Employer proposes amendments to the redeployment process, including prenotice, direct assignment, temporary assignment, bumping, conditional assignment, recall and the non-renewal of Appendix 40. The Employer proposes an employee-driven redeployment process, which provides surplus employees with priority placement into vacancies and increases transparency. The revised process gives employees more control over their redeployment options. The revised process would replace the Employee Portfolio with a simplified form, which should be less cumbersome for employees. ARTICLE 8 (CENTRAL) Temporary Assignments Amend the ability to use temporary assignments without posting from 6 to 12 months to increase the efficiency in filling short-term assignments. Temporary assignments provide employees with valuable work experience and a secure way to explore different roles without relinquishing their home position, as well as providing flexibility for the Employer. Page 4 of 9

5 ARTICLE 31A (CENTRAL) Fixed-Term Employees Amend the timeline for conversion from a fixed-term position to the regular service from 18 to 24 months. Amend Article 31A.15 to reflect that only time in a position with no home incumbent counts for the purposes of conversion. The changes the Employer is seeking will enable fixed-term employees to be converted to regular status when the work is continuing and when there is no other incumbent with rights to the position, while providing the Employer with increased flexibility to respond to ongoing and time-limited operational requirements. ARTICLES 6 and 56 (CENTRAL) Posting and Filling of Vacancies or New Positions Permit employees to apply to competitions when an employee resides outside of the geographic area of search provided they waive entitlement to relocation expenses. ARTICLE 6 and APPENDIX 39 (CENTRAL) Mass Centralized Recruitment Incorporate the existing Mass Recruitment provisions into Article 6 of the collective agreement. This will enable employees to continue to be hired into vacancies for the same types of jobs quickly and efficiently. Employees will not have to participate in numerous competitions for the same type of job. ARTICLE 22 (CENTRAL) Grievance Procedure Streamline the grievance procedure by eliminating Stage One and any related amendments, which will result in OPSEU being involved at the beginning of the process. Clarify management representation at each step to ensure consistency and better alignment with other OPS bargaining agents. APPENDIX 41 (CENTRAL) Ministry File Review Committee Renew MFRC pilot program with amendments that allow the MFRC process to run concurrently with the grievance process timelines and provide for more effective disclosure. The amendments will also provide an opportunity for informal resolution of grievances without delaying GSB referral timelines. Discuss which ministries would participate in the pilot. Page 5 of 9

6 NEW ARTICLE (CENTRAL) Information and Information Technology Incorporate the existing Appendix addressing the use of IT Consultants and outlining IT Source as an article in the collective agreement. This will provide the Employer continued flexibility in addressing short term, specialized operational and technical needs. OPSEU represents over half of all FTEs in the I&IT organization. APPENDIX 19 (CENTRAL) Ontario Internship Program Renew and enhance the Ontario Internship Program agreement. Provide regular employees with the opportunity to apply and to be appointed to the OIP without being required to resign from their permanent positions. This would provide more career development opportunities to regular staff who meet the OIP eligibility requirements. ARTICLES 11, 13 and 14 (CENTRAL) Headquarters, Kilometric Rates and Time Credits While Traveling The Employer proposes to amend the determination of entitlements for reimbursement for travel to ensure employees are only reimbursed kilometric rates when traveling outside of a 24 km radius of their normal or regular place of work/headquarters. The Employer also proposes to amend the determination of entitlements to accumulate time credits while traveling so that time credits are not accumulated when traveling from an employee s residence to a destination within a 24 km radius of their normal or regular place of work/headquarters. ARTICLES 9 and 60 (CENTRAL) Health and Safety and Video Display Terminals Delete provisions regarding Video Display Terminals from Article 9 and 60. Studies from many organizations, including Health Canada, have found no scientific evidence of any side effects from VDTs. Page 6 of 9

7 ARTICLES 32, 36 and 64 (CENTRAL) Insured Benefit Coverage during Leave of Absence Without Pay Amend provisions to provide regular and seasonal employees with greater flexibility in the payment of benefit premiums where they choose to maintain benefits coverage during a leave of absence without pay. NEW APPENDIX (CENTRAL) Job Trades Incorporate the Job Trade Pilot into the Collective Agreement. APPENDICES 29, 30 (CENTRAL) AND UN 3 (UNIFIED) Ministry Employee Relations Committees Replace Appendix UN3 Training and Development with modifications to Appendix 29 which would encourage Local and Ministry Employee Relations Committees to discuss Training and Development at their committees. Replace Appendix 30 with modifications to Appendix 29 which would encourage Local and Ministry Employee Relations Committees to discuss workload issues at their committees. APPENDIX 32 (CENTRAL) Flexible Part-Time Employees The Employer proposes that service in flexible part-time positions be prorated as it is for regular part-time positions when calculating the continuous service date of employees who attain regular full-time status. The Employer also proposes to amend Appendix 32 to allow for the reconciliation of deficit hours for Flexible Part-Time courtroom staff on a bi-weekly basis. Authorized hours worked in addition to minimum hours and overtime would be aligned with the amendment and would also be calculated on a bi-weekly basis rather than on the current weekly basis. Reconciling deficit, additional and overtime hours on a biweekly basis will reduce the number of hours that the employee has to make up the following calendar year and better align hours assigned and worked within a two-week period. APPENDIX 45 (CENTRAL) Union Leave Billing Establish an agreement to address outstanding disputed union leave claims and set out a process for the approval of reimbursable union leaves on a go-forward basis. Page 7 of 9

8 APPENDICES, LETTERS AND MEMORANDA OF AGREEMENT (CENTRAL AND UNIFIED) Employer proposes renewing only the following appendices, letters and memoranda of agreement from the collective agreement: Appendix 1 Data File on Union Dues Appendix 2 Letter of Understanding Recognition Clause in Article 1 of Collective Agreement and Order in Council 243/94 Appendix 3 Use of Privately Owned Automobiles Appendix 4 Joint Insurance Benefits Review Committee Appendix 5 Release of Information Insured Benefits Appeal Appendix 6 Same Sex Spouses Appendix 7 Classification System Subcommittees Appendix 8 Letter of Understanding Article and Appendix 7 Appendix 9 Employment Stability (with amendments as proposed) Appendix 10 Article 20.7 Voluntary Exit Option Appendix 11 OPSEU Pension Plan (with potential amendments) Appendix 12 Student Wage Rates Appendix 13 Relocation of an Operation Beyond a 40 Kilometer Radius Appendix 15 Letter of Understanding Fixed-Term Employees Appendix 18 Memorandum of Settlement Transfer to New Employer (with amendments as proposed) Appendix 19 Memorandum of Agreement Ontario Internship Program (with amendments as proposed) Appendix 20 Letter of Understanding Certain Pension Issues Appendix 21 Memorandum of Agreement Enhanced Recruitment Initiative Program Appendix 22 Recognition Fund Appendix 23 Innovation Fund Appendix 24 Letter of Understanding Seniority for Fixed-Term Employees in Correctional Institutions Appendix 25 Letter of Understanding Conversion of Part-time Fixed-Term Employees Appendix 29 Letter of Understanding MERC (with amendments as proposed) Appendix 31 Letter of Understanding Articling Students Appendix 32 Letter of Understanding Court Support Services (with amendments as proposed) Appendix 34 Classification System Appendix 37 Pay Equity Adjustments Appendix 39 Mass Centralized Recruitment Process (with amendments as proposed) Appendix 41 Ministry File Review Committee (with amendments as proposed) Appendix 42 Flexible Hours of Work Arrangements Page 8 of 9

9 Appendix 43 Internationally Trained Professionals Appendix 44 Learn and Work Program Appendix UN 1 Schedule A Averaging Hours of Work Appendix UN 2 Custodial Responsibility Allowance Appendix UN 5 Compressed Work Week Arrangements Applicable to the IHC Classification group (Article 10.1 Central Collective Agreement) Appendix UN 6 Addendum for the Institutional and Health Care Classification Group RESOLUTION OF GRIEVANCES The Employer is seeking to discuss outstanding disputes with a view to resolving these matters. HOUSEKEEPING General housekeeping amendments to be discussed. Page 9 of 9