This is the final edition of Lock Talk for the 2021 Round of Bargaining. The majority of items have been implemented at this time, and any further communication regarding implementation issues will be communicated through Local Presidents.
Wages and Retro Pay
The updated wage grids have now been implemented for Correctional Bargaining Unit members. The full salary schedules can be viewed here:
- OPSEU/SEFPO COR Salary Schedule 2021-2024
- OPSEU/SEFPO COR Nurse Classification Salary Schedule (Excluding Nurse Practitioners) 2021-2024
- OPSEU/SEFPO COR Nurse Practitioner Salary Schedule 2021-2024
All classifications except nurses received their retroactive pay earlier this year (March to June), with inactive employees receiving retroactive payments in June.
All Nurse classifications would have received initial pay increases for January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2023, earlier this year with other employees (March to June). More recently, all Nurse classifications were placed at the 2024 pay rates on the July 4th pay date, with retroactive payments on the July 18th pay date. The Employer has identified a small number of nurses that were missed by OSS who will have their pay adjusted and retroactive pay on the August 1st pay date.
All inactive Nurses will have their retroactive payments on the August 1st pay date.
After the August 1st pay date, should you have any concerns regarding missing pay please log a ticket with OSS by email or by calling 1-888-996-7772 or 416-915-7772.
LTIP Retroactive Payments
The Employer has confirmed that they have provided all updated salary information to Manulife for the processing of updated payments and retroactive payments for employees on LTIP. The targeted completion for all LTIP adjustments is September 3, 2024. Should you have any questions, contact Manulife directly at 1-877-481-9169.
WSIB Retroactive Payments
The Employer continues to work with WSIB on implementation of the new salary schedule and any retroactive payments owed.
Experience Credit for Nurses LOU
The Parties continue their discussions regarding implementation of the new Letter of Understanding on Experience Credit for Nurses. A reminder that the deadline for submissions has been extended to 90-days after the date of implementation. This will ensure that all current Nurse employees will have sufficient time to submit their claims once the Employer finalizes their process. Any Nurses who are granted additional credit for experience under this new LOU will receive a subsequent retroactive payment to their date of hire or December 4, 2023 – whichever is later.
Once the Employer finalizes their process, additional information will be disseminated to all Nurses. In the meantime, it is recommended that anyone anticipating they will make a claim collect documentation to substantiate their prior experience.
Military Service Leave
This item had been referred back to the Parties by Arbitrator Kaplan. An agreement on the final language was reached on March 6, 2024, and can be reviewed here. This language will be included in the updated Collective Agreement.
Recruitment and Staffing – Articles 6 & 56 and Appendix 39
Arbitrator Kaplan had awarded the Employer’s proposal for competition reach backs changing reach backs from the closing date of the posting to the conclusion of the competition. However, he had remitted compliance tracking back to the Parties to resolve. After exploring several different options for compliance tracking, the Parties agreed that it would be simpler for all involved to amend the allowable timelines for competition reach backs based on the closing date of the posting, rather than the conclusion of the competition. The full agreement can be reviewed here. The Parties agreed to a three (3) month extension on the existing timelines.
This means that as of June 17, 2024, the Employer may reach back to competitions under Articles 6.1.2.1 and 56.1.2 for seventeen (17) months following the closing date of the posting and for competitions under Appendix 39 for up to twenty-one (21) months following the closing date of the posting.
Benefits Booklet
The Employer has updated the benefits booklet in compliance with the Kaplan award. The updated Benefits Booklet can be reviewed here.
Psychological Benefits
The Parties remain in dispute over the interpretation of the Kaplan award’s language on the elimination of session caps for psychological benefits. The Employer has maintained their position that they are supporting the insurance carrier’s (Manulife) application of a “reasonable and customary” cap per session for these benefits. The Union’s position remains that the arbitration award eliminated any and all session caps. As this is a language interpretation issues, our legal team recommended proceeding to the Grievance Settlement Board to resolve this issue. Two policy grievances have been filed and are moving through the grievance process.
If you have encountered this issue, it is also recommended that you file an individual grievance and appeal through the Joint Insurance Benefit Review Committee (JIBRC).
Updated Collective Agreement
The Parties have started the editing process to update the Collective Agreement. Once finalized, an electronic version and printed copies shall be made available.
Final Thoughts
Despite a number of obstacles facing the 2021 round of bargaining, as a division we managed to achieve several significant gains during bargaining:
- A 9.5% across the board wage increase over 3 years, with an additional 1% for Correctional Officers and Probation Officers. At the start of bargaining, we were limited to 3% over the same time period due to Bill 124.
- Wage parity for Nurses with ONA/OHA hospital worksites.
- Improvements for psychological, vision, and paramedical benefits.
We achieved all of this while fighting back against the Employer’s proposals that attempted to rollback fixed-term scheduling, impose further limitations for compensating time off, change the definition of overtime, and penalize sick workers.
Our current Collective Agreement expires later this year on December 31st. With the new Bargaining Team elected back on June 8th, training is scheduled in September to prepare for the upcoming round of negotiations.
Have your say in the demand set process by completing the Bargaining Survey by 5pm on September 3rd using this link. A reminder that Special Case submissions are also due by 5pm on September 3rd, 2024. You can review the form and instructions using this link.
In solidarity,
Janet Laverty, Bargaining Team Chair
Adam Cygler, Bargaining Team Vice-Chair
