The Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE) National office has been receiving a substantial number of emails and calls from Regional Vice Presidents (RVPs) and members concerned about the Correctional Services of Canada’s (CSC) recent strategy of designating employees working in sentence management and other employee groups as impacted and vulnerable but not deemed affected as per the Collective Agreement.
Due to the outlined concerns and the large number of queries USGE President Stan Stapleton placed this specific topic on the CSC- National Labour Management Consultation Committee (NLMCC) agenda of April 23. At the April 23rd meeting, CSC management outlined their plan regarding the sentence management positions and other employee groups they deem vulnerable and impacted.
The CSC plan consists of “assisting” some employees in the sentence management and other employee groups in finding new employment prior to being placed in a work force adjustment situation sometime in the future. The reason for this plan specifically for the sentence management positions is that they will be cut in the regions due to centralization of the sentence management services.
USGE certainly understands the CSC approach and has some reservations about CSC circumventing the collective agreement and in particular the Work Force Adjustment (WFA) article.
At this point, USGE is reminding members that accepting a lower paying position without having the protections of a workforce adjustment situation would not ensure salary protection for them. USGE realizes there are not that many AS-04 position in the regions and if members can find equivalent paying positions that is a viable solution for those members.
As always USGE is consulting with the Public Service Alliance of Canada on this issue. Stan will be keeping this topic as a standing agenda item in all future NLMCCs until the situation is resolved and finalized. And will ensure that communicating with members is a top priority.
If you have any questions, concerns or additional information on this subject please contact your local President or USGE Regional Vice-President for assistance.