ESDC Consultation Team Newsletter
Fall/Winter 2022
National Team Members
President - Stan Buday
Vice President - Lynn Ohlson
Vice President - Dean Corda
Vice President - Yvonne Snaddon
W-T UMCC - Lynn Ohlson, Terri Gobeil
Ontario UMCC - Roxanne Bedard, Stephanie Turkington
Atlantic UMCC - Carolyn Hynes, Amberly Colter
PHSC - Dean Corda, Tanisha Coultis
Message from your Consultation President
Your union represents your interests in many ways. It serves as the bargaining agent,
negotiating improvements to your working conditions and increases to your wages.
When you have a concern or issue with your pay or your employer there is a steward or
a staff member available to help you.
There is still another way that your concerns and issues are brought to the attention of
our employer and that’s through Union-Management Consultation.
Your national consultation team meets regularly with management at local, regional and
national levels. I always like to refer to this as macro stewardship as the issues brought
forward are of a broader scope in nature. These are impacts on our working conditions
that affect a larger number of members rather than an individual. And the level of
consultation is determined by where the impact lies, locally, regionally or nationally and
is also affected by the reporting structure of the Branch in question.
Sometimes issues are escalated to higher levels when a resolution is unattainable at a
lower one. The goal is always to find some solution before engaging in a more formal
process such as grievances. And there are times when decisions are made that we
cannot agree with as all decisions are ultimately made by management. But we have
had our successes.
We rely on our steward network to advise us of your concerns through regular calls and
meetings so please reach out to your local steward or member of the consultation team
and let us know of any issues you feel are affecting your workplace.
We have met with and will continue to meet with management on your behalf. Please
be sure to review the minutes of our meetings available on the employer’s intranet.
Stan Buday
President
PIPSC ESDC National Consultation
Get to know your Consultation Steering Committee!
Stan Buday- Stan has been on the consultation team for over 20 years and has been its
president for the past 9 years. He has been involved in our union for nearly 25 years, also
serves as the president of the IT Group and is currently involved in negotiating a new contract
for the members of the IT Group.
Lynn Ohlson- Lynn is a Medical Adjudicator consultant in Winnipeg. She has served on both the
regional and national consultation teams for the past 8 years. She is also the president of the
SH group. Lynn has been with Service Canada for 18 years and a nurse for 43 years.
Dean Corda- Dean has been a CS/IT in ESDC for over 20 years. He has been a Steward for
over 15 years and involved in Consultation since 2008. He’s spent time on the IT Group
Executive and continues to be an active member of his Sub-Group and Region.
Yvonne Snaddon - Yvonne is an IT member in Enterprise Operations with Site Asset. She has
been a PIPSC Steward for 17 years and involved in Consultation since 2009. She is also the
Contracting Out Officer for the IT National Executive and a member of the IT Bargaining Team.
The PIPSC Consultation Team for ESDC represents all PIPSC members within the department.
We meet with management at every level to discuss and consult on topics of interest to our
members and to learn about what’s upcoming within the department.
Union Bulletin Board Launch
ESDC has created a virtual bulletin board that we will be using in addition to cork boards in the
offices (as return continues). This link UnionNewsNouvellesSyndicales - Home (sharepoint.com)
to the virtual bulletin board is only accessible on the corporate network so you must be using
your work computer and connected to VPN if working from home.
Multi Factor Authentication (MFA)
With the implementation of Multi-factor authentication in the department the use of a secondary
device is required for the secondary authentication. This provides additional security of the
ESDC network. You may be using a similar security feature now to authenticate access to your
banking or other applications.
Please note: If you have a departmental cell phone you can use it for the secondary
authentication. Use of your own device is allowed, however you can request a departmental
device such as mobile phone or hard token if you do not wish to use your own personal device.
Return to the Office
By now you should have had a conversation with your manager about what the Fall looks like
with regard to ESDC’s hybrid work arrangement. While most jobs neatly fall under the Job
Function Analyses put together by the department, customizations can be made for people
requiring accommodation through a formal Duty to Accommodate evaluation. That may include
providing similar equipment for use at home as you would use at the office because you have
limitations with how much weight you can lift. Discuss this with your manager and feel free to
involve a PIPSC Steward should you need support.
PSLREB Decision on the use of 699 (PSAC)
A recent grievance decision
Public Service Alliance of Canada v. Treasury Board
(https://decisions.fpslreb-crtespf.gc.ca/fpslreb-crtespf/d/en/item/520912/index.do
/https://decisions.fpslreb-crtespf.gc.ca/fpslreb-crtespf/d/fr/item/520912/index.do ) from the
Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) found that being
forced to use up other forms of Leave before being granted 699 was against the PSAC
collective agreement. This decision is good for non-PSAC members in that it provides
precedence for other unions to work collaboratively and encourage the Treasury Board to apply
it equally among all of the core Departments.
Rogers Outage
The recent nationwide Rogers outage affected many members of our department. We are
aware that there were considerable inconsistencies in the expectations of employees during this
time and we are pursuing this issue through Consultation.
NU EMA Update
The MA stewards across the country met monthly throughout the year or more often as
required. We discussed common and site specific issues and crafted an approach to these. We
anticipate a return to this practice following a break over the summer. We have discussed
issues with inconsistency in the application of 699 leave, return to the office initiatives, and
inconsistent AWA policies.There is considerable attention directed to the Atlantic region where
there seems to be a concentration of issues at this time. The publishing of EMA work location
information on public sites remains an active issue. All internal sites have been corrected and
the information removed.In an attempt to remedy the public information sharing, a letter was
sent to the specific public sites requesting that the information be updated.
We currently have no stewards in the Victoria office and only one in Edmonton which is very
concerning. For these work sites, please consider your ability to serve in this capacity.
As always, If you are experiencing any difficulties and require assistance or support, please
speak with a steward.
Policy Health and Safety Committee
The Policy Health and Safety Committee continued to meet during the pandemic to ensure
consistent application of the guidance received from the Public Health Agency of Canada and
Health Canada within ESDC worksites. Workplace Health and Safety Committees and Reps
should have been or should expect to be involved by Site Leads in the implementation of the
Departmental return to work plans. Please reach out to your local OHS Committee or
Representative if you have any concerns with air quality or other workplace hazards.
IITB National Consultation
Issues raised at this table affect groups of, or all IITB members. Items are brought forward by
the employer and your consultation representatives as a result of issues raised to us by
Stewards and members across the Branch. We continue to discuss the negative impact on
career progression as a result of language requirements. Opportunities for advancement are
often limited to bilingual employees, even those of a very technical nature with limited
availability for language training. We receive quarterly updates about vendor on-demand
contracts and continue to lobby the employer on the abuse of contracting out work of the IT
bargaining unit. We recently clarified the use of CATS reporting. Some members may choose
to complete and submit their report on a weekly basis, however completion and submission of
these reports is only required on a monthly basis. Availability of training, upskilling, career
development and technological change are regular topics of discussion. We have regular
updates and discussion around the use of leave code 699 and return to work. For a complete
update of all agenda items, discussions and presentations please visit the IITB NUMCC
Sharepoint site at the following link:
IITB Governance - NUMCC-CNCPS - All Documents (sharepoint.com)