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  May 2 2002:  Article 3

Category Issues
Unified Bargaining Unit

General Wage Increases

Wages for public service employees at the start of 2002 were 12 per cent below what they were at the start of 1994. While we hope to make more forward progress in the next round, we have, in this contract, come very close to restoring our buying power to what it was. General wage improvements for workers in the Unified Bargaining Unit are:

• an increase totalling 8.45 per cent over three years, plus
• an additional one per cent per year for employees at the top of the pay grid. About 70 per cent of classified members, and 22 per cent of unclassified members, are currently at the top rate.

Special cases

Wages in several job classifications have been out of whack for years because of the employer’s refusal to agree to a process for settling classification disputes. As a response, OPSEU members in a total of 92 job classifications put forward “special case” arguments to increase their pay. Not all were successful in this round of bargaining, but many were. Pay adjustments are retroactive to Jan. 1, 2002, as follows:

Nurses. The following nurse classes get a 10 per cent raise in each step of the range:

· Nurse, Occupational health & Safety

· Nurse, Outpatient Clinics

· Nurse 1, 2, 3 Clinic

· Nurse 1, 2, 3 General

· Nurse 1, 2, 3 Nursing Education

· Nurse 1, 2, 3 Public Health

· Nurse 2, 3 Special Schools

· Nursing Home Officer, Dietary

· Residential Health Nurse, Facility for the Developmentally Handicapped

Scientists. Scientist 1,2,3, and 4 classes get an eight per cent raise in each step of the range. The Employer shall undertake a review of scientist related class standards. Any potential wage adjustments will be negotiated in the next round of collective bargaining.

Communications Operators. Communications Operators 1,2, and 3 get an increase of eight per cent in each step of the range.

Certain employees of the Ontario Clean Water Agency. A set of hourly salary notes will be established for employees who complete and maintain facility operator's licenses. Employees would receive an hourly salary note for each license acquired and maintained, as follows:

Employees shall be compensated for each individual license acquired and maintained, based on the highest certification level attained for that license. For example, an employee with a Level I Water Treatment License and a Level II Water Distribution License would receive an hourly salary note for each, i.e. $0.10 and $0.15, for a total of $0.25.

Conservation Officers. All Resource Technician 4 – Conservation Officers will get a four per cent increase. The employer will develop and implement a new class of Resource Technician 5 - Conservation Officer, effective January 1, 2002. top of the salary range for that classification will be $1136.24.

Transportation Enforcement Officers. Employees in this class series get a four per cent increase.

Certain Laboratory Technologists and attendants. Workers in the following classes receive a four per cent increase to each step in the range:

· Technologist 1, 2 and 3 Medical Laboratory (16061, 16063, 16065)

· Technologist 1, 2, 3 and 4 Chemical Laboratory (16051, 16053, 16055, 16057

· Laboratory Attendant 1 and 2 (15500, 15502)

Classroom Assistants (U0114) and School Aides (U0115). These workers get a four per cent increase in each step of the range.

Shift premium

The shift premium for workers in the Unified Bargaining Unit is increased to 78 cents an hour. It was 52 cents for evenings and 62 cents for nights in the previous agreement.

Schedule Six:

Employees on Schedule Six in the Unified Bargaining Unit will receive compensating leave of one-half an hour for each hour worked between 36.25 and 48 hours per week on regularly scheduled work days and one hour for each hour worked beyond 48 hours per week on regularly scheduled work days.

Callback

Your Unified Category bargaining team made one sacrifice in the drive to a settlement. When employees are contacted by the Employer prior to their shift, but not required to physically attend work, they are entitled to receive a minimum of four hours’ pay at time-and-a-half. Under the existing collective agreement (the one that expired Dec. 31, 2001), the employee would be entitled to the four hours’ overtime each time the employer called. The tentative agreement deletes that interpretation. In the tentative agreement, all calls that do not require the employee to physically attend work during the four-hour period are to be treated as a single call-back for pay purposes.

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