PSAC ratifies collective agreement with Canada Council

Members working at the Canada Council, commonly known as the Canada Council for the Arts, have ratified their collective agreement with the employer. PSAC members working at the Canada Council organize and coordinate grants to support the arts in Canada, under the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Members worked hard to win significant gains in the new agreement, which include:

Wages

• 1.5% per year for four years (expiring June 30, 2022)
• restructuring of the wage grid, reducing the number of steps from 7 to 5, with a 1% increase on the top step to ensure everyone benefited from restructuring
• restructuring will result in up to 4% increase for some members, and will be effective as of (and retroactive to) July 1st, 2018.
• $500 signing bonus for members on strength at the date of ratification.

Job Security & Staffing

• language to provide all term employees with indeterminate status after 3 years, rather than some obtaining after 5 years
• preferential hiring for internal staff in the event of two or more equally qualified candidates for a position
• employer must post all vacancies for positions that are of at least 6 months
• no person who is not in the bargaining unit will do bargaining unit work (with some exceptions for emergencies and special circumstances)

Leaves

• all leaves may be granted, and calculated, in hours rather than days
• more flexibility on how members can use special leave
• 15 hours for medical or dental appointments per year, and 3.75 hours for pregnancy-related appointments (per appointment).
• greater flexibility in members’ ability to switch out designated paid holidays for their own religious and cultural leaves
• top-ups for the extended parental leave (18 months) and for the shared parental leave (5 weeks)
• members can no longer be laid off while on approved leave

What members are saying about the new agreement:

“We gained job security improvements, improved parental leave provisions, and achieved fair economic increases. The new agreement symbolizes increased support for workers in the arts, and their work investing in our nation’s artists. An excellent agreement, by any standard.”

– Greg McGillis, Regional Executive Vice-President, PSAC-NCR

“We fought for fair compensation. Empowerment and respect in the workplace were the driving factors among myself and my bargaining team members in achieving a stronger collective agreement for our membership.”

– Lorraine Bourgeois, Bargaining Team Member and former Local VP

“I am motivated by my colleagues working hard to implement Council’s mandate. That has a lot of value to me.”

– Francois Dion, Bargaining Team Member