Civil Service Bargaining Update: Union and Employer Agree to Creation of an Arbitration Board.

On November 16, 2021 the union and the employer attended a case management conference before the Labour Board where the parties sought the Board’s approval to convert the NSGEU’s request for arbitration pursuant to ss. 23(1) of the Civil Service Collective Bargaining Act to a joint request for arbitration by the UNION and the Employer.  The Labour Board has agreed to allow the request to be now treated as a joint request for an arbitration board under ss. 22(1) of the Civil Service Collective Bargaining Act.

All parties have agreed to a three person arbitration board being appointed and the Board will follow up with the Union and the employer regarding the establishment of the arbitration board.

There are still a number of outstanding items to address:

• Article 20 – Standby and callback
• Article 21 – Vacations
• Article 32 – Travel Regulations
• Article 38 – Pay Provisions:
• Rates of pay
• Step adjustment (CL, PR, TS)
• Pay equity (CL)
• Shift & Weekend Premiums
• Acting Pay
• Retention incentive (twenty-five (25) years of service)
• Article 44 – Term of the Agreement
• Appendix 11 – Work from home programs

Your Bargaining Committee appreciates your solidarity and support through this process.

Please watch for updates and share this information with your coworkers. If they haven’t received this email, let them know they should contact the union to confirm their email address.

If you have any questions about bargaining or the bargaining process, please contact a member of your Bargaining Council below. You can also call the NSGEU at 1-877-556-7438 (toll-free) or inquiry@nsgeu.ca.

Your Union Negotiating Council (UNC):

Clerical (CL)

Chair – Tammy Gillis, Local 2 – tammygillis@eastlink.ca

Vice-Chair – Sherry Dennis, Local 7 – sherry424@hotmail.com

Professional (PR)

Chair – David Brewster, Local 4 – david.brewster@novascotia.ca

Vice-Chair – Scott Hart, Local 8 – scott.hart@novascotia.ca

Technical (TS)

Chair – Hugh Gillis, Local 480 – secretarytreasurer@nslabour.ca

Vice-Chair – Holly Martin, Local 17 – holly.martin@novascotia.ca

Chief Negotiators:

Odette MacLeod, NSGEU Servicing Coordinator, omacleod@nsgeu.ca

Jim Gosse, NSGEU Servicing Coordinator, jgosse@nsgeu.ca