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The union is also proposing the principal investigators or the “inventors” be consulted on where the money should be invested. If the inventors have left government, a department’s joint union-management “consultation team’ could decide.

Treasury Board had an awards policy for “innovators and inventors” that was aimed at encouraging scientists to commercialize their work by letting them share in the proceeds of their discoveries. That policy was rescinded in 2010 and it’s unclear how departments are handling awards and rewarding their inventors.

As part of its proposal, the union wants all departments to annually submit a list of awards given to scientists, as well as the amount of money directed to the departments’ research.

The union will be making the same proposals for employees it represents at the National Research Council when they go to the bargaining table after Christmas. NRC researchers have a long history of inventions, from the black box for aircraft to the pacemaker. In 2012-13, the NRC generated intellectual royalties and fees worth about $8.5-million.

The request is clearly pushing the boundaries of traditional collective bargaining with demands to deal with the ongoing spending cuts in science and “interference” in the integrity of scientific work.

This latest proposal comes on the heels of an unprecedented demand last week calling for contract changes to promote “scientific integrity” in government, including the right of muzzled scientists to speak freely and forbidding political interference in their work.

That’s when the 7,000 members of the union’s applied science and patent examination group presented Treasury Board negotiators with two packages — one for “scientific integrity” and another for professional development of scientists. The union also wants those proposals included in researchers’ contracts.

The Conservatives have made a significant shift to business-driven research which many federal scientists worry is being done at the expense of research that only government will do — particularly the collection of long-term data, enforcement and regulatory science.