Be 'realistic,' Brison tells Public Service
Unions warned bargaining must acknowledge faltering economy
Kathryn May
Ottawa Citizen
01 Feb 2016
Treasury Board President Scott Brison, whose federal negotiators meet with public service unions Monday, is warning that bargaining must be "realistic" in the face of Canada's deteriorating economic situation.
The Liberal government resumes collective bargaining this week, beginning with the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the biggest of the 18 federal unions. It's the Liberals' first session at the table since negotiations with the Conservative government dissolved in acrimony before the Oct. 19 election.
The two sides have already locked horns because the unions want the Liberal government to repeal Tory-era legislation that rewrote the rules for collective bargaining and, they maintain, greatly diminished their bargaining clout. So far, Brison has agreed to review the law but not to repeal it.
The big question, however, is the Liberal government's position on sick leave. Will it table a new proposal or pick up where the Conservatives left off?
The last government offer came from Tony Clement, Brison's predecessor. His take-it-or-leave deal hit two hot buttons that galvanized unions into signing an unprecedented solidarity pact. Clement wanted to eliminate public servants' sick-leave banks - a total of 15 million days socked away - and reduce their 15 days of annual sick leave to six.
While the Liberals promised a "new mandate" for bargaining, Brison, who says he is "hell-bent on not prejudicing" the talks, declined to discuss details.
"We are going respect the negotiation process and bargain in good faith," he told the Citizen.
"There are a number of issues ... but we will not be negotiating these agreements through the media or on the floor of the House of Commons. We will be doing it at the bargaining table in a respectful way with the public sector union negotiators."
But Brison's caution that bargaining must be realistic is a sober departure from the Liberals' apparent honeymoon with public servants, which began with election promises to restore respect and rebuild the bureaucracy after a decade of cuts and tension under the Conservatives. While the Liberals have clearly abandoned the Tories' hard-line approach, Brison is signalling he will be a tough negotiator.
The government is sympathetic to union demands for freer and fairer collective bargaining, but it also faces the prospect of a largerthan-expected deficit, falling oil prices and a worsening economy. It needs to keep in check the $45 billion a year spent on public servants' compensation in order to fulfil its other promises.
"As a government, we have a mandate to move forward with a very aggressive agenda and that agenda will focus on creating jobs and growth," Brison said.
"We also have a very tight fiscal situation, which we inherited from the previous government, and as such our ability to invest in jobs and growth requires us to negotiate realistically."
In contrast to the Tories, however, the Liberals' and unions' interests are aligned in many ways, which may bode well for reaching a deal.
The government needs an effective public service to pull offits activist agenda, and public servants want to be considered relevant again. They want to be collaborated with, asked for advice and used to gather evidence for policy-making.
At the same time, the unions will be hard-pressed to win public support - and some say even that of their members - if they end up in a dispute or strike against a popular government that already has set a new conciliatory tone by unwinding some Tory-era legislation that was felt to erode workers' rights.
"Going on strike against Justin Trudeau is a whole different thing from striking against Stephen Harper," said one longtime bureaucrat. "The public will have no sympathy for striking public servants."
Public servants are well-paid and enjoy generous benefits compared with many Canadian workers, which the Conservatives adeptly exploited to win public support as they tried to save money by taking a whack at public servants' pensions and benefits.
"The last government defined the public service as the problem and this one wants to make the public service part of the solution," said one union official.
Clement's sick-leave reforms took aim at absenteeism, suggesting that public servants - who typically take 12 days of sick leave a year - are malingerers who abused their sick leave. When the unions refused to make concessions on sick leave, Clement passed legislation to unilaterally impose a new short-term disability plan to replace the existing regime.
Contrast that with Brison, who says he is looking for "opportunities to modernize sick leave." Unions have long argued that the problems with the existing sickleave regime can be fixed without replacing it and have offered a list of ideas for a new government to consider.
Whatever the proposal, the Liberals' fiscal plan banked on the $900 million the Conservatives had booked in savings for 2015-16 by eliminating sick-leave banks. Without it, the savings will have to be rolled back and added to the government's deficits.
The unions have long argued the $900-million saving was "mythical" accounting.
Public servants are entitled to 15 sick days, but it is part of their salary and they aren't replaced when they are sick. They can't cash out unused sick leave, and most retire with months of banked leave, which disappears with them.
But sick leave isn't the only issue.
The unions have made unconventional bargaining demands, such as bringing integrity back to government science, and improving transparency, health and wellness in the workplace. The Liberals promised to deal with these during the election.
There is also the issue of wages. The Tories tabled the same raise it gave executives - a 0.5-per-cent increase for last year and 0.5 per cent for this year. MPs gave themselves a 2.3-per-cent raise and senators got 2.7 per cent. Every oneper-cent increase in wages would cost about $450 million a year.
SICK LEAVE BATTLE
The Conservative government argued the existing sick-leave plan, which dates back to 1923, is outdated and out of sync with modern practices. Existing sick leave plan: Public servants get 15 days of fully paid sick leave a year. They can carry over any unused days from year to year. They typically take about 12 days a year, banking the rest. There are about 15 million unused sick days currently banked. Waiting period: If they fall ill, they have to wait 13 weeks (65 days) before they can go on long-term disability. Those who have banked sick leave can use it to bridge this waiting period, or they can collect employment insurance.
The Conservative Proposal: The accumulated sick leave regime would be replaced by a short-term disability plan with more focus on prevention, case management and rehabilitation to get the sick and injured earlier care and back to work faster.
Sick Days: Employees would get six "discretionary" days a year and could carry over two of any unused days. They face a five-day waiting period with no pay before they can apply for short-term disability. They can use vacation or other leave to cover the waiting period but can't use their banked sick leave.
They must also give a case management worker access to their medical records and meet the definition of "totally disabled" to qualify for short term disability.
Short-term disability: Typically covers employees for 26 weeks, offering graduated incomes that begin at 100 per cent of salary and drop offthe longer employees are offwork. Long-term Disability Plan: This plan kicks in after the term for short-term disability is up for employees who are still ill. Employees typically collect 70 per cent of their salaries until they return to work or up to age 65 if they can no longer work.
Banked sick leave: Employees' sick leave banks would disappear by 2017.
Contract: Sick leave would no longer be part of employees' collective agreements.
What the Liberals will propose is not known.
