The Union of National Employees and PSAC are proud to announce a great victory for members who transferred to the Department of Canadian Heritage from the National Capital Commission (NCC) in September 2013. A long-awaited decision was handed down by the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board (PSLREB) on July 4, 2016 which upheld the right to salary protection for the transferred workers.
The policy grievance, filed by the PSAC on December 12, 2013, involved 44 members who were transferred by government order and then told they would be paid under the Treasury Board’s classification system, meaning that they would see their salaries reduced by up to $12,000 per year. PSAC successfully argued before the PSLREB that the employees had been reclassified and therefore should be covered under the salary protection clauses. The PSLREB decision means that all of the affected employees will be entitled to full salary protection under the PSAC and Treasury Board collective agreements effective from the date of transfer.
“This is a significant win for our members and sets an important precedent for all government employees who will be transferred in the future. We fought the employer’s decision to reduce our members’ salaries and the PSLREB ruled that the employer had violated the collective agreement,” said Doug Marshall, UNE National President.
After UNE’s informal requests for consultation were ignored, PSAC wrote in May 2013 to both Canadian Heritage and the National Capital Commission to create a joint committee. The purpose of the committee was to ensure members’ rights were protected under the collective agreements and to institute a transfer process that was transparent to them. Both Heritage and NCC, however, continued their refusal to consult. Instead of consultation, in November 2013, after the transfer took place, the employer proposed a Memorandum of Agreement, which we rejected because it still denied salary protection.
Shortly after the transfer took place, the UNE filed 87 grievances dealing with job content and classification. When the grievances were being presented to Heritage, they were denied, regardless of members being classified downward or their pay reduced.
As with any decision involving retroactive salary increases, members should expect that it will take some time before the proper amount of retroactive pay is calculated and the new salary rates are implemented. PSAC, UNE and Local leadership will work with Treasury Board to discuss implementation of the decision by the end of the summer.
Also affected by the decision were PSAC members who were transferred from the Canada Revenue Agency to Shared Services Canada.