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News - January 2007 Previous Month Following Month
The headlines for current month's news items are listed immediately below. Click on the headline of your choice to see the entire text of the article. AAFC moving forward on GL Review CGC expecting Canada Grain Act legislation sooner than later Our union well represented at the 2007 PSAC National Health and Safety Conference Excessive overtime can be hazardous to your health! Meeting with CFIA sets positive tone for resolution of PI Review Term Policy restrictions lifted for Farm Income Programs workers Agriculture Union launches year-long campaign to sign up ‘Rands’ Locals receive revisions to our KeyInfo workplace information kit New improvement to our Web site makes finding and reading published articles easier
AAFC moving forward on GL Review (Posted January 29, 2007) Our GL members at Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration should keep a close eye on their internal mail. AAFC has informed the Agriculture Union that it will be proceeding with a review of all GL positions, including those at the PFRA. An employer communiqué on the study and its next phases should be sent out to all affected workers in the ‘near future’. The GL Review will unfold in a number of phases. The first phase will study GL-MAN positions at both the Lethbridge and Lennoxville Research Centres. For this phase, the model work descriptions created by the joint committee in 2004-2005 will be updated as required and employed. The Lethbridge-Lennoxville process will assist in determining both additional work descriptions for other AAFC GLs and the anticipated length of the review process. Classification officers will be at both Research Centres the week of January 29 to carry out on-site evaluations, with the expectation that this phase will be completed by the end of March. By May, AAFC expects to have developed a second phase of the GL Review outlining process and timelines for the rest of the department. A number of outstanding issues need to be addressed in the review, including relativity across the country, the effective date of any reclassifications and the type of informal dispute mechanism would be used. AAFC has decided to abandon ‘generic’ work descriptions (especially those that resemble the ones used by NRCAN). Rather, the employer will make use of the ‘model’ work descriptions used for the EG review. These ‘models’ will allow the incumbent GL to write an ‘addendum’ to clarify and reinforce the individual’s specific work situation. The employer also recognizes the challenge of working through different reporting relationships, as some GLs report to Assets Management and others to Research Management. We will provide our GL members at AAFC and the PFRA with updates as the Review process continues.
CGC expecting Canada Grain Act legislation sooner than later (Posted January 22, 2007) The Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission says she is expecting the Harper government to table new legislation affecting the CGC sooner than later in the New Year. Chris Hamblin made the comment during the CGC’s Leadership Session, held mid-December in Winnipeg. Agriculture Union National President Yves Ducharme was also in attendance. Our union has been keeping a close eye on the issue, as both the COMPAS Report on the CGC and the Conservatives’ attack on the Canadian Wheat Board could lead to a downsizing or privatization of some of the Commission’s functions. This would obviously have a serious negative impact on the jobs and job security of our CGC members. Discussions and questioning at last month’s Leadership Session also provided a number of updates on current internal issues at the Commission: • Results of the Public Service Survey of CGC employees showed a lower rate of return than the last such survey in 2002, but saw improvement in a number of areas. • An approval note is expected from Treasury Board before this summer to allow the Winnipeg Centre of Excellence project to proceed. • Exemptions on the movement of grain through the United States will be given on a case-by-case basis. • A protocol for sampling, part of the Pilot Project on Container Loading, is currently under review. Members of the Employment Equity Committee provided Leadership Session participants with a presentation on the CGC’s workforce analysis. The conclusion? While CGC is doing a good job of closing existing gaps, its efforts could also be “kicked up a notch”. The Committee is identifying strategies to improve the numbers and encourage employees to self-identify in the survey. It was recognized that while recruitment of the equity groups had improved, retention was still a problem. On a final note, Leadership Session participants were asked to provide input on how best to develop and implement the CGC Performance Management Framework.
Our union well represented at the 2007 PSAC National Health and Safety Conference (Posted January 20, 2007) As the following photo shows, the Agriculture Union is very well represented at this weekend’s 2007 PSAC National Health and Safety Conference.
The Conference, under the theme Regulation Works!, is being held in Ottawa from January 19 to 21. The Conference objectives are: • to outline the current government and employer agenda which includes deregulation and to demonstrate how it will affect our health, safety and environmental rights; • to develop a union agenda to counter the move towards deregulation of health, safety and environmental protections and employer voluntary compliance; • to expose the misrepresentation behind the current "behavioural-based safety programs" being promoted by employers which rework the classic "blame the worker" theory; • to develop union tactics to counter the ‘myth of the careless worker’; and • to examine the current state of enforcement of health and safety legislation in order to develop union-based strategies that will better protect workers.
Excessive overtime can be hazardous to your health! (Posted January 19, 2007) The National Office has been receiving a number of calls from members who believe the overtime they are being required to perform is excessive. Overtime is a fact of life for many of our members. For some, it’s a welcome opportunity to earn some extra income. Others, however, resent the pressure – from either managers or peers – to take on extra hours that further upset the balance between work and home life. Clearly, overtime is a two-edged sword. And, when worked to excess, it can affect a worker’s relationship with co-workers, family and friends. Most importantly, overtime can even cause serious health issues. Collective agreements negotiated by our bargaining agent, the Public Service Alliance, provide some measure of protection against demands for excessive overtime. Contracts for our Treasury Board members in the Operational Services (SV) and Technical Services (TC) groupings contain the following provision: “The Alliance is entitled to consult with the Deputy Head or the Deputy Head’s delegated representative whenever it is alleged that employees are required to work unreasonable amounts of overtime.” This contract language can also be found in our collective agreement with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. However, the CFIA language goes further by requiring the employer “. . . to avoid excessive overtime work . . .” There is also a provision for consultation with the CFIA President or his or her representative whenever it is “alleged that employees are required to work unreasonable amounts of overtime”. Of course, this language is only effective if we can act on it. In order to initiate consultation with the employer – whether Treasury Board or CFIA – the Agriculture Union National Office needs to know exactly where excessive overtime is being worked and that the concerns of our members have been raised with local managers. Locals faced with an excessive overtime situation should place the item on their local and/or regional Union/Management Consultation Committee and/or Health & Safety committee meetings. Ensure that meeting minutes are forwarded to the National Office. Armed with this information, we can then provide concrete evidence of the ‘excessive’ overtime and pressure the employer to take steps to address the problem. Should the employer then refuse to act, the National Office will investigate other options available to pursue this important issue. One final note of importance… None of the above precludes a member’s right at any time to invoke the provisions of Part II of the Canada Labour Code should he or she believe an overtime situation threatens their health or safety.
Meeting with CFIA sets positive tone for resolution of PI Review (Posted January 17, 2007) A recent high-level meeting with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency gives us hope that 2007 may be the year we finally resolve the PI Review. Agriculture Union National President Yves Ducharme, along with First National Executive Vice-President Bob Kingston, met face-to-face with senior managers on January 8 to deal specifically with this contentious issue. Brothers Ducharme and Kingston took the opportunity to lay out our entire position on the PI Review, filling any gaps on the issue that might not have come previously to their attention. Our union officers left the meeting with the assurance that CFIA wants to see the PI Review wrapped up as quickly as possible. The January 8 meeting flowed from a letter Brother Ducharme sent François Guimont, President of the CFIA, in November to protest the unacceptable setbacks in resolving the PI Review issue. Ducharme’s letter can be seen at: http://www.agrunion.com/en/archivednews-november2006.html#PI Mr. Guimont’s response to Brother Ducharme’s is pasted below. CFIA has committed to more meetings in the weeks ahead to review progress on this file. While (as they say) it ain’t over ‘til it’s over, the Agriculture Union intends to take the CFIA President at his word! December 21, 2006 Mr. Yves Ducharme Dear Mr. Ducharme: This is in response to your letter dated November 6, 2006 in which you express concerns about delays in completing the classification review of the Primary Products Inspectors. Yours sincerely, François Guimont Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Term Policy restrictions lifted for Farm Income Programs workers (Posted January 12, 2007) There’s good news for term employees who work directly on or support delivery of Farm Income Programs. On July 1, 2004, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada had suspended provisions of the department’s Term Employment Policy that had barred these workers from counting their service towards obtaining an indeterminate position. The lifting of the restrictions, as of January 2, applies to term employees of the following AAFC programs: • the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization; • the Canadian Farm Income Payment; and • the Net Income Stabilization Account. Service after July 1, 2004 will now be counted toward the cumulative working period for indeterminate appointment. Employees who accumulated two years of service during the period the policy was suspended will be appointed indeterminate effective January 2, 2007, based on the substantive position they hold as of January 2, 2007. Employees who have not yet reached two years of accumulated service at the time the suspension is lifted will become indeterminate employees when they have accumulated two years of service. Finally, for those appointed after May 1, 2006, the three-year policy will apply and those employees will become indeterminate employees as they reach three years of service. In the New Year, term employees who are affected by this announcement will receive written confirmation of their indeterminate appointment.
Agriculture Union launches year-long campaign to sign up ‘Rands’ (Posted January 9, 2007) The Agriculture Union has already made its New Year’s resolution – to sign up as many ‘Rands’ as possible throughout 2007. National President Yves Ducharme has written all Locals to get involved with this union-wide campaign to reach out to these co-workers who, for one reason or another, have yet to sign a union card.
The term ‘Rand’ comes from a landmark ruling made by a Justice of the same name some 60 years ago. The principle is that all workers – whether union members or not – benefit from a union-negotiated contract. While no-one would be forced to join the union, ‘free-loading’ would not be permitted. If you got the benefit, he ruled, you should help pay the cost. So, Rands are required in fairness to pay union dues. While some Rands are irredeemably anti-union, many have simply never been provided an opportunity to sign a card. The upcoming, year-long sign-up campaign aims to remedy that. 2007 will see some hard bargaining for new collective agreements for Agriculture Union members. Solidarity is never more important. We want as many workers to participate and have their say in our union. To make this task both easier and more enjoyable, we have decided to centre our Rand sign-up campaign around a year-long contest. Each Rand who signs a membership card will be eligible to win a grand prize of two round-trip tickets to anywhere in Canada that Air Canada flies. This lucky winner will be decided at the end of 2007, and he or she may elect to take $1,000 in cash in lieu of the air tickets. To maintain the momentum, we will be holding a monthly draw of Rands signed up during that period. The prize is an Agriculture Union coffee mug. Colourful posters are being sent to all Locals to publicize the Rand sign-up campaign in Agriculture Union workplaces. As the cliché goes, we are only as strong as our weakest link. Recruiting any new members who were formally Rands will help us forge a strong and unbreakable chain of membership unity.
Locals receive revisions to our KeyInfo workplace information kit (Posted January 8, 2007) A number of important revisions have been made to our popular KeyInfo workplace information kit.
A new topic on our union’s ROP Scholarship, plus additional information on our Harassment topic, have been added. In addition, the following topics have been updated: • Table of Contents; Locals will have received hard copy versions for insertion in their KeyInfo binders. Electronic amendments have been made to the Web-based version of our workplace information kit, which can be found under the ‘Useful Info’ tab on the toolbar at the top of this page.
New improvement to our Web site makes finding and reading published articles easier (Posted January 1, 2007) We’ve rung in the New Year with a small but important improvement to the Agriculture Union Web site. The headlines for news items, both past and present, are now listed at the top of each monthly page. As the screenshot below shows, a quick glance is sufficient to see all the texts published during a given month, without having to scroll down the page. Then, a simple click on a headline of your choice takes you to the complete article.
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