Collective agreements for financial, foreign service workers signed

Wage hikes, retroactive pay, extended benefits part of new contract

Collective agreements for financial, foreign service workers signed
To date, 34 tentative agreements have been reached with bargaining agents, 17 of those agreements cover groups of employees in the core public administration for which the Treasury Board is the employer, says the government. Shutterstock

The Government of Canada signed collective agreements with the Association of Canadian Financial Officers (ACFO) and the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO) on Aug. 1.

These agreements — which cover over 6,200 employees in the FS and FI groups — are the first to be signed and ratified in this round of bargaining, says the government.

Taken together with other tentative deals, the government has reached 34 agreements that, if ratified and signed, will apply to more than 65,000 federal public service employees. The other tentative agreements are expected to come into force in the coming weeks and months once bargaining agents complete their ratification approval process and both parties sign the agreements, says the government.

Changes to existing agreements or new provisions include economic increases, retroactive pay, and extended parental benefits, which will become effective according to agreed-upon timelines and new measures to make agreements easier to implement and to compensate employees who do not receive retroactive payments or salary increases within agreed-upon timelines, says the government.

As well, new provisions for caregiver leave and 10 days of paid leave to help victims of domestic violence are in effect as soon as the agreement is signed, says the government.

“These signed agreements mark a very important milestone for this round of bargaining. Through respectful, good faith negotiations with public service bargaining agents, we have reached agreements that offer employees fair wage adjustments and other provisions that reflect today's work environment,” says Joyce Murray, president of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government.

To date, 34 tentative agreements have been reached with bargaining agents, 17 of those agreements cover groups of employees in the core public administration for which the Treasury Board is the employer, says the government.

 

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