Union News December 2020
On November 13, 2020, the recently ratified collective agreement was signed by the members of the Union of Taxation Employees’ bargaining team along with members of the Canada Revenue Agency’s bargaining team. Effective on that date all provisions contained in the newly negotiated contract came into effect.
This article will highlight some of the changes in the collective agreement focusing on new articles, as well as articles where changes have an impact that members should be aware of. It is not an all-inclusive list and subsequent newsletter articles may highlight additional revisions.
This is not meant to be a legal interpretation, but rather the intent of the clause from our perspective. As we have seen from time to time, clauses in our collective agreement seem to be interpreted differently by the employer when compared to the union’s view.
We also want to provide our members some directions or suggestions relating to what information we believe that you should provide when requesting leave under various provisions of the collective agreement. This will hopefully minimize problems that members occasionally face when requesting leave.
Lastly in some instances we will include the full text of the new or revised collective agreement clause or alternately we would ask that members review the information that will be available on the UTE website (www.ute-sei.org) under Bargaining.
ARTICLE 42 – Leave with Pay for Family Related Responsibilities
42.01 For the purpose of this clause, “family” is defined per Article 2 and, in addition, a person who stands in the place of a relative for the employee whether or not there is any degree of consanguinity between such person and the employee.
This is one of two significant changes in Article 42. The first change means that for most clauses in Article 42 where a reference is made to family, the member can have access to leave granted under this clause for persons who are not defined as family as noted in Article 2. It is our opinion that under clause 42.02 all situations listed should qualify. It will be interesting to see how the employer, from their perspective, interprets these changes.
When requesting leave in the above-noted situation it is suggested that you advise your team leader or manager that the leave is being requested under 42.01 advising it is for a medical/dental appointment, care of a sick individual etc. and that it is for someone not defined as family per Article 2. It is the union’s opinion that no other personal information is required.
The second change removes the cap of seven decimal five (7.5) hours from 42.02 (h) to attend school functions, if the supervisor was notified of the functions as far in advance as possible.
Please be aware there is still a cap of 7.5 hours to meet with a legal, paralegal, financial or other professional representative.
A final reminder, the total maximum amount of leave with pay that can be granted under Article 42 remains at forty-five (45) hours in a fiscal year.
The change in 42.01 also affects the following clauses.
ARTICLE 41 – Leave Without Pay for Care of Family
There is speculation that leave without pay will be granted in a similar manner as it would be for members defined as family under article 2. However, these matters need to be reviewed and resolved between the UTE/PSAC and CRA negotiators. More information to follow.
ARTICLE 46 - Bereavement Leave with Pay
The inclusion of the above-noted language into Article 46 provides employees a one-time access (for the employee’s total period of employment in the public service) to seven (7) consecutive days of bereavement leave for an individual not deemed family under Article 2.
Other changes
We will now cover several unrelated changes or additions to the collective agreement.
Article 2 - Interpretation and Definitions
The definition of family now includes stepbrother, stepsister, daughter-in-law, and son-in-law.
Article 28.03 - Assignment of Overtime Work
28.03 Assignment of Overtime Work
a) Subject to the operational requirements, the Employer shall make every reasonable effort to avoid excessive overtime and to offer overtime work on an equitable basis among readily available qualified employees., and
b) endeavour to allocate overtime work to employees at the same group and level as the position to be filled. (NEW)
The newly added language above aims to ensure that the employer will attempt to assure that employees who are qualified and at the same group and level will be considered prior to offering overtime to employees at higher levels.
Article 43 – Leave Without Pay for Personal Needs
The previous collective agreement afforded employees the opportunity to take 2 periods of leave without pay during their career; up to 3 months of leave without pay as well as a separate period of leave of up to one year. The revised contract wording allows this opportunity to employees now twice in their career. The proviso is that any second requests for either 3 months or one-year leave must be taken no earlier than 10 years from the end of the previous request period.
Article 46 - Bereavement Leave
46.03 At the request of the employee, such bereavement leave with pay may be taken in a single period of seven (7) consecutive calendar days or may be taken in two (2) periods to a maximum of five (5) working days.
46.04 When requested to be taken in two (2) periods,
a. The first period must include the day of the memorial commemorating the deceased or must begin within two (2) days following the death, and
b. The second period must be taken no later than twelve (12) months from the date of death for the purpose of attending a ceremony.
c. The employee may be granted no more than three (3) days’ leave with pay, in total, for the purposes of travel for these two (2) periods.
The new articles quoted above are self-explanatory and provide members the opportunity to take their bereavement leave in 2 separate periods which provides added flexibility for our members.
New article – Article 44 - Domestic Violence Leave
There is a new article going to be included in the collective agreement on the matter of domestic violence leave. We invite the reader to review the article, as it is fairly lengthy, we will just highlight some of the details.
For the purposes of this clause, domestic violence is considered to be any form of abuse or neglect that an employee or an employee’s child experiences from a family member or someone with whom an employee has or had an intimate relationship.
There is a total of 75 hours leave with pay available to the employee in any fiscal year. The article lists a number of reasons leave may be required such as receiving counselling, relocation either temporarily or permanently. This leave does not have to be taken in a single block and can be taken in increments meeting the needs of the employee up to the maximum as noted above.
New article – Article 60 - Call Centre Employees
60.01 Employees working in call centres shall be provided five (5) consecutive minutes not on a call for each hour not interrupted by a regular break or meal period.
60.02 (a) Call monitoring is intended to improve performance by providing guidance and feedback to the employee.
(b) When the Employer makes reference to a call recording, upon request, the employee will be given access to review the call recording that is being referred to.
60.03 Coaching and development feedback resulting from call monitoring shall be provided in a timely and meaningful fashion.
One of the most meaningful improvements with the inclusion of this article in the collective agreement is a recognition that call centre agents are employed in a particularly high stress work environment. Employees will be provided with 5 consecutive minutes not on a call for each hour, where there is not a scheduled coffee break or lunch break.
Article 34.05 - Scheduling of Vacation Leave with Pay
The last article to be discussed highlights changes made under Article 34 as it relates to the scheduling of vacation leave.
There are large number of changes agreed to that are very positive for employees making vacation leave requests. Amendments were made to recognize the differences and challenges between most CRA workplaces and call centres in respect to vacation scheduling. Years of service will also be considered to ensure annual leave is available to as many employees as possible during the summer months.
The previous collective agreement under 34.05 (b) (i) had a requirement that employees submit their leave requests for both summer and winter vacation by prescribed dates. It also included timelines with respect to the employer responding to such requests.
This is been removed in its entirety for all employees other than those working in call centres and replaced with the wording shown below. (New provisions relating specifically to call centres will be discussed later in this article.)
34.05 (9b) (i) In cases where there are more vacation leave requests for a specific period than can be approved due to operational requirements, years of service as defined in clause 34.03 of the Agreement, shall be used as the determining factor for granting such requests. For leave requests between June 1 and September 30, years of service shall be applied for a maximum of two weeks per employee in order to ensure that as many employees as possible might take annual leave during the summer months.
ii. The Employer shall not cancel an employee's vacation leave once approved in writing due to an employee with more years of service, as defined in clause 34.03 of the Agreement, requesting the same period.
iii. The Employer shall respond to vacation leave requests within fifteen (15) days of when requests are submitted.
This means that vacation requests can be submitted at any point in time. As stated above if more requests have been received for any specific period than can be reasonably accommodated, years of service may be applied as a criteria in granting any leave. It does further state however that once an employee’s request for leave is granted in writing it cannot be rescinded. It also puts the onus on the employer to respond to any employee’s vacation leave request within 15 days.
Vacation Leave Scheduling for Call Centre Employees
The process in place for vacation scheduling in call centres remains basically the same as written in the previous collective agreement as it relates to built-in timelines for submitting vacation requests. Employees will have to submit their annual leave requests for the summer and winter leave periods on or before April 15th and September 15th, respectively.
The new provisions as mentioned above for non-call center employees:
- consideration of years of service,
- cancelling of vacation leave requests once approved, and
- responding to vacation leave requests within 15 days, will also apply to call centre employees.
There are many additional changes to the collective agreement, all of which improve our members rights or improve on work life balance. These include maternity/parental leave without pay, personnel selection leave and changes to the work force adjustment appendix, to name a few. Please take the time to read and learn about all the improvements negotiated during this round of collective bargaining.
We hope this article has provided members with some better insight on some of the significant changes negotiated in the last round of collective bargaining. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is not meant to be a legal interpretation but rather a guide to assist you when dealing with matters relating to the collective agreement. As always, should questions arise, please contact your local executive for assistance.
Gary Esslinger
Chair of the Communications Committee
and Member of the Bargaining Team