Questions and answers
on the OPS Job Evaluation Project
Jan. 24, 2006
Q1. What is the OPS Job Evaluation
Project (JEP)?
In the last round of collective bargaining
in the Ontario Public Service, your bargaining team and the
employer agreed to update the job classification system in the
OPSEU bargaining unit. The union is calling this the OPS Job
Evaluation Project, or JEP.
Q2. Where in the collective agreement is
the JEP discussed?
Appendix 34 explains how the JEP will work.
Q3. How will the JEP work?
Working together as a Joint Working Group,
the union and the employer are selecting a consultant
specializing in job classification to help direct the process.
The consultant and the parties will choose a group of
“benchmark” job classes that represent the breadth of job
classifications in the OPS. These job classes will then be
evaluated based on the work each job actually requires. Once
evaluated, the benchmark jobs will create a framework into
which all OPS jobs can be carefully placed. Once all jobs have
a place in the new framework, the union and the employer will
negotiate pay rates for them in the next round of collective
bargaining.
Q4. Why did the union agree to the JEP?
There are two reasons. First, the current
classification system is out of date and inaccurate. In some
cases, OPSEU members are not getting paid for the job class
standard that they actually do. Second, the union (and the
employer) have a legal obligation to make sure that all jobs
in the OPS are paid in compliance with pay equity laws –
workers in a particular job cannot be paid less because of
their gender.
Q5. Why is the current system out of
date?
Class standards and position descriptions
for many OPS jobs are several decades old. Jobs have changed a
lot since then, in many ways:
-
Technological change.
Obviously, any classification system created prior to the
rise of personal computers does not reflect the skills
people use today. Virtually all OPS employees use several
types of software on a typical workday. We’ve come a long
way from the days of typewriters and Dictaphones.
-
New legislation and regulations.
Many OPS jobs require knowledge of laws and regulations in
specialized areas. Some jobs now require workers to
interpret, apply, and enforce laws and regulations
differently than in the past. Some of these changes in the
work are not covered in current class standards and position
descriptions.
-
Management changes.
Most people in the OPSEU bargaining unit are doing more
problem-solving than they used to and making more decisions
that used to be considered managerial. Their job
descriptions don’t reflect this “downloading.”
-
“Class creep.”
Many workers today are doing jobs that would have been done
in the past by people in higher-paid classes in the same
series, for example, a person paid as an OAD-8 may be doing
work that was previously done by an OAD-10.
-
Ministry-by-ministry or
workplace-by-workplace variations.
Some class standards are in use in every
ministry of the government, but the work done by the same
class in the different ministries or workplaces may be very
different. For example, in Office Administration Group, an
OAD who works processing OHIP cards in the Ministry of
Health in downtown Toronto does a vastly different job than
another OAD – paid the same – on a forest-fire crew north of
Sault Ste. Marie. Should these two jobs be paid differently?
That is what the JEP aims to find out.
-
Extra duties.
After years of cutbacks, many workers are “filling in holes”
left by departed co-workers. This can include doing work
that is not in their own job description.
-
Inability to arbitrate classification
issues. When the Mike Harris
government came to power in 1995, one of its first acts was
to make it illegal for Crown employees to take
classification grievances to arbitration. This means obvious
classification problems have gone unresolved.
Q6. I am doing a lot more work than I
used to. Will this be taken into account in the Job Evaluation
Project?
No. The JEP is looking at the kind
of work OPSEU members do, not the quantity. There is language
in the collective agreement related to workload issues, but
this is unrelated to the JEP.
Q7. What is meant by the terms “series
title”, “class standard,” and “position description”?
A “series title” refers to a group of
numbered job classes such as “Office Administration” or
“Resource Technician.”
A “class standard” means a general
description of the duties, responsibilities, and purpose of a
particular job class within a series, for example, “OAD-8” or
“Community Development Officer 3.”
“Position description” (or
job description)
refers to a specific job within a class. For example, Support
Services Clerk, Resource Management Clerk, Administrative
Assistant, Secretary, and Documents Clerk are different
positions or jobs within the OAD-8 classification.
Q8. The current
system for resolving classification disputes doesn’t work.
Will the new system be any better?
Under the process in the current collective
agreement, all classification grievances are handled by the
Joint System Subcommittee, or JSSC. The JSSC has three
employer and three union representatives. When the two sides
can’t agree, nothing happens – in other words, the employer
wins. The union’s goal in the JEP is to create a mechanism
that will handle disputes fairly and speedily for all workers.
Q9. Could my wages go down as a result
of the JEP?
The Job Evaluation Project is step one of a
two-step process. Step one is to create the new job
classification system. Step two is to negotiate the wage rates
for each classification in the next round of bargaining. In
any new system, some classifications will decline in value
compared to other classifications. The union’s goal in
bargaining will be to make sure that no union member sees
their actual wages go down as a result.
Q10. Could any wage rates go up during
the life of the collective agreement?
Yes, but only if the new job evaluation
system requires wage adjustments because of pay equity. Once
the new system is in place, likely in 2007, we will be
reviewing all jobs to find any that may require a pay equity
adjustment. Since the Pay Equity Act supersedes our
collective agreement, we will pursue payment of any
adjustments during the life of our contract. As noted in Q3,
however, wage rates for all other jobs will be negotiated in
the next round of collective bargaining.
Q11. How long will the whole process
take?
The goal is to complete the JEP in time for
the next round of contract bargaining. The OPSEU collective
agreement in the OPS expires at the end of December 2008.
Q12. What happens to my classification
grievance in the meantime?
Classification grievances continue to be
dealt with by the Joint System Subcommittee (JSSC). In an
effort to deal with the huge backlog of classification
grievances, Appendix 34 secures more resources and the
services of a mediator for the JSSC. The union and the
employer have allotted 12 months to clear up the backlog. The
union has also agreed to a moratorium on classification
grievances. If the problem with your classification is an
out-of-date class standard or another problem with the overall
job evaluation system itself, your issues will be dealt with
as part of the JEP. For more information on the JSSC, see the
Q&A document on the OPSEU web site at
http://www.opseu.org/ops/jssc/updatedec2005.htm.
Q13. There was
an attempt in the 1990s to fix the classification system. It
was called the Bargaining Unit Overhaul (BUO), and it
collapsed as soon as the employer revealed the values it
placed on our jobs. How will this attempt be any different?
This time around it will be a joint
union-management process. While the union was involved with
the BUO at the start, union involvement ended with the
election of the Harris government in 1995. This time around,
we have an agreement that a third party consultant (chosen by
both sides) will help with the process. The terms of reference
for the JEP, agreed to by both sides, say that all decisions
will be made by consensus.
