LockTalk 22: First corrections-only award has been issued

On March 30, Arbitrator Kaplan received final submissions from the union and the employer. On April 1, the team received the arbitrator’s award (link below).

Click here to download LockTalk 22.

Below is a brief summary of the award and highlights of previously agreed items.

Your bargaining team is working on a comprehensive explanatory document addressing every issue of the new collective agreement. This document will be shared with all local presidents/RERC Co-chairs meeting as soon as possible. An all-presidents/RERC Co-chairs meeting is being scheduled for the near future as a question-and-answer session regarding the collective agreement to provide more details.

Members should direct all questions directly to their presidents or RERC Co-chairs so they can be answered at this all-presidents/ RERC Co-chairs meeting.

General wage

All employees will receive retro pay of 1.5 per cent since January 1, 2018:

January 1, 2019: retro pay of 1 per cent.

July 1, 2019: 1 per cent.

January 1, 2020: 1 per cent

July 1, 2020: 1 per cent.

January 1, 2021: 1 per cent.

July 1, 2021: 1 per cent

Total: 7.5 per cent (compounding effect will add to the award)

Special adjustments for correctional officers/youth workers classifications

January 1, 2018: retro pay of 1.75 per cent

January 1, 2019: retro pay of 1.75 per cent

January 1, 2020: 1.75 per cent

January 1, 2021: 1.75 per cent

Special adjustments for probation, probation and parole officers, and nurse classifications

January 1, 2019: retro pay of 1 per cent

January 1, 2020: 1 per cent

January 1, 2021: 1 per cent

Special lump sum

Employees previously in the Unified Bargaining Unit working in a Correctional Bargaining Unit workplace as of July 1, 2017, and who are still employed as of the date of the award (April 1, 2019) will receive a lump sum of $200.

Union leave

There will be an additional paid MCSCS MERC member.

The union had requested 13 employer-paid bargaining team members, however, the arbitrator only awarded seven.

Benefits

Article 39.2.6 will be amended to eliminate the psychological cap for correctional officers and youth workers specifically. For the rest of the members, the cap will be raised to $40 per half-hour.

Highlights of previously agreed-to items

• Compensating time off (CTO):
  • The parties negotiated throughout the process to reinstate/continue CTO entitlements. To achieve CTO past its 2017 expiry, the union agreed to lower the five-minute wait to a three-minute wait within the provincial overtime policy. As well, any overtime opportunities offered four hours or less in advance of the opportunity had the wait period eliminated.
  • Affected members will be entitled to bank up to 60 hours of CTO, per the current collective agreement.
  • As of the CA award of April 1, 2019, an additional 40 hours can be accrued (100 hours) until the expiry of this collective agreement. This benefit is in the form of a letter outside of the collective agreement expiring December 31, 2021.

• COR 8.2.2 amended to delete “even if part of the shift becomes overtime”
• Article 18: seniority (FxT hours)
  FxT members shall have their continuous service date (CSD) calculated upon appointment to full-time service based on 1,725.5 straight-time hours or 1,904 straight-time hours, as appropriate, counting as equivalent to one year’s service, or pro-rated to the equivalent of less than one year, as appropriate, for service accumulated January 1, 2018, and after.
• Renaming of some classifications:
  • “Psychiatric Nursing Assistant” class series changes to “Registered Practical Nurse” class series
  • “Maintenance Mechanic” class series changes to “Facilities Mechanic/Facilities Technician” class series
• Bereavement leave improvements for FXT members:
• FxT rollovers of non-CO/YSO/PPO/PO
  A letter of understanding to initiate a rollover process for members in these positions
• FxT transfer of contract list
  FxT members will have a lateral process similar to full-time members within the ministries
• Benefits
  • Mandatory catastrophic drug coverage for all members
  • Optional out-of-country medical coverage available to all members