According to Pay Equity legislation, positions with similar duties and responsibilities, similar qualifications, similar recruitment practices and same compensation are grouped together as one job class.
From there, the Skill, Effort and Responsibility inherent in each job class and the working conditions under which the work is performed is valued and compared in a gender neutral way.
OPSEU represents two bargaining units within the OPS: Unified and Corrections. Under the Pay Equity Act, each unit is responsible for bargaining its own pay equity plan.
The OPS Unified Bargaining Unit is currently comprised of approximately 500 job classifications with positions ranging from Artisans to Admins to Inspectors to Scientists and Economists.
The Unified Bargaining unit began the process of developing a revised pay equity plan, pursuant to Appendix 34 of the collective agreement, and the parties have developed a Terms of Reference outlining the parameters of the project.
Under the agreements two committees were established: a Joint Steering Committee (JSC) and a Joint Working Group (JWG). Each have different and defined responsibilities. The following members have been appointed to the committees:
Joint Steering Committee (JSC)
Members: Amanda Usher, Daryl O’Grady, and Heidi Steffen-Petrie
Staff: Len Elliott, Kathleen Demareski, and Ayla Davey
February 8, 2023
October 18, 2022
September 16, 2022
August 10, 2022
May 11, 2022
April 13, 2022
February 9, 2022
September 8, 2021
July 14, 2021
May 12, 2021
April 14, 2021
March 10, 2021
February 10, 2021
February 12, 2020
December 10, 2019
Joint Working Group (JWG)
Members: Daryl O’Grady and Leslie Aiston
Staff: Ayla Davey
Since September 2019 the Joint Working Group has been working hard reviewing the current job classification system and have reviewed approximately 330 different classes, which comprised over 3500 job descriptions. Further analysis will be required of the employer’s job classification system.
Since the development of the Joint Committees, the parties have also developed a Gender Neutral Comparison System (GNCS) tool to rate job classes and a Position Information Questionnaire (PIQ) to solicit relevant job information from our members.
In September 2021, the JWG paused their work while bargaining commenced. Now that the new collective agreement has been ratified, the JWG has returned to this project.
We are currently in the Testing Phase of the GNCS and PIQ and want to ensure that these tools have the ability to measure the scope, diversity and complexity of job classes across the Unified Bargaining unit.
JWG Update (as of May 18, 2023)
The Joint Working Group has been working diligently since September 2019 to update the Unified Pay Equity Plan.
Since that time we have reviewed thousands of job descriptions, developed a Gender Neutral Comparison System (GNCS) tool to rate job classes and developed a Position Information Questionnaire (PIQ) to solicit relevant job information from our members.
We have tested the GNCS and the PIQ to ensure that the tools will be able to measure the scope, diversity and complexity of the more than 400 job classes across the Unified Bargaining Unit. We have tried to make the PIQ as user-friendly as possible and be AODA compliant.
We are now about to roll out the initial 500 questionnaires to our members. Members will receive an email indicating they have been chosen to participate in the questionnaire and will be provided an opportunity to sign up for training.
This is your chance to have your say!
The PIQ will be used to collect information about what our members actually do in their jobs. This information will be used for Pay Equity, but will also be used by the employer to update all job descriptions.
This is a historic event! The last time this information was collected was more than 30 years ago! Under Pay Equity, every job class will be surveyed – we are looking to survey over 8000 members – and we need your help!
Our members are rarely provided the opportunity to tell the employer what their actual duties are – under this project they do! Appendix 34 commits the employer to update our classification system following the completion of Pay Equity. They have committed to using the information collected in the PIQs to update and modernize the job descriptions.
We need our members to complete these PIQs to ensure that fair evaluations are done on all job classes.
Please take the opportunity to have your say! When in doubt – fill it out!
Unified Pay Equity: Position Information Questionnaire (PIQ) Launch
Employee Overview: Pay Equity Maintenance Position Information Questionnaires (PIQ)
Manager Overview: Pay Equity Maintenance Position Information Questionnaires (PIQ)
Pay Equity is a long and involved process, and we appreciate your support and patience as we work through it.
Stay tuned to this webpage for further updates. Should you have any questions, please email them to unifiedpayequity@opseu.org.