CAPE reaches tentative agreement for EC members with Treasury Board

Ottawa - The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) announced today that a tentative agreement has been reached with the Treasury Board Secretariat for the Economics and Social Science Services group, also known in the federal public sector as the EC group.

Close to 24,000 CAPE members belong to the EC category and stand to gain from this new agreement, which brings significant improvements to the EC collective agreement, refining benefits in areas such as pay, leave and working conditions.

The bargaining team had been negotiating with the Employer since March 2022. Negotiations had come to an impasse in February 2023 and arbitration dates had been set for this June, but both parties agreed to return to the table last week.

“These negotiations have been long and challenging,” said CAPE President Camille Awada “Some of the key issues for our members were sticking points throughout the process, but the CAPE bargaining team held strong on those priorities until they felt a fair deal was reached with the Employer. We are pleased to see this tentative agreement come together after hard work on both sides of the bargaining table. I want to thank the members, staff and the bargaining team who worked so long on this.”

As required by CAPE’s by-laws, EC members will be voting to ratify or reject the tentative agreement in the coming weeks. Webinars with more information will be scheduled prior to the vote to explain more details of the tentative agreement and give members a chance to ask questions. On Thursday, May 11, the collective bargaining committee met and voted to recommend the terms of this tentative agreement to the membership.

>>General highlights of the agreement:

The new agreement includes the following pay adjustments:

3.50% effective June 22, 2022;
1.25% wage adjustment effective June 22, 2022;
3% effective June 22, 2023;
0.5% pay line adjustment effective June 22, 2023;
2% effective June 22, 2024;
0.25% wage adjustment effective June 22, 2024;
2% effective June 22, 2025.

This represents an immediate increase of 8.25% and a total increase of 12.5% over four years (13.14% compounded).

The bargaining team also secured a $2,500 pensionable allowance for all our members no matter if they are part-time or full-time employees.

The bargaining team was also able to secure the following provisions:

• Letter of Agreement on Telework: better protection of members from arbitrary decisions about remote work, through the creation of a joint departmental panel which, within 90 days, will submit recommendations on grievances to the deputy head for decision. The Association has also agreed to create a joint committee to review and update the Directive on Telework.
• Addition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to the designated paid holidays and adjustment for part-time workers.
• The threshold for accessing four weeks of vacation now drops from eight years of service to seven; and years of service worked from Parliamentary institutions will now be recognized for vacation purposes.
• Bereavement leave is expanded to include the deaths of aunts and uncles.
• 15 hours paid and 22.5 hours unpaid leave per fiscal year for Indigenous employees to engage in traditional Indigenous practices.