Hybrid: Virtual (Teams) + in-person (NHC A1026)
Attendees
Virtual:
K. Ilves (Vice-President)
In-person:
J. Mallon (President)
D. Fauteux (Treasurer)
I. Lykova
S. Rufoflo
J-M. Gagnon
T. McMullin
A. Savoie
J. Doubt
A. Lussier
P. Piilonen
K. Khidas
Absent:
D. Fraser
L. Gillespie
X-C. Wu
R. Anderson
A. Martel
T. Miyashita
Agenda:
- Update on signing of last collective agreement
Last CA still waiting to be signed by HR. We have summary of all changes that were made and accepted, but no final document yet.
2. Discussion of priorities for next round of collective bargaining
Exec had a chat with Roger & Caroline from CMN PSAC Exec:
- Inflation #1
- Add grand-parents and other people to expanded definition of “family”
- Transition to retirement plan: able to reduce hours on road to retirement without being penalized on pension. CMN used to do this, but it was not in the Collective Agreement (CA); this issue may be more relevant to curators than to researchers
- Hybrid work – question about whether it needs to be written into CA
Past president: Current policy of 1 day on site every 2 weeks – not being enforced. Is that in conflict with our CA? Asked Denise and she said the employer can do that (but she didn’t look into it in any detail)
- Bilingual bonus increase (impt for PSAC and PIPSC) – hasn’t been raised in decades
- Years-of service carryover between government jobs (eg for vacation rights) – may be more of an issue for PSAC, but if they get it in their CA then PIPSC should as well
Member asked: Vacation time accumulation – 18 years for an extra week? Is reducing this timeframe something we want to bargain for? Will need to set priorities in our asks to ensure we don’t lose something else important for any gains.
Member statement: Difference between CMN pay and federal gov’t pay;
- Comments: in past PSAC negotiated large pay increase across board that PIPSC never got
- Fed gov’t has more salary levels than CMN, but maybe highest level is management
- It’s been at least 15 years since major salary bump
- If decide to fight for huge salary increase, we will have to die on that hill given financial situation
- Members: we lost Kathy Conlan’s position; Mineralogy lost separate Curator position; worried about researcher & curator positions. Not something we can bargain for, but should be discussed
- Danika seems more sympathetic to science than Meg. Bargaining will be interesting.
- Once a position is lost, the extra work gets added to others (e.g. marketing/outreach requests) – can this be accounted for somewhere (e.g., in job description)?
- Proposal that we focus on single issue – salaries; discussion about the risks of not having any other issues to stand up for
President: when Exec met, point of discussion was increased admin burden.
- Is current situation a holdover from previous VP that didn’t enforce policies?
- Complicated – blame to be spread around, past procedures across museum not followed or documented in many cases; problems outlined in last Auditor General report.
- Issues with getting different answers to the same question (e.g., from Jeff, Lory, finance)
- Are we federal government or not? We don’t get the same benefits as core public service but seemingly have more similar obligations.
- Admin burden part of working conditions – can ask for improved working conditions
- How do we translate this into a Collective Agreement? Can we make a statement as a union about admin burden?
- Admin burden could be argued to be a barrier to career progress (more time on paperwork means less time on research)
- Laval strike – may have language in faculty CA about admin burden
Member: Can we add anything about job security? E.g. statement that there will be no layoffs during period of CA.
IT:
How do we feel about IT? (universally negative it appears)
- ITAC – seems like staff just complaining but nothing changes
Issues:
- MFA – far too many times to login
- Can we separate scientists with respect to IT?
- IT at least seems willing to purchase Apple computers
- Currently most scientists use their own computer - not acceptable
- Unclear how John Henderson fits into IT/travel/security policies – another example of lack of clear communication
- IT hours of service affect how members can do their jobs (e.g., off hours, weekends)
Increasing pay for Centre Heads - $5k is not enough if workload remains the same
Could also increase pay for Section Heads – hasn’t changed in at least 2 bargaining rounds;
- SH with large section works more than SH with small section – seems unfair, can it be prorated?
- Some discussion about this – most seem in favor of flat stipend for SH
Issues with new health insurance provider – difficulties contacting reps, getting registered, getting reimbursements
Concerns about museum’s trend of moving to more restrictive policies re: risk, insurance, privacy, etc. Affects the type of events we can organize, host.
- Other matters arising
Next steps:
- Will stay in touch with PSAC