Sick leave, short-term disability and the coming round of bargaining

Collective Bargaining

May 5, 2014

It has come to our attention that Financial Officers in several departments have received communications from their deputy heads regarding sick leave and short-term disability.

While the employer has the right to introduce new benefits unilaterally, any changes to existing sick leave provisions defined in the FI Collective Agreement must be collectively bargained. Since bargaining for this round has not yet begun, no changes have been formally discussed or agreed to. As such, you are still free to use your accrued sick leave credits as necessary.

As we prepare for the next round of bargaining, we are well aware that sick leave and short-term disability will be on the table. We look forward to negotiating in good faith, the best arrangement possible for our community. Sadly, it seems as though the employer may be trying to undermine this by causing confusion or treating their preferred approach as a fait accompli before we ever sit down to talk.

We encourage the employer to bring their proposals to that arena as well rather than unilaterally taking action and risking the creation of overlapping or contradictory policies.

5/5/2014