Nav Canada members' bargaining begins

Your bargaining team has started the bargaining process.  We met with the employer for four days last week.  We will be working to improve and strengthen your collective agreement.  Here is a short summary of the issues that your union has put on the table:

• Wage increases
• More vacation leave sooner
• Language allowing employees on leave without pay to get their lieu leave more easily
• Improvements to bereavement leave – wider definition of family
• Extend the 93% top up to parental leave
• Introduce of one personal day and one volunteer day per year
• Allow employees to opt for more flexible hours
• Improvements to overtime compensation and the overtime meal allowance
• Improvements to travel time, giving one half hour of leave for each of the first 50 nights away, then one   hour of leave for each additional night
• Introduce a new premium for travel with short notice from the employer
• Improvements to the standby rates
• Language to tighten up the staffing procedure
• Introduction of language on telecommuting
• Improved information to ensure that all employees know their union rep
• Small improvements to help your union reps represent you in the workplace 

The employer has brought the following issues to the table.  We don’t have a lot of detail on a number of their proposals. We don’t necessarily know where they intend to go on these issues, but the things that they are proposing include: 

• Reduce costs for the pension plan
• Discuss hours of work  for those who work outside of core hours
• Consolidate overtime, call back, standby and reporting pay
• Review the Departure Incentive Program
• Discuss acting pay 
• Discuss some results of the classification arbitration award

We spent the week talking about the non-monetary issues on the table.  We have made some progress on these issues, and we’ll be back in May, when we will start to talk about the monetary issues.  

Our ability to get you a strong agreement depends on your support for your team.  Please stay informed through the process and don’t hesitate to get in touch with any of your team members if you have questions.  

Your bargaining team:

Mike McCullough, negotiating team member
Michelle Timmerman, negotiating team member
Chris Warning, negotiating team member
Michelle Webster, negotiating team member
Dave Clark, UCTE RVP, Pacific Region
Seth Sazant,  PSAC Negotiator
David-Alexandre Leblanc, PSAC Research Officer