Sick? Get in the EI line and wait
Serco has a great new approach to sick time.
Sick for a week? No problem. Sick for more than a week? Get in the EI line. Or, if you don’t like it, come back to work sick and spread the illness around. If you want Serco to keep paying you, that’s what you would have to do. Here’s an example of what might happen to you with your first illness as a Serco employee:
A typical DE employee might earn about $1,660 over two weeks. Under the OPS agreement, if you have to take two weeks sick time you can keep being paid at this rate simply by trading in one vacation day. But with Serco, (where you already earn 15 per cent less or $707 per week) you are only paid for five days sick time
per calendar year.
Any more than that and its time to join the line for Employment Insurance sickness benefits. If you qualify, EI pays no more than 55 per cent of your earnings. That would be $388.85. However, with EI’s unpaid two-week waiting period, you will not receive this money for the second week of your illness.
Enjoy weekend, evening work?
On its web site, Serco says its likely that hours of work will be increased in urban DEC locations. Serco says it’s “looking at expanding opening hours in other urban DECs in order to better meet demand for driver exam services and to eliminate the backlog.”
And travel to exotic places?
Serco is also promising you the opportunity to see the world. You may be able to work at DEC locations across Ontario. This is all part of the “team spirit” Serco hopes to promote, says its web site. You “may be asked to travel to other DECs in the area from time-to-time to provide coverage for vacation, sick leave,
training, spikes in demand for services” and to serve the 37 travel points.
OPSEU’s unique carriage rights
OPSEU has the most generous grievance carriage rights of any union. Serco says you could form a staff association (a tame company union) and have a dispute resolution method. Right now if you file a grievance the union pays for legal representation where necessary, and for the employee’s half of the arbitration cost.
Serco says “the choice of escalating a dispute will be up to the employee.” This is an expensive process. Don’t believe that Serco will provide the money for you to have disputes arbitrated by a third party, or give you money to spend on a lawyer to fight the company. It just won’t happen. That’s why you need your
union.
Recently converted can double their money
If you are a recently converted classified member of the OPS you can more than double your money.
Here’s how it works: Have money from your termination pay or enhanced severance transferred directly to the OPSEU Pension Trust (OPT) and use it to buy back your years of contract service. No tax is witheld. The government will be required to make its share of the pension contributions. Your union can tell you more.
Nice work
In 2001, Serco chief executive Kevin Beeston made £351,239 according to the UK newspaper The Guardian. That’s over $785,000 Canadian at today’s rates. Serco now says a DEC employee will earn between $38,000 and $42,000 per year. So Serco thinks its CEO Beeston’s work is 20 times as important as yours.
This newsletter
Please forward this newsletter to as many of your colleagues as possible. it may be their only source for the “straight goods” on Serco so they can make an informed decision about their future. Let us know what you want to see in future issues. To receive it by e-mail, send your e-mail address to
dcox@opseu.org .
Contact OPSEU
Organizing: Contact OPSEU at 1-800-268-7376. Organizers for the DEC campaign are Paul Dunseith at ext.355, Ed Ogibowski at ext. 362 and Connie Huziak at ext. 327.
Your Job Security Officer is: Judith Marion, OPSEU x 370 jmarion@opseu.org
Your Reasonable Efforts Committee is: John O’Brien, Hm. (807)-628-8066; cell (807)-628-4364; jobrien2@tbaytel.net ; Gail Kreutzkamp home (519)-742-4017;
gailkreutzkamp@hotmail.com; Stephan Michnowiec, pager, 416-405-0050
Your MERC Team is: John O’Brien (as above), Serge Valcourt (705) 472-7900 x 6490, Robert Houston (519) 372-4045, Peggy Maybury (416) 235-4218. Or contact your Staff Representative or the steward in your workplace.
DEC Notes is published as a regular update for OPSEU staff in Driver Examiner Centres. More information on the government’s planned transfer of services can be viewed at:
http://www.opseu.org/campaign/mtooindex.htm on the OPSEU web site.
Authorized for Distribution:
Leah Casselman, President
