FPSLREB Decisions

Decision review - Certification - Appropriateness of bargaining unit - Section 27 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act (PSSRA) - in a previous decision, the Board certified the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada as the bargaining agent for a unit composed of "all the employees of the employer performing duties in positions which are or would be classified in the Agriculture (AG), Biological Sciences (BI) (which includes the former Scientific Regulation (SG) Group), Chemistry (CH), Commerce (CO), Computer Systems Administration (CS), Engineering and Land Survey (ELS), Purchasing and Supply (PG), Scientific Research (SE), and Economics, Sociology and Statistics (ES) Groups in the classification system of the Treasury Board": (125-32-90); (1999) 35 PSSRB Decisions 2 - the Institute and the Agency requested, pursuant to section 27 of the Act, that the Board establish a separate bargaining unit for the computer technicians, designated by the acronym CS - although the Board has traditionally been very reluctant to break up bargaining units, it was satisfied that the two bargaining units proposed by the parties were appropriate for collective bargaining - the Board considered that it would be inappropriate to deny the parties' application - accordingly, the Board amended the definition of the bargaining unit in question in its previous decision as follows: "all the employees of the employer performing duties in positions which are or would be classified under the Agriculture (AG), Biological Sciences (BI) (which includes the former Scientific Regulation (SG) Group), Chemistry (CH), Commerce (CO), Engineering and Land Survey (ELS), Purchasing and Supply (PG), Scientific Research (SE) and Economics, Sociology and Statistics (ES) Groups in the classification system of the Treasury Board" - in addition, the Board established a new bargaining unit composed of "all the employees of the employer performing duties in positions which are or would be classified in the Informatics (IN) (formerly the Computer Systems Administration (CS)) Group" - the Board indicated that it would deliver the necessary certificates for the bargaining units described. Application allowed.