FPSLREB Decisions

Requests before the Board

1      By letter dated September 6, 2007, pursuant to section 50 of the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act (“the Act”), the Public Service Alliance of Canada (“the bargaining agent”) requested arbitration for the bargaining unit consisting of all employees of the Reporting Sub-group and Text Processing Sub-group in the Parliamentary Programs Group. In that same letter, the bargaining agent provided a list of the terms and conditions of employment that it wished to have referred to arbitration.

2      By letter dated September 17, 2007, the House of Commons (“the employer”) filed a “Notice of Request for the Arbitration of Additional Matters pursuant to Section 51 of the Act”.

3      By letter dated October 22, 2007, the bargaining agent filed a revised version of its proposals.

4      The terms of reference of the Board for the purposes of arbitration (“the Board”) were set by the Chairperson of the Public Service Labour Relations Board on November 15, 2007: 2007 PSLRB 111.

5      By letter dated April 14, 2008, the bargaining agent modified its proposals concerning the award to be made with respect to some terms and conditions of employment.

Terms and conditions of employment referred to arbitration

6      Prior to the commencement of the hearing, the Board met with the representatives of the parties to discuss the following terms and conditions of employment that remained in dispute:

a) Bargaining agent’s proposals

1)  Article 2 – Interpretation and Definitions

• 2.01(r) - Seasonal Certified Indeterminate Employees

2) Article 5 – Managerial Responsibilities

3) Article 20 – Other Leave With or Without Pay

• 20.02 – Bereavement Leave With Pay

4) Article 24 – Hours of Work and Overtime

• 24.02(e) – Variable Hours of Work
• 24.03 – Shift Schedule
• 24.07 – Rest Periods
• 24.09(a) – Assignment of Overtime Work
• 24.13 – Overtime Meal Allowance
• 24.14 – Transportation
• 24.15 – Shift Premium
• 24.17 – Overtime Rest Period
• 24.18 – Weekend Premium

5) Article 27 – Call-Back Pay

• 27.01 – Minimum Time and Rates

6) Article 31 – Suspension and Discipline

• 31.06 – Integrity of Records

7) New Article – Seniority

8) New Article – Social Justice Fund

b) Employer’s proposals

1) Article 28 – Health and Safety

2) Article 39 – Pay Notes

3) Appendix B – Memorandum of Agreement – Local Joint Consultation

4) Appendix E – Memorandum of Agreement – Training of Salary Protected Employees

5) Appendix F – Memorandum of Agreement – Seasonal Certified Indeterminate Employees

7      The parties met numerous times on April 17 and 18, 2008, and with the assistance of the Board were able to reach an agreement on the majority of the terms and conditions of employment in dispute. The Board recognizes and applauds the substantial efforts made by both parties to reach an agreement on a majority of the terms and conditions in dispute. Dealing with the remaining issues, the Board awards the following.

Schedule F - Seasonal Certified Indeterminate Employees

8      The recent arbitral award between the parties in respect of the Operational Group bargaining unit, issued on March 27, 2008 (2008 PSLRB 18), addressed the issue of seniority-based scheduling for part-time and seasonal certified indeterminate employees. At para 50-52 of that award, the Board set out the following:

[50]    The most fundamental departure from existing practice for this bargaining unit proposed by the bargaining agent is the use of seniority as the organizing principle for scheduling shift work. For many of the specific occupations found in the bargaining unit, the Board understands that seniority-based systems are very common in the wider unionized labour market, although less prevalent among the largest employers in the proximate federal public administration. The Board also understands that seniority is sometimes used for shift scheduling elsewhere in the parliamentary precincts, though the parties clearly disagree as to whether the trend in those precincts favours such an arrangement.

[51]    It was abundantly apparent from the parties’ submissions that their views on the merits and feasibility of seniority for the purposes proposed by the bargaining unit are very far apart. The bargaining agent believed that it placed before the Board modest revisions to the current system that carefully took the employer’s expressed operational concerns into account. The employer, for its part, argued that the introduction of seniority posed very serious challenges to its ability to provide the services that Parliament requires and might well have adverse effects on some or many employees. In the Board’s view, this is not a situation where an arbitration board can easily identify a compromise award that accommodates the interests and concerns expressed by both parties to some satisfactory degree.

[52]    The Board has decided at this time not to revise the collective agreement to incorporate the seniority-based proposals made by the bargaining agent. It believes, nonetheless, that those proposals have merit. It urges the parties to undertake a serious joint effort, in good faith, to examine how seniority might be integrated more formally into the allocation of work hours and shifts for those parts of the bargaining unit where the bargaining agent has identified concerns. Should such efforts prove unsuccessful, it may be appropriate for a future arbitration board to intervene.

9      The Board adopts here the reasons and recommendations set out in 2008 PSLRB 18, ¶ 50-52.

Clause 24.09(a) - Assignment of Overtime Work

10 Clause 24.09(a) shall now read as follows:

Subject to the operational requirements of the House of Commons, the Employer shall make every reasonable effort to avoid excessive overtime and to allocate overtime work as equitably as practicable among readily available qualified employees within the work section and to provide as much advance notice as possible.

Clause 24.15 - Shift Premium

11 In respect of clause 24.15, the Board awards the following, effective April 18, 2008:

An employee shall receive a shift premium for all hours worked between 18:00 and 06:00 hours. The shift premium will not be paid for hours worked between 06:00 and 18:00 hours.

New Article – Social Justice Fund

12 The Board declines to award the bargaining agent’s proposal in respect of the Social Justice Fund.

General

13 The collective agreement shall reflect the agreement of the parties on the matters settled at the hearing before the Board.

14 The collective agreement shall expire on June 30, 2008.

May 7, 2008.

D.R. Quigley,
chairperson of the arbitration board