FPSLREB Decisions

IN THE MATTER OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE STAFF RELATIONS ACT and a dispute affecting the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, in respect of the bargaining unit for the Audit, Financial and Scientific Group comprising all employees who are primarily engaged in the application of a comprehensive body of knowledge in such specialized areas as accounting, auditing, economics, statistics, financial management, commerce, actuarial sciences, chemistry, engineering, education, library science, social sciences and computer sciences.

The Chairperson of the Public Service Staff Relations Board appointed the following persons to comprise the Conciliation Board in the above matter:

Mr. Ken Strike, Chairman
Mr. Luc Grenier, nominee of the Union
Ms. Sandra Budd, nominee of the Employer,

and established the Terms of Reference of said Board.

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The Board commenced on Monday 13 June 2005 in Ottawa and at the outset the parties emphasized their preference for mediation of the outstanding issues and consequently they were encouraged to, in effect, continue their negotiations in the knowledge that the Board members were available to assist as and when deemed appropriate.

It was soon evident that while a number of issues were in dispute, the principal area of disagreement was undoubtedly the matter of the Terminable Allowance for the CS segment of the bargaining unit. Another segment of the bargaining unit was in receipt of a Terminable Allowance (for reasons other than salary disparity), namely a small number of AU employees in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Allowance for the CS employees initially was established in 1997, prior to the establishment of the CCRA as a separate employer, when the employees were members of the Public Service with the Treasury Board as the Employer.

In the preamble to the Memorandum of Understanding included in the Collective Agreement it is stated:

“In an attempt to resolve retention problems, the Employer will provide an Allowance to incumbents of positions at the CS-1 through CS-5 levels for the performance of duties in the Computer Systems Group”.

The allowance has been continued, with the quantum adjusted, since 1997 by means of successive Memoranda of Understandings, with the money received by the incumbents being considered as salary for superannuation purposes.

At the time of the expiry of the Collective Agreement, 21 December 2003, the Employer considered that it no longer had a retention problem within the CS community and signified its intention of terminating the Terminable Allowance.

In recognition that the Allowance had formed part of the employees’ total compensation package, it sought to soften the blow by continuing the full payment from the expiry date until a point in time following the completion of negotiations for a new Collective Agreement including or “rolling in” a percentage of the Allowance in the salary scales of the CS employees; plus paying a lump sum payment calculated at the equivalent of 3 months value of the Allowance.

During the period of time with the Board, the parties worked diligently and must be congratulated on their tenacity yet ability to compromise, and the Board is confident that they are perfectly capable of resolving all other outstanding issues.

Turning its attention to the issue of the Terminable Allowance, the Board was made aware of the situation within the public service (with the Treasury Board as the Employer) where the P.I.P.S.C. is currently in negotiations on behalf of the CS bargaining unit. Naturally, the question of the treatment of the Terminable Allowance looms large on that agenda. At the same time, other separate employers in negotiations with public service unions have renewed the same Allowance in those Agreements.

While this board did not consider that the above situations provided precedents or specific guidelines, they could not be ignored as valid points of reference.

In the matter of a general economic increase the parties acknowledged the existence of recent settlements and awards in the federal public service at large, of 2.5% effective 2003; 2.25% for 2004; 2.4% in 2005 and 2.5% in 2006, during a four year period, and while they made reference to similar surveys they were unable to agree on a mutually acceptable interpretation of the data these surveys contained.

The Board is of the opinion that the parties are better equipped to weigh any factors peculiar to the Agency and its employees in considering the reference points identified above.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Board has specific recommendations with respect to the Terminable Allowances currently being paid to certain segments of this bargaining unit, namely, employees in the CS classification and certain AU employees in the Greater Toronto Area.

Dated at Ottawa the .............. day of June, 2005.

Nominee of the Employer		Nominee of the Union
	Chairman

June 27, 2005

As the nominee for the bargaining agent, I dissent with the report concerning the Terminable Allowance. While I agree with the concept enunciated for the termination of the allowance, my recommendation is for the CS employees in receipt of the Terminable Allowance:

A – effective 22 December 2005 the amount of the allowance be reduced by 25% then,

B – effective 22 December 2006 the amount be further reduced by the Same dollar amount, then,

C – effective 1 August 2007 the remaining amount be rolled into the salaries of Affected employees thereby terminating the payment of the Terminable Allowance.

Luc Grenier