As you are all aware, the 2016-2017 Annual leave bid process saw the introduction of a major change from past practices.
In this round of consultations, the Union was made aware of the employer’s intention to discontinue the longstanding practice of monthly vacation rebids at the PPC. This consultation took place on January 21, 2016.
All of the usual details of the Annual leave bidding process were discussed. The usual negotiations revolve around the number of employees that can be on Annual leave in any given week (Article 19.15), which translates to the number of columns available to bid by section. This number is dictated by the number of employees in a section and their entitlement (number of weeks, basic and extra, that are required). A minimum of 20% unused blocks in both basic and extra weeks are negotiated to allow for more selection and movement. The Union was able to increase the number of weeks available in certain sections where there was insufficient percentage of unused weeks. This usually resulted in summer bulges being added.
This year, however, these unused blocks are not being posted as monthly bids after the completion of the initial Annual leave bid.
Article 19 of the Collective Agreement contains the language pertaining to Annual leave. Article 19.15 specifically speaks to Annual leave in groups 1, 3 and 4.
Currently, there are no provisions in the Collective Agreement that force the employer to have a monthly re-bid process in groups 1, 3 and 4 for Annual leave.
The only protections under 19.15 that require the employer to follow past practices (past practices that our members in group 1 have enjoyed) come with the caveat, “providing staffing levels and mail volumes have not changed”. Management has frequently used this loop hole to justify why they are not bound by past practices and that they can provide the data that either mail volumes and/or staffing have changed.
Our membership has seen the increase of one hundred (100) part-time positions and twenty (20) full-time positions at the PPC, which resulted in a number of bids over the last few months. The creation of these positions was triggered by Appendix P of our Collective Agreement.
These increases in staffing have provided management with the rationale for not having to adhere to past practices for the purposes of Annual leave bidding.
Management intends to discontinue the Annual leave monthly re-bid. The Union requested the minutes to reflect our position: If someone needed to change their weeks due to unforeseen circumstances, that no reasonable request would be denied. This is particularly important if there is an unused week available in the week requested. Requests for A/L, where there are no unused weeks available, will be subject to operational requirements as they are currently.
When an employee bids out of a section, their remaining weeks will be available for rebidding.
Next to health & safety, paycheque and our seniority rights – vacation leave is the most important issue to our membership.
Many times we hear the membership say, “Why did the Union agree to this?!”
Like all consultations, if the employer plans to exercise its rights under Article 2, provided they are not violating any other Article of the contract and have fulfilled their contractual obligations to consult, management can proceed with or without the Union’s agreement. This brings into question what constitutes “meaningful consultation” (to quote the CA).
Changes to the language in the Collective Agreement, specifically Article 19 which governs vacation leave, need to be negotiated. Although some changes were brought forward in this round of negotiations, not all appropriate changes were put forward by the membership to address these most recent concerns around Article 19. This is something we will need to consider for future rounds of negotiations.
In Solidarity,
Steve Carter
2nd Vice President
ck/CUPE-3338