As of our last collective bargaining update, the ACFO team had walked away from the table in frustration with an understanding that our December bargaining dates were quickly approaching “make or break” time.

Since then, ACFO representatives have had ongoing discussions with senior officials at Treasury Board and while our formal bargaining dates were moved from this week to the week of December 19, we are increasingly optimistic that our discussions are beginning to bear fruit.

Specifically, we are encouraged by the direction that discussions have taken regarding sick leave. As most of you know, ACFO first introduced the idea of a comprehensive disability and wellness program several years ago during an earlier round of collective bargaining. Our mandate is and has always been to find ways to improve coverage for employees who are too sick to work.

We believe we are close to reaching an agreement on this important issue that would protect the current sick leave regime in the short term while setting the parameters for ongoing discussions on a better wellness program for members in time for the next collective bargaining round. We have also been in discussions with other likeminded bargaining agents who share our confidence on this issue.

There is still more work to be done to reach the agreement that the FI Community deserves but the ACFO Bargaining Team is confident that we will finally have meaningful discussions on several key issues at the table in the coming weeks.

We look forward to providing a more substantial update following our formal bargaining dates on December 19-21.

If you have any questions, please contact Grant Boland at gboland@acfo-acaf.com.