6 June 2003

Meeting Report

Old Business

ID Card for Retirees - MARLANT has investigated this issue and has developed a report that was reviewed by RAdm Davidson who has agreed that retired civilians should also be afforded the same privilege as the military. RAdm Davidson also indicated that they are willing to commit the appropriate funds for the processing of the cards.

Designations - Consultations for Tables 1 and 3 are currently underway with a deadline date of 30 Jun 03. The information for Table 2 will be out shortly. It was queried whether CFHA had been provided the same direction as the Environments since it appeared in some areas that CFHA managers were provided different direction on their role of consultation. Diane McClusker will contact CFHA.

New Business

Term Conversion - Implementation of the Term Policy that came into effect for the Department 01 Apr 03 has resulted in 457 rollovers, 347 of which were UNDE members. Of these positions, only two appeals have been recorded to date, one in Atlantic area and one in CFHA, while no grievances have yet been reported. (Click here for presentation in PDF format.)

Pre-Qualified Pools (PQPs) - DND's submission was presented to the Commission first week of March. Concerns raised by the Commission indicated that the project was too ambitious, required fine-tuning on the language and was lacking an external recourse mechanism. If DND can make the necessary corrections by mid Jun, it is expected that a final decision will be made by mid Jul. Since 95% of the targeted population are located in NCR, it is expected that DND's submission will be changed to limit the PQP to a specific area and specific classification.

Employment Systems Review (ESR) - The consultant Barbara Herring & Associates have completed the ESR and provided a brief presentation of their findings. The presentation reveals that after visiting 14 locations, a total of 429 DND employees (no breakdown of which Bargaining Unit members belonged to) and 38 CF members were interviewed. There was also a review of Human Resources policies, documents, competition files, and a re-analysis of the 2002 Public Service Employee Survey. Findings from these efforts report that DND is not seen as an employer for civilians (EE Group members feel that DND only employ military), that Bona Fide exclusions (Canadian Citizenship, security clearances, bilingualism) and selection bias for military knowledge were definite barriers for Aboriginal and Visible Minorities. Lack of physical access, attitudes (disabled = unable) and belief that fair treatment = same treatment, were barriers for Members with Disabilities. Lack of consistent access to flexible working hours, physical nature of work, challenging work environments, harassment, hostility and that Military setting gives perception that work environment seem more male-oriented are barriers for Women in non-traditional jobs, which need to be addressed in order to reduce the high turnover. Other barriers included a lack of understanding, a lack of management accountability, a lack of training for military managers with civilian employees and that treatment of civilians is similar across Groups and Commands with a notable difference between NCR and other regions (i.e. more career advantages for civilians in NCR than other areas). There were a number of key recommendations that include working with DND to develop a business case that will include communication strategies, training and education, updating HR Policies, and developing a more positive work environment. One comment of major concern was that the consultant's data gathering revealed that Stereotyping was an issue that should be considered a top priority. In fact, the consultant identified that most comments were so derogatory that they were not comfortable including those comments in their report.

The ESR report is now being translated and once available, copies will be provided to unions. In the meantime, an Executive Summary has been compiled and will be provided to unions end Jun.

Civilian Performance Planning and Review Process - A presentation was made regarding the direction the department is taking on changes to the Civilian PRR process. (Click here for presentation in PDF format.) Recognizing the difficulties associated with the completion of the Civilian PRR form, the lack of tracking methods to determine how many are being completed and the manner in how many forms are completed, DND, with the assistance from Sister Mary Chamberlain and reps from other unions has developed a new policy that will be complete in the near future. Since it is expected that this may take some time to implement, DND has agreed that there will be ongoing consultation with all stakeholders as well as information sessions and training.

Minister's Advisory Committee - Jon McClure from this section provided us with an update on the activities that the Committee have been undertaking. The $800 million new money that was allotted in the 2003 Budget does come with strings attached, that being that DND must find the $800 mill for re-allocation. The Advisory Committee has been mandated to review the administration side and not the operations side in three phases: Defining the Scope, Conducting meetings and briefings to collect data and finally the Analysis of the data. The five areas that will be looked at will include Organizational Structure and Governance, Procurement, Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT), Infrastructure and HR Management for both mil and civ (i.e. appointments, hirings etc). Finally, a website on the Intranet has been established to allow employees (mil and civ) to submit suggestions and or recommendations.

HR Modernization - Although Bill C-25 has not received royal assent, DND has developed a plan of action on implementing the changes that will come about once the Bill is carried. It is expected that changes to the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA) will be incorporated in 2004 while changes to the Public Service Employee Act (PSEA) will be incorporated in 2005. Implications of this bill on PSLRA include articles that obligate employers to develop frameworks around issues such as Consultation, Co-Development, negotiation of Essential Services (designations), Recourse tools such as ADR, the ability to submit group grievances as well as the ability to address specific departmental issues through Two-Tier Bargaining. Implications on the PSEA include the delegation of staffing directly to local managers, dealing with Appointments and Merit as well as Staffing Recourses (ADR). (Click here for presentation in PDF format.)

DND has established an HR Legislation Implementation Team of three people that will be responsible to review the Public Service Modernization Act and provide direction on the way ahead. Current thinking on priorities include Co-Development of Workplace improvements, developing policies and regulations as well as a Communication plan and a training plan to ensure all are aware and able to work with the legislative changes.

Alternate Dispute Resolution - Bill C25 dictates departments to set up, implement a dispute mechanism (i.e. ADR) and DND will be addressing this issue through the Conflict Management Program (CMP), and Dispute Resolution Centres (DRCs) that have been established throughout the country however, to date only 72% of the staffing requirements have been completed. The program covers all CF members, DND employees and members of the Canadian Cadet Organization (CCO). (Click here for presentation in PDF format.) The remainder of the presentation concentrated on the success rate of the CMP up to and including the amount of presentations made to the areas, outreach access points, various levels of ADR related training received by our personnel (military and civilian), the types of Interventions, nature of the Interventions and results of same that took place over the last year. The presentation also spoke to the plans that include ongoing training and educational presentations and to increase the awareness and support of the program.

HR Quick Serve - Although this was on the agenda, it was not dealt with however; a detailed slide presentation can be referred to. (Click here for presentation in PDF format.)

Union Issues - The issue of Suicide Intervention at MARPAC was discussed at great length due to the dramatic increase that was experienced over the last year, in particular, the availability of services to civilian employees at the Base or Formation level. At present, RA funding is limited and although RA's have obtained the necessary training, it must be recognized that they are not specialists and although there are various resources in the workplace available to the military side, civilians are not entitled to use those services. What is being recommended is that the RA's not be expected to take on work that they are not qualified for but that DND look at developing a policy that will allow civilian employees to avail of the same services available to the military (i.e. base hospital etc) when faced with an issue of this importance. A consultant will be hired to develop the framework and it was recommended that union involvement be encouraged.