FPSLREB Decisions

Determination of membership in the bargaining unit - Successful candidates to the Foreign Service Development Program (Program) who are required to take language training - Foreign Service Group bargaining unit - Section 34 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act - the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO) had been certified as the bargaining agent of the Foreign Service Group bargaining unit: 142-2-326, (1999) 35 PSSRB Summaries 5 - it applied to have included in the bargaining unit the successful candidates to the Program who are required to take language training - the Foreign Service Group is comprised, in part, of employees in the Program - the employer opposed the PAFSO's application, especially in relation to those candidates who joined the Program from outside the Public Service - the PAFSO asserted that, in practice, the employer had treated candidates as employees in the Foreign Service Group - the employer responded that candidates are appointed to the Foreign Service only once they attain the required level of bilingualism - the Board found that candidates become part of the bargaining unit only after they have successfully completed language training - the Board further found that administrative errors on the part of the employer cannot override clearly expressed conditions preceding appointment to the Foreign Service. Application dismissed.