Minutes of the National Union-Management Consultation Committee (NUMCC) Meeting

BETWEEN
THE UNION OF TAXATION EMPLOYEES AND
THE CANADA REVENUE AGENCY
HELD ON JUNE 6, 2013

OPENING REMARKS

Mr. Andrew Treusch, Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency chaired the meeting and began by welcoming everyone.

The Commissioner stated that both he and the Deputy Commissioner were committed to open and ongoing dialogue with their union counterparts. He recognized the value of the union as a partner and the importance of consultation in building an atmosphere of trust and respect.

He acknowledged that the Budget announcements had created challenges that tested relations between Union and Management. He recognized that, cumulatively, the last few budget announcements had meant a significant reduction in the Agency’s budget dollars resulting in consequences to FTEs, and committed to do his utmost to minimize the impacts to employees. There had been much success working within the Work Force Adjustment provisions to protect, to the extent possible, the majority of employees. Through the strategic use of vacancy management, the Agency had been able to place or present a guarantee of a reasonable job offer to 86% of the employees that had been affected by workforce changes since 2012 in the 2012-2013 fiscal year. When voluntary departures were added, the resolution rate rose to 89%.

The Budget 2013 announcements affecting the National Capital Region (NCR), that is Headquarters and part of the Ontario region, impacted approximately 600 positions. At the time the announcement was made to the Agency’s employees, fully 70% of the positions were already vacant or would become vacant through natural attrition. Management would continue to work with the job placement process to try to place employees affected by the measures.

The Commissioner stated that Budget 2013 was important for the Agency as it offered a number of tools and measures aimed at upholding the integrity of the tax system. Some of the highlights included a package of initiatives that would allow CRA the ability to more successfully tackle international tax evasion and measures to close tax loopholes and thereby further uphold the tax base.

He was pleased to hear of the collaborative tone and the assistance that the Union provided in the April meetings with employees. He went on to acknowledge the role of the National President, and his colleagues, in the Budget 2013 briefings and thanked them for their genuine concern for the Agency’s employees. He also commended Bill Blair and his colleagues in Headquarters for the support that was provided to their members.
The Commissioner noted that since the last National Union-Management Consultation Committee (NUMCC) meeting, there had been constructive engagement and discussion on a number of important files, which took place throughout 45 ad hoc meetings. He encouraged everyone to continue the good work and maintain the established process for addressing problems at the local and regional levels. Open discussions permitted everyone to work toward the common goal of a healthy and productive workplace.

The UTE National President agreed that times had been tough, especially for the unions and employees. He was extremely displeased with Mr. Clement’s comments regarding civil servants and the apparent lack of respect for those who work in the public service. He noted that the backbone of the CRA was its dedicated employees and asked that the Commissioner stand up for these employees and issue a positive statement in support of CRA employees.

He also recognized that changes within the Agency were occurring at a fast pace and creating negative impacts. The example raised was that of the changes to the management reporting structures across the country and the impact on the grievance process. As the grievance process was protected in the collective agreement discussions were required before implementing changes to the process.

Overall, there was a general feeling of anger on the part of the many unions and their members toward the government and the measures that were being taken. UTE would be boycotting National Public Service Week again this year and encouraging their members against participating. The National President asked Management not to force employees to be involved in the events taking place.

The National President stated that the rumours circulating regarding tax centre closures were causing stress for their members. He asked that Management work to find ways to help quell the rumours and offer employees some peace of mind.

He also thanked the Commissioner for sending some of his staff to deliver presentations at UTE’s Mental Health Conferences. The Agency was well represented and the presentations by EAP were excellent. The Union and its members appreciated the Agency’s participation.

The National President stressed that the relationship that they had cultivated with the Agency over the years was important. It was much better for the two parties to work together rather than against each other and while there were some problems, the Union-Management relationship was solid. That said, the National President had some concerns regarding the current state of consultation and stressed that information provided to the Union in advance allowed them to play a positive role in assisting employees as changes occurred.

He thanked the management team for attending the meeting and stressed the importance of the face-to-face NUMCC meetings.

The Commissioner responded by stating that he felt as accountable to employees as the Union. He cared about the employees and the National Public Service Week was one way of thanking employees for their hard work. While employees would not be coerced into participating in the activities taking place, the Commissioner would encourage employees to attend.

As to the concerns raised with respect to the changes on the reporting structure and the impacts on the grievance process, the Commissioner recognized that it was a serious matter and that the UTE had a legitimate concern.

With regard to the issue of rumours, the Commissioner was making efforts to ensure that correct messages were communicated to employees via email and his personal discussions with employees.

SHARED SERVICES CANADA

Management stated that the SSC-CRA transition plans began in September 2011 and that the transition activities were now close to being completed. Ongoing service delivery would be managed through the established SSC-CRA IT governance and process touch points that had been established to maintain SSC-CRA Business / IT Infrastructure alignment.

Since the update provided at the last NUMCC meeting, the SSC-CRA IT Governance Framework had been finalized and signed, and the Operating Protocol for 2013-2014 had been completed and would be signed shortly. Although the necessary mechanisms were in place to govern the relationship, continuous process improvements and further refinements were necessary. As an example, additional fine-tuning was required for the regional IT Support model.

Both the Commissioner and the Chief Information Officer continued to attend their respective committee meetings with SSC and bilateral meetings with the SSC President were held as required. An Issues Management process had also been developed where issues requiring escalation would be reviewed at various governance forums internally within the Agency and at joint SSC-CRA formal and informal executive forums.

CRA continued to be fully engaged in the SSC’s transformation initiatives which included email transformation, data centre consolidation, and telecommunication services.

The Memorandum of Understanding for the delivery of HR services by the CRA on behalf of the SSC expired on March 31, 2013; however, on January 26, 2013, the Agency was successful in transferring its former employees to the SSC payroll. The employees were now fully integrated into SSC’s HR regime.

Given the fact that the transition to SSC had been completed by most measures, this would be the final briefing for the committee. Updates would continue to be provided, via ad hoc meetings with ITB, as changes arose.

The Union agreed with the closure of SSC as an agenda item.

DEFICIT REDUCTION ACTION PLAN

As a result of the Budget 2012 initiatives, 706 UTE members had been declared affected and as of June 3, 2013, 118 situations remained outstanding. The Agency continued to work at finding opportunities for those employees and had been quite successful in finding placements for those employees who had received a Guarantee of a Reasonable Job Offer (GRJO). In fact, prior to the last announcements on May 29, 2013, of the 1,000 employees previously on the Preferred Status list, only 44 remained.

Management’s objective was to ensure that GRJOs were offered whenever possible. Not only would this ensure that the WFA provisions were respected, it would enable the Agency to retain those employees with the required skill sets. When GRJOs were not possible, options would be provided to employees. Management recognized alternation as a key element in the options process and stressed the importance of its promotion by both Union and Management. They asked the Union to keep them apprised of any employee requests for alternation so that the parties could work together to find a successful resolution.

Management would continue with its commitment to share the list of surplus, preferred status and affected employees; the last of which was last shared on March 18, 2013.

The Union noted that CRA had done a good job in handling the budget reductions that it had faced, more so than any other department or agency. Still, the reductions created pressures for employees as they struggled with doing the same amount of work with fewer people. In terms of alternation, the Union noted that it was not well publicized within the Agency and suggested that more be done to make employees aware of alternation when access to options is provided. The Union also asked about the status of the term moratorium.

Management advised the Union that the term moratorium would be discussed with the Human Resources Committee and that an update would be provided once a decision had been made.

BUDGET 2013

Management stated that in terms of tax measures, this budget was the largest and most significant for tax administration in the last few years, with over 50 measures related to CRA responsibilities.

With regard to small businesses, the new services profiled included easier third party authorization, the ability to see Assessments/Reassessments notices online, and the extension of the hiring credit for small business.

A second piece that was profiled heavily in the Budget was the Scientific Research and Experimental Development program (SR&ED). The Budget recognized the work that had been done within Agency to ensure that people could access the program and receive the proper entitlements. Some of the measures contained in the Budget included additional outreach for new applicants and tax preparer identification. Unlike many other measures in the Budget, there was a commitment of $20 million to fund these two initiatives.

A third measure was centred on international tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance and would provide CRA with access to a significant amount of information collected by FINTRAC through financial institutions. Effective in 2015, the measure would provide the Agency with information regarding funds that were going off shore.

Additional measures included the launch of a whistleblower initiative which was also focused on offshore international tax evasion and tax avoidance. Individuals using the whistleblower initiative would receive a payment from the Agency in cases where the information led to the recovery of monies offshore related to tax evasion. There were also improvements to the T1135 form and an extension to the reassessment period with respect to information gathered in the form. The final measure pertained to unnamed requirements that would make it easier to obtain information from third parties about individuals who may be involved in activities offshore. Approximately $15 million was provided to the CRA in relation to these measures.

There were also quite a few measures regarding tax loopholes and integrity of the tax system, as well as the first time donor super credit for charitable donations. Lastly, there was a revenue commitment of an additional $550 million annually commencing in 2014-2015 and moving forward, that was expected to be achieved by improving audit program effectiveness.

Management stated that with regard to the financial aspect of the Budget, there were many initiatives aimed at controlling direct spending. These included measures to reduce travel costs, specifically additional oversight of travel authorization, promoting alternatives to travel, reducing spending on travel by five percent, and dedicated SSC funding to improve the Government’s telepresence capacity. The 5% reduction in spending translated to approximately $2.2 million for the Agency. In addition, Budget 2013 announced a targeted review of the CRA’s headquarters operations which identified ongoing savings of $60.6 million per year at maturity. At the same time, CRA was anticipating new funding for the extension and expansion of the Hiring Credit for Small Business.

The Budget was clear in stating that the savings measure would have no negative impact on the Agency’s service to Canadians, its compliance activities, nor the security of taxpayer information. The Agency Transformation team and the AC Steering Committee would continue to ensure that proper governance was in place and that the progress of the proposals was in parallel with the DRAP measures.

The Union was of the belief that the changes taking place were impacting the service to Canadians. They were also still awaiting a response from the Privacy Commissioner on their complaint regarding the storage of taxpayer information with external third parties.

Management indicated that the Budget also announced the consolidation and standardization of software procurement for end-user devices for federal employees. While this change would see an annual savings of $8.7 million beginning in 2014-2015, it would enable faster standardization, reduce costs, strengthen security, and improve the productivity of public servants. CRA planned to strategically position itself by getting involved with the project teams as soon as possible. This would allow the Agency to leverage its proven track record and to influence the strategies and plans developed.

The Government would also build on the efficiencies resulting from the creation of SSC and shift from 63 separate email systems to a single, secure, reliable and cost effective email platform. This built on SSC’s efforts to consolidate the number of data centres from over 300 to less than 20.

For the CRA, the targeted review represented a reduction of approximately 600 positions in the NCR over a three year period. Analysis indicated that there were approximately 10,000 CRA employees working in the NCR and each year approximately 500-600 positions were vacated through attrition. With this in mind, Management believed that the Agency was well positioned to implement the necessary reductions with approximately 70% of the reductions being managed through vacancy management and attrition.

With regard to UTE, 191 affected letters were issued to employees represented by the bargaining agent. Of these, 75 employees would be retained. Retention exercises were underway and Management expected to have more information on the result of the exercises by the end of the summer; they would be in a better position to update the Union on the retention exercises at that time. A NCR Change Management Committee had been established to ensure that placement of affected employees was a shared NCR-wide responsibility.

The Commissioner noted that there were many service delivery changes taking place that would allow the Agency to provide better service while at the same time improving efficiency by using new technologies. The success of the T1 tax season with e-Delivery was a good example of an improved and cost effective service method.

The Union stated that they would have liked to have been more involved with the Budget 2013 discussions. There was also a genuine concern for the SP-01 employees impacted by the changes to record storage.

CONSULTATION

The Union stated that they had noticed a decrease in Union–Management consultation. Instead they were often briefed after decisions had been made. The Employment Equity Governance Model, Staffing Policy Simplification, and ITB announcements were raised as examples of issues where little or no consultation took place. Briefing after decisions had been made did not allow for consideration of the often positive suggestions made by the Union. Not only did the lack of information sharing and discussion reflect badly on the union, it also made it harder for them to respond to questions from employees and quell rumours. The National President asked for a commitment from Management to resume consultation on issues and requested advance notice of messages to employees.

The AC, HRB noted that it was important to ensure that all parties had the same understanding of consultation. She committed to reviewing the consultation framework to ensure that it included the necessary touch points and most importantly, that steps were in place to close the loop after consultations were complete and decisions had been made. Management would also look at sharing senior management announcements in a different manner to ensure that the Union received them on a timely basis.

The Union hoped that with the suggested changes, the parties would get back on track regarding consultation.

The Commissioner acknowledged the Union’s concerns and stated that it was something that he took seriously.

TAX SERVICES OFFICE AND REGIONAL PROGRAM MANAGEMENT CONSOLIDATION

The Union stated that changes resulting from Tax Services Office (TSO) consolidation throughout the regions had resulted in confusion and cross over among the union’s locals and regional vice presidents. The Union had a structure that worked for them and asked that Management continue to respect the union structure in terms of local Union-Management meetings. The Union stressed the importance of addressing local issues at the location they occurred in order to find the best resolution. They also noted that each local office had issues unique unto itself.

Management stated that there were many changes taking place and it was important to ensure a consistent approach across the country. They noted that while TSO consolidation would not result in any office closures, the management structure would change. The changes were being rolled out across the country as the timing made sense. It was important to Management to ensure that the various workforce committees were maintained as the changes took place.

The Union responded that they wanted to ensure that the treatment of the locals remained the same and that there was consistency across the country.

AWARENESS: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS AND DISCIPLINE MEASURES

The Union was concerned with the process by which employees were asked to review their obligations under the Code of Ethics and Conduct on an annual basis. They believed that the majority of employees agreed to the terms of the Code without fully reading or understanding its contents. The Union asked that training be offered to employees that would improve their understanding of what they were agreeing to sign and that sufficient time be allotted to allow employees the time to read the material.

In addition, when disciplinary measures arose, many employees were not aware of the information contained in the Discipline policy nor of the recent changes to it. The Union noted that it had been informed that training regarding the changes to the table of disciplinary measures would be offered to managers. They asked about the type of training and if it would be possible for the union’s regional vice presidents to attend the training as well.

Management stated that as the Agency moved away from a paper world, the way it communicated with employees was changing. While there was an expectation of electronic communication, the changes created challenges. The AC, HRB noted that there was a Union-Management meeting scheduled for June 10, 2013, to discuss the discipline policy and suggested that the Union raise its concerns at the meeting.

Management stated that the Agency planned to increase communication to employees and ensure that there was a good understanding within the Agency of the need to protect taxpayer information.

STAFFING POLICY SIMPLIFICATION PROJECT

Management stated that one of the objectives of the staffing policy simplification project was to simplify the policy suite of documents making it easier for employees and managers to use. Once the project was complete, the current 50 documents would be reduced to 1 policy, 1 directive, 2 procedures, and staffing guidelines. The key element would be the directive which would outline the steps necessary for staffing.

The policy had been approved and work was continuing on the procedures.
A key piece requiring additional work was recourse. The goal was to ensure that employees and managers understood recourse and the measures available in the staffing processes. The AC, HRB would meet with her team to discuss roles and responsibilities as well as the appropriate mechanisms for any additional consultation on the matter.

The Union stated that it was the first time that they had heard that the simplification project was about simplifying the documentation rather than the process and asked for confirmation that they would be consulted on any changes to the process. They also asked that the National President, as well as the UTE Staffing Committee be involved in any additional consultations and that Management give serious consideration to the Union’s request to have a presence during the Individual Feedback stage of recourse.

Management noted that simplifying the staffing documentation created the platform to then simplify the process where it made sense to do so. Given that the goal was to be ready to roll the new staffing documents out to the field for late fall, any remaining consultations could have short turnaround times.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT REVIEW CYCLE

The Union was finding that certain branches and offices were not complying with the direction of the corporate policy instruments on performance management which identified the employee review cycle as being from September to August. Instead, some employees were being evaluated based on the MG cycle of April to March. The Union asked Management to confirm that the employee performance cycle was September to August and direct its managers to follow the direction of the corporate policy instruments. If changes were needed, they asked that Management first consult with the Union. They noted that, over the years, consultation on Performance Management had been excellent.

Management agreed that the employee cycle was September to August but noted that MGs were on the April to March cycle. The AC, HRB would discuss the matter with her colleagues and ensure that a message was shared highlighting the policy and the need for managers to comply.

PENSION

The Union noted that there had been significant problems with regard to the pension transfer, for the PSTAR employees in Ontario joining the CRA. The problem was the result of an actuarial rate change that occurred on November 1, 2012. Employees were not advised of the change and, as a result, were surprised by the significant changes to the estimated costs of the pension transfer. They realized that the CRA did not have control over the problem but noted that these were CRA employees stuck in a difficult situation.

Management stated that pension was managed through Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). The AC, HRB would send a letter to her counterpart at PWGSC to ask if they could provide any assistance. With privacy issues in mind, the AC, HRB was not comfortable in sharing the names of employees that the Union had identified. She noted that PWGSC might not have the authority to resolve the matter given the regulations in the pension act.

PROVINCIAL SALES TAX ADMINISTRATION REFORM – BRITISH COLUMBIA HARMONIZED SALES TAX

Management stated that at the last NUMCC meeting, it had shared that the transition of employees back to the province was taking place in two waves. In April 2013, 30 of the 31 UTE members from Vancouver Island and the mainland TSO rejoined the province; the remaining employee would return to the province in March 2014. The 15 employees that made up wave 2 would return to the province April 1, 2014.

Those employees who accepted positions with the province but wished to remain with the Agency, had been advised to continue to pursue appointment to other positions until their departure date.

Based on the information shared, this was the final briefing on this subject for the committee.

PROVINCIAL SALES TAX ADMINISTRATION REFORM – PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND HARMONIZED SALES TAX

Management stated that the PEI provincial employees would join the Agency in two waves. Wave 1 scheduled for April 1, 2014 would see 5 employees join CRA and wave 2, scheduled for April 1, 2015 would add another 14 employees. The employees were SPs and MGs and would be located in the Charlottetown Tax Services Offices and the Summerside Tax Centre.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

The Union stated that negotiations were an important part of the Labour Relations process and noted that during the last two negotiations Union and Management had a method for working with one another that had resulted in agreements that were positive for both sides. However, the current round of bargaining had been much more challenging and frustrating. The Union believed that the negotiator did not have a mandate to negotiate nor was he in a position to make decisions. The National President also noted that that were rumours circulating that he was intentionally attempting to delay bargaining. He emphasized that these rumours were not true.

Management stated that they had a clear mandate from the Board of Management and TBS, and were committed to work together with the Union, however; there were certain issues that were not always within Management’s power to agree upon.

The National President stated that the Agency had been very clear from the beginning regarding expectations pertaining to severance and reiterated their own position that they expected something in return if the severance issue was to be considered. They also confirmed that bargaining dates had been set for June, July, and September.

CLOSING REMARKS

Management stated that it was important to continue to work together with the Union in the best interest of the employees. In relation to this, the Clerk would be broadcasting a web cast at the end of the week on Blueprint 2020 and the future of the Public Service. He would be discussing an engagement process aimed at talking to public servants about the future of the Public Service. Management wanted to work together with the Union on any actions resulting from the Clerk’s message.

Management recognized the good work done by employees despite the challenging times and stated that Union and Management had to work together to ensure that Canadians saw the great work done by the Agency’s employees.

The Union thanked everyone for coming and participating in the discussions.