Under the Community Subsector Collective Agreement seniority is to be accrued by straight-time hours paid as defined in Clause 11.1 Seniority Defined. However, there are groups within the Community Bargaining Association (CBA) who have continued to accrue seniority by date of hire.  During the last three rounds of bargaining the Health Employers' Association of BC (HEABC) and the Employers proposed moving to a single method of accrual, and the CBA agreed to do this.

The parties spent many months trying to agree on, first, what the language in MOA #22 meant, and then how the conversion would be made. The UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) believed that "a standard approach to the calculation of employee seniority" could and must include the maintenance of their date of hire system and/or credit for full time hours for every member on a date of hire system.  We did not agree with either position as we believe it would have had a significantly negative impact on the vast majority of members in the sector should there be any interaction between certifications. We insisted upon a method to convert date of hire seniority to straight-time hours paid in a manner that was fair to everyone who might be impacted by the change – both the members who are on date of hire and those who have always accrued seniority based on straight-time hours paid.  The HEABC and Employers remained firm that they wanted one method of accrual – the one in the Collective Agreement. No agreement could be reached so the matter went to arbitration in front of Arbitrator Joan Gordon in the spring of this year.  Ms. Gordon issued a decision dated May 4, 2016 that sets out how the conversion will be made.

The decision included:

1. Seniority will be calculated on a straight-time hours paid basis.
2. The employees having their seniority converted will not receive full-time hours for every year of employment.
   1. They will be credited with sufficient hours to maintain their seniority ranking on the date of hire seniority list with a minimum of one hour between them.
   2. In addition, each employee will be credited with 8.5 hours seniority per month of employment to a maximum of 20 years of service.

Ms. Gordon also set out a process to be used that will see the BCGEU, as the lead Union within the CBA, making the conversion.  Each Employer is required to provide a seniority list to the CBA and the respective Union by September 30, 2016.  The Unions will confirm the accuracy of the lists with their members and advise of any disputes.  A process to resolve the disputes in a timely manner is in place.

By April 24, 2017 the Employers are to provide the CBA with corrected and up-to-date seniority lists. The BCGEU will perform the conversion and must provide converted lists to both the Unions and Employers by May 5, 2017. These lists will be checked by both the Unions and the Employers.  In the event of a dispute regarding the conversion a process is in place to resolve the issues by May 31, 2017.

When agreed as accurate all converted seniority lists will be signed off no later than June 21, 2017 by the individual Union, the Employer, HEABC and the CBA. On July 1, 2017 a new seniority list will be published by each Employer who previously had employees on a date of hire system.

In Solidarity

Deb Wilson

Staff Representative

Download PDF of notice here.

UNIFOR467/MoveUP