Union of Taxation Employees
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
 Pacific Region Local 20027

 

   

 
   
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Welcome to the Current News Page.
 

 

Subscribe to our email tree !!!Should any Local 20027 Member wish to be included in the local's own email tree please email to vancouverinfo@bcute.org.  

We have the following items of interest linked below:

  1. Subscribe to receive UTE Bulletins
  2. SP Classification - What is the Union position?
  3. Bill C-257 - Anti-Scab Bill will maintain civility during any labour unrest.  Tell your MP!
  4. Pension Surplus Litigation Trial - Is Your Pension a Cash Cow for the Canadian Government?
  5. 2008 UTE Convention in Vancouver.
  6. Other News Resources.

 

  1. Subscribe to UTE's Email Update Service!

Click on the link below to receive emails to keep current with UTE announcements:

UTE's Email Update Service

 

  
 

 

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  1. Status of the Employer's SP Classification
 
There has been expressed concerns of the new job classifications currently being implemented at CRA. 
Please become more familiar with the process and pay particular attention to the accuracy of the new job descriptions.
 
 

"SP is SERVICE PROGRAM, the new Classification Standard for all those members who are currently under the Program Delivery and Administrative Services.
This is everyone covered under the collective agreement except the MG group.

Lysanne M. Gauvin, Assistant Commissioner, Human Resources Branch has advised us via email that the employer is proceeding with the implementation of the new classification standard. One of their first steps is to roll out the new SP Short Work Description Format.  This can be seen as a positive action. This will allow Union and Management to resolve the issues of job content without a conflict regarding classification and/or pay.  The Employer in discussions with the Union has decided the Short Format will be rolled out by the Team Leaders with the assistance of a Union and Management SP Contact Person. Every Office has identified a Union SP Contact and a Management SP Contact.  These individuals were trained together and will be jointly responsible for training all the Team Leaders in their respective locations.  These SP Contacts will also be available to answer any questions regarding the new short format.

The employer expects that all Team Leaders will be trained by mid November, and the work descriptions will be available for distribution to all employees by January 31, 2007. 

The work descriptions will not look the same as those of the past. The employer’s intention is to write the description of our duties to the four factors identified in the Canadian Human Rights Decision on Pay Equity, as opposed to the current format of writing exactly to the classification standard.  

One major consideration for all is the description; although it will be written in the new format it will still remain classified under the old standard.  The employer can not proceed with classifying positions under the new standard until all consultations with the union are completed and the new pay bands are negotiated during bargaining.  UTE encourages all members to focus on the actual content of the new description, to ensure that it does properly reflect your duties. When the new standard is ready for implementation you will be able to focus on the classification not the content of your description."

Click on the following resources for more information:

  1. Anti-Scab Bill C-257

Bill C-257 is a Private Member’s Bill introduced by the Bloc MP for Gatineau, Richard Nadeau. It’s inspired by the anti-scab legislation currently in force in Québec, which prohibits employers from using strike-breakers during a strike or a lockout. On October 25, 2006 Bill C-257 passed second reading in the House of Commons, The second reading vote tally was 167 in favour and 101 opposed. The bill, if passed would amend the Canada Labour Code to make it illegal for employers to hire scabs during a labour dispute.

a.  Click on the following Internet Links below regarding this topic:

b.  Contact your MP to voice your support for Bill C-257- Click here to access the online petition

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  1. Pension Plan Surplus Trial Began on November 15, 2006

Your Government has helped itself to $30 Billion of Public Service Pension Funds.  Then it increased your pension contributions to mitigate any future fund shortfalls.  Canadian Unions have addressed this injustice in the Canadian Courts.  


How could this happen?  In 1999, our Employer simply enacted Bill C-78 to seize 100% of the actuarial surplus from a federally registered pension plan. 
The Act also gave the Government the authority to raise the mandatory employee contributions in case of a forecasted shortfall and to reduce or cease employer contributions if the pension fund accumulated a surplus in the future.  This authority was implemented in 2005 when our Employer imposed yearly increases in employee contributions rates for the next eight years.  This action of the government has directly affected 670,000 Canadian who serve or who have served this country. 

On November 8, 1999, Unions representing workers affected by the Act, employee associations and retiree groups filed a lawsuit against the federal government.  Despite the moral concerns and legal precedence set by the withdrawn funds, these actions by your Employer will be regarded by the Canadian Courts.  Note that the Federal Government is exempted from the Pension Benefits Standards Act, which limits employer access to any surplus in federally registered pension plans. 

What is the lawsuit about?

The following arguments will be laid out during the trial:

1.      The Government violated its legal obligation to use the surplus in the best interest of federal public sector workers and retirees.

2.      The Government’s action constitutes a breach of contract in that the pension fund is part of the terms and conditions of employment governing public sector workers.

3.      Since the active and retired pension plan members contributed in part to bring about the surplus, they are at least entitled to a part of it based equitably on their share of contributions.

4.      The Act discriminates against public sector workers under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 14, 2007

 

PSAC to appeal Federal Court pay equity decision

 

OTTAWA – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is taking a quarter century-old pay equity complaint to the Federal Court of Appeal.  The complaint involves about 6,000 current and former clerical workers at Canada Post.  The union is reacting to a lower court decision issued in February that essentially overturned an award made by a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in October 2005.

 

PSAC National President John Gordon announced the decision to appeal at a national bargaining conference being held in Ottawa with members of PSAC’s Union of Postal Communications Employees component who are employed by Canada Post.

 

“We believe the Federal Court’s decision is flawed and there are strong grounds for an appeal,” said Gordon.  “Some aspects of the decision are contradictory while others ignore the roles and authority of both the Tribunal and the Canadian Human Rights Commission.” 

 

Gordon assured the members that the union will continue fighting for pay equity. “We will continue our battles in court, whenever we need to.  But we’re also committed to working to have proactive pay equity laws enacted so that future generations of women will not have to wait decades for economic justice.”

 

The fact that this complaint is at the quarter-century mark was also not lost on the Federal Court justice who commented in his decision that the length of the Tribunal hearing alone was wrong, unreasonable and offended the public conscience.

 

“Unfortunately, as a result of this decision, PSAC members now will have to wait even longer for their pay equity adjustments and interest,” says Gordon. 

 

The Tribunal decision awarded approximately $150 million in adjustments and interest, half of what the union calculates was actually owed.

 

Canada Post had appealed the Tribunal’s decision within minutes of its being released in 2005.  PSAC then filed a cross-appeal against the Tribunal’s decision to discount the award by 50%.  The case was heard in 2007 and the Federal Court released its decision on February 21, 2008.  PSAC filed the original pay equity complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 1983. 

More resources on this topic:

  1. Click here for the recent court decision
  2. Click here for the PSAC response
  3. Click here for UTE's response
  4. PENSION SURPLUS TRIAL CONCLUDED-May 25, 2007

For immediate release                                                                        January 29, 2008

 

Unions and Associations of Employees and Retirees Determined to Win Their Pension Appeal Case

 

OTTAWA, January 29, 2008 – In conjunction with the Federal Superannuates National Association, the Armed Forces Pensioners’/Annuitants’ Association of Canada, the Association des membres de la Police Montée du Québec, the B.C. Mounted Police Professional Association and the Mounted Police Association of Ontario, eighteen bargaining agents representing all federal public service employees reached unanimous agreement at a meeting with legal counsel on January 23 to staunchly pursue their appeal of Justice de Lotbinière Panet’s decision [hyperlink to decision: http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2007/2007canlii50603/2007canlii50603.html ] in the pension surplus case.

 

They showed unequivocal determination in taking their pension surplus appropriation case to the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

 

The stakeholders are firmly resolved to win this case even if it means taking it to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary not only to rectify a flagrant injustice committed in 1999 by the government of the day, but also to prevent the Government of Canada and/or any other employer from abusing its authority so shamelessly ever again.

 

In a decision delivered on November 20, 2007, Ontario Superior Court Justice de Lotbinière Panet had dismissed the court challenge of the federal public service pension surplus dispute.

 

The eighteen bargaining agents, employees’ associations and retirees’ groups that together represent more than 300,000 members undertook this legal challenge in 1999, following passage of Bill C-78, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act that enabled the federal government to appropriate some 30.2 billion dollars from Public Service, RCMP and Canadian Forces pension funds.

 

The stakeholders are the following organizations:

 

Armed Forces Pensioners' / Annuitants' Association of Canada

Association des membres de la Police Montée du Québec

Association of Canadian Financial Officers (formerly known as the Association of Public

    Service Financial Administrators)

Association of Justice Counsel

B.C. Mounted Police Professional Association

Canadian Air Traffic Control Association, CAW Local 5454

Canadian Association of Professional Employees

Canadian Association of Professional Radio Operators CAW-TCA Local 2182

Canadian Federal Pilots Association

Canadian Merchant Service Guild

Canadian Military Colleges Faculty Association

Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada Local 588-G

Federal Government Dockyard Chargehands Association

Federal Government Dockyard Trades and Labour Council (East)

Federal Government Dockyard Trades and Labour Council (West)

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2228

Mounted Police Association of Ontario

Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers

Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada

Public Service Alliance of Canada

Research Council Employees’ Association

Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN).

 

 

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6.  2008 U.T.E. Convention to be held in Vancouver
 
In a close vote held at the June 2006 Executive Council, it was determined that the U.T.E. 2008 Triennial Convention will be held in Vancouver, B.C. What does this mean? This means that the 7 locals across BC will be very busy helping to prepare for the convention, being on the host committee, and doing all kinds of other jobs in preparation for this event. This is a very exciting opportunity for the U.T.E. locals in B.C. to show off their province and communities. Having the convention in our province may allow more of our BC members to participate as observers and on the host committee due to it's closer proximity.

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7.  Other News Resources

UTE Publications

PSAC News Releases

PSAC Publications

Canadian Labour Congress News

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