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REPORT OF THE COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS COMMITTEE
January 16-17, 2004
The Compensation and Benefits Committee met for the third time on January 16 and 17 in Ottawa. There are currently 14 members of the committee representing several departments, regions and all levels of the FI group.
Presentations on collective bargaining strategies and experiences were made by representatives from the Professional Association of the Foreign Service Officers, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and the Canadian Federal Pilots Association. The presentations were very interesting and provided some insight to the committee of what can be done to increase the possibility of achieving a good settlement at the table and getting the support and participation from the membership. These bargaining agents were able to motivate their members to take job action (without loss of pay in some circumstances) and had a perceived impact on the employer's operations. For example, PAFSO members picketed outside of departmental offices from 7 am to 9:30 a.m.
The committee spent several hours discussing the presentations and what was possible for the Financial Management Group.
There were updates from the teams assigned to complete specific tasks in preparation for the next round of collective bargaining. These include:
a) External Salary Comparison
b) Internal Public Service Salary Comparison (other groups)
c) Designations
d) Design of new membership survey
e) TBS Survey on Financial Community
A paper on "Collective Bargaining in the Public Service - Choosing the Dispute Resolution Mechanism" was presented for comments to the committee. This paper will be further refined and put on the APSFA website in the future.
Our next meeting is scheduled for March 19 and 20 in Ottawa. The committee will meet to discuss strategy for the next round of collective bargaining specifically on what recommendations the committee will make concerning the dispute resolutions mechanisms (binding arbitration vs. conciliation/arbitration).
APSFA 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 late summer or fall of 2004.
Jonathan Hood
Chairperson
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