BC/YT Region
Regional Union Management Consultation
Committee (
Record of
Discussions for
Participants
Dianne
Mitchell Alternate NVP, CEIU (
Andrew Serrant Representative,
ACFO (Association of Canadian Financial Officers)
Derek Brackley Representative,
Grant McGregor Representative, PIPSC (Professional
Institute of the Public Service of
Management
Andy
Netzel Regional
Executive Head (Chair)
Lynn
Jackson Senior Director,
Citizen Services
Anne
Milne Senior
Director, Processing
Con
Leonidas Director, People
& Culture
Judith
Walton A/Regional Manager, People
& Culture
Crystal
Johnston A/Team Leader,
People & Culture
Support to the Committee
Cynthia
Lam Regional
Executive Head Office
Review of
Agenda
Additions
of:
-
Leave for Union
Reasons
-
Acting Pay
Situation
1.
Review of RUMCC Terms of Reference - Derek Brackley
In accordance to
the RUMCC Terms of Reference, reviews of the Terms of Reference are to take
place annually or as agreed to by the committee.
Andy Netzel
agreed that it was timely to do a review, especially in light of the changes
between the BC-YT and AB-NT-NU Regions.
Andy suggested possibilities of expanding the RUMCC to include both AB-NT-NU
and BC-YT members.
Derek Brackley
proposed that a small sub-group of union and management representatives be
established to conduct the review and bring forth recommendations to the
RUMCC. The management representatives
will be Lynn Jackson, Anne Milne and one person from People & Culture. The union representatives will be determined
shortly. Pat Wakefield will contact the
unions in the AB-NT-NU Region for their participation.
Andy Netzel noted
that the AB-NT-NU Labour/Management Consultation Committee does not have
representation from ACFO (Association of Canadian Financial Officers).
1.
REH Update – Andy Netzel
Andy Netzel provided an update of the changes
happening within Service Canada. This
includes the regional clustering, the Regional Structural Model and the Labour
Market Development Agreement.
The Deputy Minister is piloting the regional clusters
of
Work on the Regional Structural Model (RSM) has been
ongoing for over a year. The purpose of
RSM is to provide consistent service delivery in all regions by creating
symmetrical organizational structures, work descriptions, processes, etc. The Regional Structural Model establishes six
consistent business lines:
1) Regional Executive Head Office – the REH and a few
support staff.
2) Strategic Services – Communications, Privacy &
Access, Ministerial Support, Planning and Analysis, etc.
3) Citizen Services – all “front-end” client services,
including call centres.
4) Community Services – delivery of all Grants &
Contributions programs, Labour Market Information (LMI), Temporary Foreign
Worker
5) Integrity – Employment Insurance, OAS/CPP, risk
assessment, physical security.
6) Benefits & Payment Processing – all processing –
EI, OAS/CPP, CEP, AIG, EcoAuto, etc.
Work descriptions will be generic and apply to all
business lines across the country.
Pat Wakefield asked whether these changes will be the
same as in the Quebec Region. Andy
stated that similar to the Quebec Region, the number of work descriptions will
be greatly reduced.
Ongoing automation in EI processing has prompted the
National Payment Processing Network to further consolidate processing operations
across the country. It is expected that Processing
will be organized into four regions: The
West,
Pat Wakefield enquired as to the possible loss of
employment due to the changes. Andy
responded that there is no loss of employment expected. Consolidation in the management ranks will be
reduced through attrition.
Pat Wakefield stated that members are very aware of
the reductions and consolidations. The
Andy Netzel supported the previous regional approach
that EI processing staff would not be expected to re-locate. These changes will be implemented over
time. The workload will be managed
through attrition and by seeking opportunities where people are currently
situated. Pat Wakefield stated that this
is especially important for offices with smaller numbers of staff.
Derek Brackley asked whether there will be two
Regional offices for the AB-NT-NU and BC-YT Regions. Andy said we need to change our thinking
about ‘physical locations’ and not be concerned about ‘where one sits’. The perspective is now larger than just one
region and should not be tied to the traditional views of the organization.
Anne Milne spoke about the importance of respecting
that there are staff from different business lines who are co-located and have
developed relationships. Transition to
any change takes time and requires face-to-face communication.
Regarding LMDA, talks are underway in the regions who
have not devolved Gs & Cs programs (British Columbia/Yukon Territory,
Pat Wakefield asked if staff impacted by the LMDA
would be given consideration to remain with Service Canada if they wish to do
so. (See Agenda Item #2 below.)
Derek Brackley expressed his appreciation for Andy’s
frankness and willingness to discuss these changes and initiatives.
2.
Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA)
-
Labour Market
Development Agreement (LMDA) – full transfer of EI Part II Employment Benefits
and Support Measures (EBSM) to the provinces for delivery.
-
Labour Market
Agreement (LMA) - the provision of $500M for six years for programming for
non-EI-eligible Canadians, new entrants into the workforce, and employed
Canadians with low skills and low literacy.
-
Exploration of
the feasibility of a transfer of programs for youth, older workers and people
with disabilities.
For the LMDA negotiations, the federal Chief
Negotiator is Elaine Feldman; the Service
The implementation of a transfer LMDA will be
characterized by three principles:
-
a smooth transition
for federal employees who would transfer to the province,
-
continuity of
service to clients; and
-
continuity of
service through third party service providers.
The first meeting was held
Two staff bulletins have been issued – the first one
from Andy Netzel and the second one from
We have an obligation to transfer sufficient staff
and operating resources to the province to meet the principle of continuity of
service to clients. Understandably the
province is interested in ensuring sufficient resources are transferred so that
BC is successful in program delivery. While there may be room for some exceptions,
it is expected that most program delivery staff will be transferred to the
province.
Pat Wakefield enquired as to whether there is a
freeze on deployments for Employment staff.
Andy Netzel responded that until such time that the actual staff to be
transferred are identified, there is no ‘freeze’; deployments will be processed
as normal. Presently Service Canada has
experienced attrition and has initiated the hiring of new Program Officers, and
staff with program delivery experience will be needed after the transfer to
deliver non-Part II programs.
Dianne Mitchell asked about the identification of staff
who will be transferred to the province and who will be retained.
Lynn Jackson responded that it is too early in
negotiations to have developed an approach to this issue. All the Service Canada Centre Directors are
aware that at present, federal delivery and full investment of funds must
continue.
to
be informed of information on the LMA website:
http://webcenter.bc.prv/nlma/index.shtml.
Dianne Mitchell stated that they have met with BCGEU
(BC Government and Service Employees’
Lynn Jackson shared that this issue was brought up at
the last Citizen Services Directors’ meeting.
Needs will be assessed on an office-by-office basis in terms of what and
when supports are required. Local Staff should
discuss concerns with their Directors.
Grant McGregor asked about the systems support
requirements for transferred staff.
Lynn Jackson outlined the situations in other
provinces:
Derek Brackley asked about the LMI component of the
LMDA process. Andy Netzel stated that
this will depend on the province and it is too early to know yet.
Derek Brackley asked about the LMDA discussions at
the March 30th meeting of the National Labour-Management
Consultation Committee. Questions about
the BC LMDA negotiations should be raised with the BC-YT RUMCC.
Lynn Jackson stated that the
3.
Update on Workload Distribution Sub-Committee
Lynn Jackson spoke on the Sub-Committee meeting which
took place in the morning of
·
The joint
union-management session on performance management with Pat Brand on
·
Pat Brand’s
session on August 8th was taped and a DVD will be produced as a
training/resource tool. Pat Wakefield
and Lynn Jackson will record an introduction to the DVD.
·
Anne Milne will share
this initiative with the AB-NT-NU Labour/Management Consultation Committee.
·
People &
Culture Branch will include the performance management message in their tele-conferences
for managers and team leaders.
4.
EC Conversion – Judith Walton
Responding to questions provided by Derek Brackley
before the meeting, Judith provided an update on the EC Conversion process
which involves the current ES and SI groups (Economists and LMIAs).
-
The
-
The Canada
Public Service Agency will complete the corporate impact analysis, including
the conversion costing, and provide this information to the Treasury Board
Secretariat (TBS) Collective Bargaining and the
-
There is no
anticipated date for the Advance Personal Notifications (APN). CPSA, in consultation with TBS, will
determine the timing of the APNs which will be prior to a tentative collective
agreement.
-
Each EC employee
will receive an APN which will contain the employee’s name, PRI, position
title, current classification group and level.
-
Service Canada
is currently exploring the option of using their EC shared drive to provide
read-only access to affected staff and managers, to the unofficial work
descriptions.
-
At this time, 30
different generic work descriptions have been developed. Approximately 4-5 have been identified for
this region. These generic work
descriptions apply across the country; there are no unique work descriptions.
-
All vacant
positions will be deleted. Once the
conversion is completed, new positions can be created with the new work
descriptions. As of
-
As of
5.
SDA2 Reclassification – Con Leonidas
Con Leonidas outlined the pay process for the
reclassification of the SDA2 employees.
-
It is expected
that the appointment of SDA2s to the PM2 Service Canada Benefit Officer
position will be completed by the end of November. These promotions should be reflected in the
first pay period in December. Supplementary
cheques to cover the September-November period should also be issued in early
December.
-
Adjustments to
reflect the period prior to September 14, 2007 will take significantly longer
to process as this requires the verification of periods of acting pay and
assignments, etc.
2.
Leave for Union Reasons – Pat Wakefield
Pat Wakefield
shared a rumour regarding a freeze on leave for union reasons during contract
negotiations.
Andy Netzel and
Judith Walton stated that they have not heard anything on this subject and noted
that this has never happened in the past.
Pat Wakefield
will follow-up with her sources.
3.
Acting Pay Situation– Pat
Pat Wakefield spoke on a situation where a PM2
employee acting as a PM3 was only paid for 7.5 hours per day for 4 days (30
hours) and not the 37.5 hours actually worked.
Judith Walton shared the TBS Information Bulletin,
dated
Con Leonidas explained the Treasury Board’s
interpretation. Under Article 64.07 of
the PA Collective Agreement, a day is deemed to be 7.5 hours. For the purposes of acting assignments, staff
should be aware of the implications. Con
stated that they have pushed back to NHQ and TBS.
Con Leonidas will look into the specifics of the situation
Pat Wakefield brought forth and report back to Andy Netzel. Con will also add this TBS Bulletin to the
next Human Resources Planning Committee meeting for information and discussion.
Roundtable
Dianne
Mitchell expressed her appreciation for being able to attend today’s meeting.
Grant
McGregor asked about the ICMS process (Informal Conflict Management
System). Judith Walton advised to phone
the national number regarding ICMS.
Other issues can be directed to Labour Relations.
Andy
Netzel requested that the next meeting be scheduled in December depending on
his schedule.
The
next meeting is scheduled for