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REPORT OF THE COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS COMMITTEE
July 12, 2004
The Compensation and Benefits Committee met for the fourth time on March 19 and 20 in Ottawa. There are currently 14 members of the committee representing several departments, regions and all levels of the FI group.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss strategy for the next round of collective bargaining as the current FI collective agreement expires in November 2004. A particular emphasis was placed on what dispute resolution mechanism would be the best choice for the FI group - binding arbitration or conciliation/strike.
The paper "Choosing the Dispute Resolution Mechanism" was reviewed and final changes made so the paper can be distributed to the general membership and put on the Association website. After a lengthy discussion, an action plan was developed to present to the Association Board of Directors on March 26. The action plan was approved by the ACFO Board of Directors. There are 3 major components of the action plan:
- Communiqués - the Association will provide communiqués to the general membership on the pros and cons of binding arbitration and conciliation/strike, highlights of the TB 2002 arbitration brief, internal and external relativity, and information on job action.
- Focus Groups- the Association will have 2 focus groups in the NCR to test the draft communiqués and get input from members. This was later reduced to one focus group due to time constraints.
- Communications Sessions - The Association will have 2 sessions in the NCR and all FIs will be invited to attend. Approximately two-thirds of the FI membership is in the NCR and the Association just completed a regional tour in February 2004. In addition, there will be a 1-800 number available for call-ins for the regional FIs to hear a message.
The Communications Committee of the Association is currently working on the survey of the general membership that will be released in June 2004. As part of the survey, there will be questions concerning collective bargaining and the dispute resolution mechanism.
The Association cannot officially give notice to bargain to the Employer until August 7, 2004 in compliance with the Public Service Staff Relations Act. Therefore, we anticipate collective bargaining to commence in the fall of 2004.
Jonathan Hood
Chairperson
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