A series of meetings were held last week with Treasury Board.
Understanding that the government is now under the “caretaker convention” as the election was called September 11, there is no real mandate at the bargaining table. The caretaker convention dictates that ministers must restrict themselves from expenditures and policy changes until a new government is formed.
It is obvious that the federal election will slow down our negotiations, and the employer reported to the Bargaining Committee that there will not be much progress until the government forms a new cabinet after the election.
The employer did not put forward any future dates for our negotiations, besides our previously agreed date in October until the new year. Though your bargaining committee is ready and willing to sit and discuss our demands, progress is only possible if the Employer side of the table has a clear mandate, so we will have to be patient.
The employer also informed the Bargaining Committee that they once again re-aligned their negotiators and we would once again receive another negotiator to handle our file. This will be the third Treasury Board Negotiator assigned to us after three Negotiation meetings. We voiced our displeasure in our ability to progress when the other side of the table is constantly changing.
Settling dates for our future negotiations became a priority, but the Employer only agreed on 4 sessions from our meeting in October until June 2020. Of course, we indicated that negotiations were the priority and that we would be discussing future dates again, once the new negotiator sets his agenda.
We know that some unions have completed their negotiations with the Treasury Board, and all of them have obtained relatively the same package which is approximately 8% over 4 years. These offers, certainly do not fit the demands of the members of UCCO-SACC-CSN and the mandate which the members gave the Bargaining Committee.
Our demands are much different and that’s why we do not want to settle in haste. We will take the necessary time to reach a satisfactory agreement.
Remember that our 3 priorities concern our pension plan, our annual leave and salary.
Your UCCO-SACC-CSN
Bargaining Committee