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Message to all Court Clerks - BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU)


We are writing as a follow up to previous communications about several specific issues raised by members who are Court Clerks.
 
We have examined the bargaining history and spoken to the Public Service Agency (PSA) to confirm several issues and we want to share this information with you. We appreciate your patience as we gathered this information.
 
As you know, under the terms of the new collective agreement, Court Clerks are entitled to:

  • MOU 21 - Effective April 1, 2022 grid level 13 are increased to 15 and grid level 11 are increased to grid 12 
  • MOU 22 - Effective April 1, 2022 – Court Clerks R11 will receive an additional two-grid TMA to grid 15

 
Some members have advised us that they have not received the appropriate increase. As one example, it appears that some members who were Court Clerks at the grid 13 level received a notification that they feel they were demoted to grid 12 and then received a TMA to grid 15. As well, some members have raised concerns about the impact if the TMA is removed by the employer in future.

     1. Interpretation of Court Clerk 13s being "demoted" to grid 12 with a TMA to grid 15. 
 
By way of history, MOU 24 was negotiated into the collective agreement in the 17th agreement in 2014. The agreement was that effective October 1st, 2017, Court Clerk R11 will be grid 13. Therefore, the Court Clerk R13 was a negotiated outcome, and not an actual reclassification. MOU 24 was deleted in this round of  bargaining.
 
The Court Clerk job is still officially tied to the Court Clerk benchmark job. The PSA would not agree to reclassify the job to a higher grid level, and thus although it was bargained to be paid at grid 13, it remained classified at grid 11, now a grid 12 due to completion of appendix N completion in this round of bargaining. 
 
It is unfortunate that some of this history was not provided to impacted members, when the TMA was implemented last month but this history shows how we got to where we are today.
 
   2. What happens if the employer removes the TMA from my position?
 
What will happen if the employer decides at some point in future to remove the TMA for Court Clerks has been an issue many members have raised.
 
The Collective Agreement in MOU 22 [4] says:
 
Except in cases of temporary appointments and substitution pay, an eligible regular employee in receipt of a TMA will continue to receive the TMA should it be discontinued as long as they remain in the position and the principal duties of the position remain unchanged.
 
We have confirmed with the PSA that this language applies to Court Clerks as is outlined in the language. Basically, if you stay in the position, the TMA will apply subject only to the limitations noted above. The BCGEU has also negotiated language in the MOU to ensure that these payments are pensionable and will be included in all calculations involving base pay such as overtime.
 
MOU # 22 is available for download here.
 
We hope this information helps to provide the background on how the TMAs apply to Court Clerks.
 
In solidarity,

Maria Middlemiss, Vice President, Component 12
DJ Pohl, First Vice President, Component 12



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