Volume 8, Issue 4 • December 18, 2008
 

MPAC discovers nepotism!

Last month, staff at MPAC celebrated “Take Your Kid to Work Day.” But some MPAC managers do it every day.

The new MPAC Code of Conduct includes a special section on “Family and Personal Relationships (Nepotism).” The Code states that MPAC employees (i.e., managers) must not hire their relatives or try to get other managers to hire their relatives.

Who knew you had to write this stuff down?

“We applaud MPAC for finally acknowledging that nepotism has been an issue at the company for some time,” says Ivan Herrington, OPSEU chair of the Union-Management Committee (UMC) at MPAC.

“The UMC diligently brings forward instances of nepotism to management, and very little, if anything, is ever done about it,” he said. “The new section in the Code of Conduct is not worth the paper it’s written on. MPAC managers are still thumbing their noses at the policy on an ongoing basis.

“MPAC needs to make an example of a few miscreants and send a strong message to managers that nepotism will not be tolerated. The company certainly doesn’t hesitate to discipline or even fire OPSEU members for far less.

“A two-week suspension is not enough to send a message to corrupt managers,” he said.

MPAC should pay more attention to some of the sayings on its new screensaver, said Herrington. “The screensaver says, ‘It’s not only what we do, but also what we do not do for which we are held accountable.’

“There is far too much ‘not doing’ on this issue.”

Nepotism is an interesting issue for any union, as even workers hired by their parents become union members with a right to union representation.

“It is entirely understandable that some people who grow up in a household where property assessment is talked about might be attracted to the field,” said Herrington. “It is entirely possible that these people are perfectly qualified to work for MPAC.

“But it is not acceptable for managers to escort some candidates to the front of the permanent job line in defiance of fair hiring practices.”

Pension report offers hope

The Nov. 20 report of the Expert Commission on Pensions offers a ray of hope to OPSEU members who’ve been with MPAC 10 years or more.

The Mike Harris government transferred property assessment out of the Ontario Public Service at the end of 1998. Members moved out of the OPSEU Pension Trust (OPT) pension plan and into the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS). Under pension arithmetic, these members get less retirement income than if their years of service were all in one plan.

That could change if the Ontario government follows the Expert Commission’s advice. In his report, Commissioner Harry Arthurs recommends that “The government should promptly address the pension arrangements for groups of public service employees affected by past divestments and transfers….”

The McGuinty government is now seeking feedback on the report, which must be received by Feb. 27, 2009. The OPSEU Benefits Department is preparing the union’s response.

The Commission’s report, A Fine Balance, is available at www.pensionreview.on.ca .

BRIEFLY…

Hats off to Milner stewards

Members of the OPSEU leadership team at MPAC would like to tip their hats to the Local Executive Committee and all stewards working at our Milner head office. We all know the tough conditions you work under – we’re behind you all the way!

Two Milner stewards recently had mediation sessions to deal with grievances. In clear violation of past practice, MPAC only gave them a half-day off for the sessions. Standard practice has been to give the grievor a full day off.

OPSEU is taking forward an “anti-union animus” grievance for these two stewards. MPAC management has clearly targeted these individuals for their union activism.

And that’s illegal.

Key grievances head for arbitration in 2009

A longstanding OPSEU policy grievance into the unfairness of MPAC’s hiring process will be heading to arbitration in the early part of 2009. Exact dates will depend on the arbitrator’s availability.

The longstanding Valuation Analyst classification grievances will begin hearings before an arbitrator on April 20, 2009.

Grievance backlog shrinks

Since first taking office, the current OPSEU leadership team at MPAC has worked to reduce the number of active individual grievances from close to 1,000 to less than 25 (not counting classification grievances).

Successful mediation has been the key to settling so many grievances. OPSEU members on the UMC remind all local stewards to be sure to follow the steps in the collective agreement when filing grievances on behalf of members
 

MPAC canceling too many competitions?

MPAC is getting much too comfortable with canceling job competitions of late.

“If you’re posting jobs and not getting qualified applicants, maybe it’s because people don’t trust the hiring process,” says Ivan Herrington, OPSEU UMC chair. “More likely, however, qualified applicants are being denied jobs they deserve.

“Of course it’s also possible that MPAC’s succession plan is not really a plan.”

OPSEU members who apply for a job competition that is then cancelled should feel free to file a grievance – and keep management accountable.

Congratulations to MPAC on new newsletter

MPAC’s new employee newsletter, the Blueprint (which is, strangely, the title given to the Mike Harris campaign platform in the 1999 provincial election) is great – very much like FOX News!

While the Blueprint is an excellent sales brochure for the “97 by 2011” campaign, MPAC employees who like their news with a little less varnish should continue reading Impact.

MPAC apparently was not interested in having staff vote on The Other Three Per Cent as a candidate for the name.

Changing workforce a source of future strength

A changing workforce could be a source of new opportunities for the labour movement – if unions play their cards right.

That was the message from Karl Flecker, head of Human Rights for the Canadian Labour Congress, at a summit of 70 top OPSEU leaders Sept. 16.

As the current workforce ages, the workforce of tomorrow will consist largely of aboriginal workers, immigrants and newcomers, and young Canadians, Flecker said. Unions need to understand this more-diverse workforce – which will mean a more diverse membership – to survive and thrive in the years ahead.

The meeting arose out of a resolution at the 2008 OPSEU Convention. The resolution called on OPSEU to complete a “social map” and survey of the membership so that the union can get a better picture of the membership, identify gaps in services, improve succession planning, and improve bargaining, enforcement and organizing strategies in the years ahead.

A full report on the meeting is available on the OPSEU web site at http://www.opseu.org/Committees/equity/joint-leadership-meeting-2008-report.htm
 

Deep Thoughts

from Isenhower
 

The Smartest Plant in the Room

I think it goes without saying that I’m the smartest plant in the room. And I think people know that. So if I just keep saying it’s “Business as Usual,” who’s going to notice that they can’t get any work done with the computer system we’ve got? A snappy screensaver will have them so galvanized they’ll be doing all their work on an abacus anyway.

What are you doing for your anniversary?

OPSEU members who are new to MPAC won’t remember, but Dec. 31 is the 10th anniversary of the birth of our organization as a stand-alone company.

Initially called the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation, MPAC was created by the Conservative government of Mike Harris. Hundreds of OPSEU members were moved out of the Ontario Ministry of Finance, where we were direct government employees, to work for the new entity.

The last 10 years have certainly been a memorable and measurable journey, to borrow a phrase from the MPAC screensaver.

We’ve been divested. We’ve been downsized. We’ve been re-organized.

If we’d stayed in the Ontario Public Service, we’d be working for a Top 100 employer already, and those of us who have been around for a while would still have all of our service invested in a single strong pension plan....

The rumour mill has been grinding night and day on the subject of what we’ll be getting from MPAC as a 10th-anniversary gift. One unsubstantiated leak says some of us will get the new MPAC phase-in calculator pictured here.

The 10th anniversary falls on New Year’s Eve. Please celebrate responsibly. Happy Holidays!

Keep in touch!

To ensure a speedy response to your questions, your leadership team has divided up all MPAC offices in the province. If you have a question or a comment, please contact the member responsible for your office. Contact us by e-mail at work or at home, as follows:

Ivan Herrington, Chair: Milner (CCC, CPF, LPU), Peterborough, Pickering (Head Office).

E-mail: iherrington@cogeco.ca ; herriniv@mpac.ca

Jamie Stata, Vice-Chair:Brantford, Chatham, Goderich, Kitchener, London, Owen Sound, Sarnia, or Windsor offices. E-mail: ajstata@aol.com ; stataja@mpac.ca

Gary Cooper: St. Catharines. E-mail: gcooper@iaw.com ; cooperga@mpac.ca

Gerald Devlin: Bracebridge, Barrie, Hamilton, Mississauga, Richmond Hill, Toronto.

E-mail: gdevlin59@rogers.com ; devlinge@mpac.ca

Everett Kelly: Oshawa. E-mail: evkelly@rogers.com ; kellyev@mpac.ca

David Lynch: Dryden, Fort Frances, Kenora, Ottawa, Parry Sound, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Timmins. E-mail: opseu409@yahoo.ca ; lynchda@mpac.ca

Bill Robertson: Bancroft, Brockville, Cornwall, Kingston, North Bay, Pembroke, Trenton.

E-mail: wrobertson2@cogeco.ca ; robertbi@mpac.ca

OPSEU Impact is produced by the Property Assessment Division of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and authorized for distribution by Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president. 

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