EC Bargaining

The Signing of the EC and TR Collective Agreements



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New EC Collective Agreement (Expires June 21, 2022)



August 28, 2019



It's official! The EC and TR collective agreements were signed earlier this afternoon at Treasury Board.

Both tentative agreements were reached with the Employer in June after months of negotiations and were put to the vote shortly after.

“The negotiations have had their challenges” said Greg Phillips CAPE President. “The employer and members of the bargaining teams worked tirelessly to come to a timely agreement, and we are glad to see this coming to fruition today.”

As of today, the new provisions are in effect with the usual exception of pay. Please take note that special provisions were negotiated in the current round to address the matter of the implementation of pay for the retroactive period and for the adjustment of pay scales.

The new EC provisions can be found here on CAPE’s web site.

The new TR provisions can be found here on CAPE’s web site.

The new collective agreements should be available soon on the Treasury Board web site.

CAPE President Greg Phillips, Assistant Deputy Minister of Treasury Board Sandra Hassan and bargaining teams from both sides were present at the signing of the collective agreements.

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Here are the codes used in connection with retroactive payment and provides an explanation for each. See Appendix B.

You can also read and upload your new collective agreement in on the Treasury Board website.

About collective bargaining

Collective bargaining has a rich history of paving the way for better working conditions for all Canadians. Unions lead the way for better working conditions for their members, and others follow. Collective bargaining is a member-driven process. Our bargaining team members negotiate on behalf of the membership and based on the membership’s input. When a tentative agreement is reached, our members will be the ones who will be asked to vote on whether or not to approve the deal.

Bargaining updates

We publish updates after each bargaining session and whenever major developments arise. Keep an eye on this page for regular updates! Here's our latest updates:



July 18 - CAPE’s Economics and Social Science Services group vote in favor of a new collective agreement

June 28, 2019 - EC & TR tentative agreements: time to vote!

June 26, 2019 - CAPE signs Phoenix Damage Agreement with Employer

June 5, 2019 - PRESS RELEASE :CAPE reaches tentative EC collective agreement with Treasury Board

June 2019 - PARENTAL LEAVE AND ALLOWANCE: Main Changes (for ECs and TRs)

May 31, 2019 - EC Bargaining Update

May 17 - CAPE accepts government offer to compensate members for Phoenix damages

May 15 - FAQs: Phoenix Offer

April 3, 2019 – EC Bargaining Update

March 20, 2019 - EC Bargaining Table Update – March 20, 2019 *

February 1, 2019 - EC Bargaining Update

November 14, 2018 - EC Collective Bargaining Update - Results from CAPE EC Member Survey

July 11, 2017 - Here are the codes used in connection with retroactive payment and provides an explanation for each. See Appendix B.

May 24, 2017 - The text of the new EC collective agreement

May 24, 2017 - Signed! New EC and TR collective agreements in effect

May 11, 2017 - What happens on May 24 after the EC and TR collective agreements are signed?

May 11, 2017 - Information on retroactive pay for EC and TR retirees

March 27, 2017 - Treasury Board-issued rates of pay (PDF)

March 24, 3017 - Signing of collective agreementes delayed because of Phoenix

March 13, 2017 - 97% voted to ratify the tentative agreement

March 1, 2017 - Professional integrity

February 17, 2017 - Memorandum of agreement in support of employee wellness

February 7, 2017 - Highlights of the EC Tentative Agreement

February 6, 2017 - Economic increases – clarification and context

February 6, 2017 - The complete text of the tentative agreement (PDF)

February 2, 2017 - Other important achievements in the EC tentative agreement

January 26, 2017 - CAPE reaches a tentative agreement with Treasury Board

January 10, 2017 - Mediation tentatively set for the EC group at the end of January

December 22, 2016 - CAPE agrees to mediation

December 21, 2016 - CAPE has declared an impasse. Here’s why.

December 20, 2016 - Impasse reached: CAPE will request third party binding conciliation

December 2016 - EC bargaining team back at the table on December 20

December 2016 - Talks at a critical stage

November 2016 - Report on EC and TR bargaining at the CAPE 2016 AGM

September 2016 - Progress made at the bargaining table, but still not at the finish line

August 2016 - CAPE opts for binding conciliation as the new dispute resolution mechanism at the EC and TR tables

July 2016 - EC and TR teams opt for a return to arbitration

June 2016 - The Treasury Board mandate remains unchanged – Conservative-era offers still on the table under the new government

March 2016 - Bargaining resumes with the tabling of a modified short-term disability plan proposal

June 2015 – Treasury Board falls short with their plans

April 2015 - More questions than answers during the last round of negotiations

January 2015 - Data requested by CAPE on October 1st tabled by the employer

Previous updates

Sick leave

Sick leave has certainly been the most discussed topic during this bargaining round. Our members have told us loud and clear how they feel about the employer’s attempt to claw-back our sick leave. Our goal is the same as yours: we want to make sure that the collective agreement protects our members so that they have full income replacement when sick with no waiting period.

Here are some of our latest updates on sick leave:

March 2016: Bargaining resumes with the tabling of a modified short-term disability plan

September 2015: Treasury Board returns to the table with a new-ish proposal on sick leave and short-term disability

December 2014: Treasury Board submits their proposal for sick leave with pay (PDF)

September 2014: Employer’s original sick leave proposal (PDF)

September 2014: Employer’s original short-term disability proposal (PDF)

June 2014: A first look at the Treasury Board’s proposal for a short-term disability plan

Our proposals

Back in March 2014, CAPE surveyed the membership to find out what their priorities were at the bargaining table. This insight helps our bargaining team craft a series of demands that they bring to the bargaining table. It also helps to know where to concentrate our efforts, based on our members’ priorities. Following the 2015 federal elections, CAPE surveyed the membership a second time in January-February 2015 to find out whether our members’ priorities had changed given the important shift in government. This second survey allowed us to craft a new demand, pushing for professional integrity to be codified into our collective agreements.

CAPE’s proposals – complete package (PDF)

Proposal on: Vacation leave with pay

Proposal on: Employee performance review and employee files

Proposal on: Telework

Proposal on: Pension

Proposal on: Long-term disability

Proposal on: Office design

The employer’s proposals

Here are the original proposals we received from Treasury Board. After the election of a new government in 2015, the parties agreed to keep each other’s proposals confidential until they are ratified at the table. Members, of course, will be kept informed of the content of these proposals when the time comes for them to vote on a tentative agreement.

June 2014 – Treasury Board’s proposals - Complete package (PDF)

Treasury Board’s proposals on: sick leave (PDF)

Treasury Board’s proposals on: short-term disability (PDF)

Your bargaining team

Your bargaining team is made up of EC members just like you! Bargaining team members are volunteers, who work in the public service as EC employees and dedicate a great deal of their time to bargain on behalf of their colleagues. Additionally, each bargaining team also comprises a negotiator who acts as the CAPE spokesperson at the bargaining table. Ultimately, however, it is the membership as a whole that gets to accept or reject a tentative agreement.

The collective bargaining team’s role is to negotiate at the table with the employer and to discuss and approve bargaining strategies. The collective bargaining team can recommend that our union approve a tentative agreement or reject a final offer.

The collective bargaining committee, on the other hand, is a sub-committee of the national executive committee. Its role is to review members’ feedback and craft proposals based on that feedback. The committee can prepare additional proposals or refine existing ones at the request of the negotiator. In turn, the committee communicates the impact of these changes to the collective bargaining team.

Bargaining team members are selected among members of the collective bargaining committee. Any member can volunteer to sit on the collective bargaining committee, whenever a call for volunteers is issued.

Current bargaining team members

Other resources

Travel back in time

Are you looking for information from previous bargaining rounds? You’ll find them here, in our bargaining archive.

Questions?

If you have general questions, you can contact us at general@acep-cape.ca. If you have more specific feedback or questions aimed at your bargaining team, you can contact them at bargaining_negociations@acep-cape.ca.

Get the latest bargaining news – always!

We like to keep our members up to date on the progress at the bargaining table. We know you don’t check our website every day, but you probably are on Facebook and Twitter every day (so are we!). So follow us on Facebook and Twitter and you’ll never miss a beat!