August 25,
2006
Members, managers will test new job evaluation
system
200 OPSEU members
to take part
For the last six
months, a joint OPSEU/employer committee has been working away
on a new job evaluation system for OPSEU jobs in the OPS. The
committee is now asking for help to test its draft plan.
Beginning today, a
selection of OPSEU members and their managers will receive
letters by e-mail asking them to take part in a two-part
exercise. The first part will be a three-hour questionnaire,
to be completed during working hours. The second part will be
a three-hour focus- group discussion, also during working
hours.
Participation is
voluntary. The union is urging all OPSEU members to take part
if invited.
“This is not a
test of anyone’s job, and it will not affect how anyone’s job
is rated in the final job evaluation system,” said John
Watson, an OPSEU member on the joint committee. “This is a
test of our draft system. We need to gather facts to plug into
the system to see what works, what doesn’t work, and what
needs to be fixed.
“It is in the
interest of all OPSEU members to have the best classification
system possible, and we can only create that if we have good
information to work with.”
The focus groups
will be held in seven cities (one per OPSEU region), beginning
in September. The cities are London, Hamilton, Peterborough,
Kingston, Toronto, Sudbury, and Thunder Bay. The goal is to
have 200 OPSEU members and their managers take part.
Both the
questionnaire and the focus groups will be completed during
work time.
About the Job Evaluation
Project
The Job Evaluation
Project grows out of Apppendix 34 of the OPSEU collective
agreement in the OPS, in which the union and the employer
agreed to fix a hopelessly outdated job classification system.
The Job Evaluation
Project will not create new pay rates. Pay rates will be
negotiated during the next round of contract talks.
The current
collective agreement expires at the end of December 2008.
No pay adjustments
will happen before then unless required to maintain pay
equity.
For a full
explanation of the Job Evaluation Project, read the
Question-and-Answer document at
http://www.opseu.org/ops/frontlines/frontlinesfeb142006attach.htm
.
Original
authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.
Download August
25, 2006 Issue of
Frontlines
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