So what about sick leave, anyway?

There are a lot of rumours going around about what’s going to happen to our sick leave.  What is going to happen?  Let’s break it down and have an informed discussion about this topic.

First of all, sick leave is a benefit that is in our collective agreement.  Any changes to the current regime will need to be negotiated – let’s hope this happens at the bargaining table and not in the press!

To have an informed discussion, we need to understand how the current sick leave regime works.

Sick leave credits are accumulated each month where an employee has worked a minimum of ten days.  Each month an employee accumulates a day and a quarter, for a total of fifteen days per year.  Any unused credits at the end of the year are accumulated and banked. The accumulation of sick leave continues throughout an employee’s career, with no maximum.

It’s very much like an insurance policy. Your accumulated sick leave is your financial safety net should you succumb to illness or injury. It gives you peace of mind.

This accumulation of sick leave credits becomes incredibly important for any employee who suffers an accident or a catastrophic illness; it provides them with a buffer until such time as they qualify for long term disability. Long term disability benefits become payable after 13 weeks of disability or illness, or after the member’s accumulated paid sick leave is exhausted – whichever is later.

If an employee does not have 13 weeks of sick leave available to them, any shortfall can be covered through EI sick benefits.  During this period, an employee only receives 55% of their salary – and to top it all off, often that money takes a while to start trickling in!

When an employee does not have any sick leave credits accumulated, management has the discretionary ability to advance up to 25 days of sick leave.  These must be repaid with any sick leave credits earned at a later date.

Why does the government claim that the system isn’t working?

We hear many arguments that the current sick leave system is out of date.

“There are abuses,” the government says. “Government employees are using more than employees in the private sector,” it deplores. “There’s a $5.2 billion liability,” it cautions. “New employees are being discriminated against,” it laments.

And so on, and so forth.

Some of this may be true, or not.  There’s always going to be people who abuse the system, but these individuals are in the minority.

And that liability that keeps getting referred to isn’t really a liability.  It only becomes a liability in a la-la land where every public servant takes every sick day that they’ve accumulated. By and large, the liability disappears when an employee retires, because any accumulated sick leave is not paid out in any way and vanishes in a puff of smoke upon retirement. Poof!

As for new employees, they can be advanced up to 25 days of sick leave, depending on need.  Maybe new employees could receive the same provisions as those in the EX group, who are advanced all the sick leave they need and whose disability premiums are entirely covered by the employer.

Perhaps some of the government’s woes are a result of downloading corporate services to individual managers. Human resources in the public service used to be delivered quite differently than today.

When someone went on long-term sick leave, they were monitored by human resources who worked with the employee to ensure a smooth transition when they returned to the workplace.  Today, it is up to manager to monitor the employee, along with everything else a manager does.  Human resources departments provide information and guidance to managers; they no longer perform other tasks such as monitoring.

Often, a manager will change jobs and the new manager will not even be aware that they have an employee on long-term disability. In many cases, they won’t have acquired the skills and competencies to manage disability. And this is in addition to all other tasks that have been delegated to managers.

So what is being proposed to “modernize” sick leave?  For the time being, nothing has been proposed.  However, the 2013 budget indicates that “the government will be examining its human resources management practices and institutions in a number of areas, including disability and sick leave management, with a view to ensuring that public servants receive appropriate services that support a timely return to work.”

Further, the Seventh Report to the Prime Minister of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee on the Public Service states:  “Another area for change is the current regime for managing disability and absenteeism.  Here too, we find a complex and costly system that is out of step with other sectors of the economy and that does not offer a level playing field for all employees.  This too must change.”  This clearly indicates change is coming but what?

We can get an idea by looking at the sick leave program in place at Canada Post.  Sick leave has been drastically changed for those employees; in all likelihood, the model that’ll be proposed for us will resemble what’s been imposed there.  The annual sick leave allowance will be reduced.  Unused sick leave will not be accumulated or carried over. After a short time on sick leave, the employee will go on short-term disability at 70% of their pay. The employee will graduate to long-term disability after a certain period on short-term disability.

In effect, managers will not manage sick leave, a private insurance company will.  And, there will be a cost to that administration; private insurance doesn’t come free. Employees will lose seven to ten sick days per year, and there will be premiums to pay to be covered by a short term disability plan.  One question that comes to mind is: who will pay those premiums?

What will happen if the employee has used up their allotment of annual sick leave and then gets the flu?  Will employees come to work when they are ill in order to avoid any disruption in pay? And how will the government handle an outbreak of a highly contagious illness, like the H1N1 virus a few years ago?

Now is the time for us to talk about sick leave.  Does the current regime really need to be changed?  If there is change, what do we, the employees, want it to look like?

Your comments and ideas are welcomed!

Richard Ballance is the Regional Vice-President for the Union of National Employees’ NCR-TB region. Join the conversation by leaving a comment below. This article was written as part of our union’s member journalism program. If you’d like to find out more, click here – to pitch a story or for any questions, please send an email to communications@une-sen.org.

Passing it on!

Last weekend, Krystle Harvey, a member of Local 00383 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, attended what could be her last union event with the PSAC. Harvey just landed a new job outside Statistics Canada, which means, in addition to saying goodbye to her great co-workers and a job that she really liked, she also has to say goodbye to the union.

“I’m going to miss the union the most because I met so many amazing people and got to do so many amazing things,” she said.

After the training session was over, Harvey took to Facebook and called on her co-workers to get involved. Her status update read in part: “I urge all my stats co-workers to become more involved in your union! Because if you won’t fight for your rights then who will?”

Harvey, a 29-year-old employee at Statistical Survey Operations, admits she didn’t always think unions were so great. In a previous workplace, her main experience with her union was seeing it protect individuals who didn’t really deserve to be protected.

But luckily for us, after getting a job at Stats, Harvey got involved with our union and her opinion quickly changed. She currently holds the position of secretary in her Local. Her involvement, she admits, was a bit of an accident. At the behest of one of her friends, Harvey signed up for a course on political and social activism.

“One of my friends said ‘come, it’ll be so much fun – we’ll have a great weekend,’” recalled Harvey. “And… my friend didn’t actually end up going.”

Nonetheless, Harvey spent the weekend learning more about the union and getting to know members of her local executive.

“It got me a lot more involved – and it got me wanting to get me more involved with this particular union.”

It should be noted that Statistical Survey Operations has a number of longstanding issues that still need to be addressed. Our members hope that this round of bargaining will lead to a much fairer workplace. Harvey believes that becoming aware of these issues helped fuel her union activism.

“I didn’t really know about the issues before I got involved. Once I got involved, I started seeing all of these issues and wanting something to be done about it.”

Last weekend’s training session allowed 11 participants to talk about these issues. Despite the training being open to all PSAC members from the North Bay and Sudbury area, the only members who showed up were from Harvey’s Local.

One member who attended felt it was a pretty sad turnout, but Harvey doesn’t quite see it that way.

“Of all the people in North Bay, of all the Locals – we were the only ones who showed up,” she said. “I think that says a lot about our Local and how involved we are – and how united we are.”

Harvey’s new job outside Stats Canada is a management position. She jokingly admits that she probably won’t be as free to praise unions.

“But I still absolutely believe in unions, regardless of where I’m going and whom I’ll be working with,” she added.

In fact, Harvey is making sure her enthusiasm for the union lives on after she’s gone. In addition to urging her co-workers to get involved, Harvey is compelling her older brother Trevor, who also works at Stats, to get involved in the union.

“I told him, ‘Trevor, my legacy has to live on; so you need to become more involved.’”

Join us in wishing Krystle the best of luck in her new career – and Trevor the best of luck in his union involvement! Leave a comment below!

Conference news you can use!

The All Presidents’ Conference is well under way. Our members’ brains are overflowing with synaptic action from all the great presentations and discussions we’ve had so far.

You can download the newsletters by using the following links:

Issue 1 (currently unavailable – sorry!)
Issue 2

This newsletter was made possible by the tremendous work of UNE volunteers: René Coignaud, Stephanie Kale and Mathieu Laurin.

There are also tons more pictures on Flickr and great discussions happening on Twitter thanks to this hashtag: #UNE2013.

Introducing: Member Journalism!

It’s been called citizen journalism, participatory journalism, guerrilla journalism and street journalism. No matter what you want to call it, the end result is more information, more points of view and a democratization of media.

At the UNE, we want to launch our own version of citizen journalism. Let’s call it member journalism.

Unfortunately, we can’t be everywhere. And because we haven’t yet mastered the power of omnipresence, we miss out on some really great stories.

Our members are doing great things from Toronto to Trois Rivières. They’re engaging with their communities in Jasper and Cape Breton. They’re making a difference from Vancouver to Iqaluit.

Geography shouldn’t prevent us from telling these stories. With your help, we can share, connect and inspire.

There are four ways you can get involved:

Write a first-hand account of an event.

Are you going to a rally or a protest? Maybe a really cool union conference? Bring a notebook! We’ll work with you to write a first-hand account of what happened.

Before you go to the event, pitch your story to us at communications@une-sen.org and check out our tips for covering events.

Don’t feel like writing? Be our source!

If you suffer from writer’s block, let us write the story for you. You can be our eyes and ears; we’ll be the ten fingers on the keyboard. We can have a nice chat on the phone during which you can tell us the who/what/when/where/why – and without you even noticing, we’ll capture a few brilliant quotes from you. Nothing brings an article to life like a few brilliant quotes!

Before you go to the event, pitch your story to us at communications@une-sen.org and check out our tips for covering events. If you’re only planning to be our source, focus on the tips regarding what to bring and what to look out for.

Are you a shutterbug? We love photos!

They say a photo is worth a million words. Well, unfortunately, we don’t have time to write a million words, so we sure do love photos! Next time you go to a rally, a protest or a local meeting, don’t forget your camera! (We also accept pictures of your cat or dog decked out in UNE swag!)

Before you hit the shutter, check out our tips for snapping photos.

Share your experience with others.

There are countless days honouring our diversity each year. They’re a great time to talk about our experiences and the challenges we face. You see, we can write about discrimination, but we sometimes can’t truly talk about how it feels to be a victim of discrimination. We can write about mental health, but we sometimes can’t find the words to explain how stigma can isolate a person suffering from depression. Sharing personal stories isn’t always easy, but we know that other members learn a great deal from these stories. Sometimes, it can change them profoundly (for the better!).

If you’d like to inspire other members in this way, pitch your story to us at communications@une-sen.org and check out our tips for writing about personal experiences.

If you have any questions about these many ways to get involved, please contact us at communications@une-sen.org. The important thing to remember is that we want to help you through every step. So before you even write down a word, make sure you get in touch with us!

International Women's Day

Today is international women’s day. It’s a chance to reflect on the road traveled and the long road still ahead. As of 2012, Canada ranks 21st on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report; a yearly study on gender equality among 135 countries.1

That said, we were three points higher in 2011. According to the World Economic Forum, Canada fell three spots because of “a small decrease in the secondary education ratio and in the percentage of women in ministerial positions.”2

In fact, Canada has suffered a steady decline since 2006, due primarily to the absence of women in politics.

While Canada has legislation in place to prevent workplace discrimination based on gender, it’s a little harder to do that in the political arena… or is it?

Many countries have passed quota legislation to make sure women were well represented in office. Costa Rica is an excellent example:

“The first quota legislation in 1994 basically relied on Costa Rica’s political parties to voluntarily increase the participation of women in elections. A second set of laws in 1998 mandated that women occupy at least 40 percent of each party’s candidate list, and in the 2002 election the law required that women be in at least 40 percent of the electable positions.”3

According to Texas’ Rice University, the number of women occupying positions within municipal legislatures in 2002 “was unmatched by any other democratically elected national legislature in the world”.

Costa Rica is currently one of the very few countries headed by a democratically elected woman – there are currently only 17.

Heather Sams, the Union’s National Equity Representative for Women, says that women in Canada are still a long way from reaching parity with men in politics.

“Think about it, last election Canadians sent a record number of women to the House of Commons,” said Sams. “That number was 76 – most of them were NDP… but that’s still just barely 25% of the seats in the House.”

And while women continue to be underrepresented in Canadian politics, there are still other battles that need our attention, especially in the workplace.

Sams says that the income gap between men and women continues to be a real problem in Canada.

“As unionized women, we’re almost there – but non-unionized women are still fighting a tough battle,” said Sams.

According to the Canadian Labour Congress, unionized women earn 93% as much as their unionized male counterparts, while non-unionize women only earn 75% as much as non-unionized men. In the private sector, the unionisation rate among women is also lower than that of men.4

“Basically, we’re still a long way from equality in the workforce,” concluded Sams.


[1] Hausmann, R., Tyson, L. & Zahidi, S. (2012). The Global Gender Gap Report, World Economic Forum.

[2] Idem

[3] Sherindan, P. (2005). To elect more women, countries should follow Costa Rica, Rice University News and Media.

[4] Still A Long Way From Equality. (2008). Canadian Labour Congress.

The Review needs you!

[Update: the deadline for this has passed! Stay tuned for more information]

Do you work in communications or public relations? Are you bilingual? Do you live in the National Capital Region? We need your help during the All Presidents’ conference, from April 4 to 7!

We’re looking for two on-site reporters to attend the conference and write short articles for us. During our last conference, we got help from some very talented members to produce The Review: the UNE’s official conference newsletter.

We’re also looking for a talented photographer. We’ll supply the camera, you get us the smiles!

If you’d like to help (and you’re not a local President… because, let’s face it, you have a conference to participate in!) send us an email at communications@une-sen.org. Write a short list of your strong points and make sure to indicate your strongest language and your linguistic profile.

Volunteers will be considered observers and will be funded by the UNE. We’ll cover your travel, accommodation, loss-of-pay, per-diem and, if needed, family care.

Death leaves a heartache

“Death leaves a heartache.”

Those were the words on a card that Jennifer Chieh Ho, the UNE’s Regional Vice-President for B.C. and Yukon, received during last week’s Memorial March.

While countless Canadians were putting final touches on their Valentine’s Day plans, many others took to the streets to honour our country’s missing and murdered women. The first Memorial March took place 22 years ago in Vancouver’s downtown eastside.

Over the past decade, these marches have started taking place in many cities across Canada.

Kristin Gilchrist, a co-founder of Families of Sisters in Spirit and a doctoral student at Carleton University’s department of sociology, says these marches have grown considerably thanks to the important work of countless grassroots organizations.

“They draw critical awareness to the violence happening in our communities, especially violence directed at Indigenous women,” wrote Gilchrist.

Chieh Ho and a few members of her Local attended this year’s march where it all started: in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. She said she was especially happy to see such a diverse group of allies demonstrating for this important cause.

“There were many aboriginal brothers and sisters, but there were also a very encouraging number of men and women of all nationalities, of all ages, who came to support,” she remarked.

“The march took us to a number of spots where women were found murdered or were last seen before they went missing,” said Chieh Ho. “We took a moment at each spot to honour each woman.”

Chieh Ho said that a rose was left to mark each spot: a red rose for women found murdered – a yellow rose for women who have gone missing.

“I was a bit shocked and saddened by the number of times we stopped,” she added.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada has a list of more than 500 confirmed cases of missing and murdered native women – and those are just the ones they can actually confirm.

Gilchrist says that Indigenous women face many barriers when it comes to being heard.

“Barriers are especially apparent when there’s a failure by allies to make connections between anti-violence, anti-colonialism, and settler responsibility,” wrote Gilchrist.

She says Indigenous women’s voices are often included only as an afterthought or silenced altogether. And it’s not at all uncommon for those running their own agenda to simply expect these women to go along with their plans.

“These things happen far too often,” she added.

The Harper government continues to brush off demands for a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.

As Jennifer Lord of the Native Women’s Association of Canada told us last year: “This is what the families want.”

There are many photos of the march on Flickr.

Update from the National Executive

It’s a big (and somewhat formal) boardroom. There’s a huge table that barely fits everyone. And there are a bunch of union officials from all over the country packed into one room.

It’s the national executive meeting and, at first glance, it’s an intimidating place.

“When I first sat down I felt overwhelmed,” admitted Melody Raabe, UNE’s newest assistant regional vice-president for Manitoba.

Raabe came to Ottawa last month to officially get sworn-in and to attend her first ever national executive meeting.

Very quickly, Raabe started to feel comfortable. “As discussions began, I quickly felt as though I was sitting around the table with family,” she added.

During the meeting, the national executive reviewed ongoing business, including actions being taken in regards to workforce adjustment. It was also the chance to hear about collective bargaining from members who are on the bargaining teams.

Later, the executive was given an update on upcoming conferences: the All Presidents’ Conference (in April! Register now!), the Human Rights Conference and the 2014 Convention.

The national executive also decided to establish a committee to examine how best to engage members.

Finally, PSAC President Robyn Benson stopped by for a meet-and-greet and to share a few thoughts. Benson was especially outraged about Bill C-377; a bill that demands “transparency and accountability” from unions.

“It’s a way to attack unions, because it’s specifically directed to trade unions,” said Benson. “We’ve been encouraging our members to go find the financial statements [on our website] and to look at them. We are open and transparent; our budget is passed by convention – the spending is appropriate.”

After all that, Raabe said she felt really lucky to be part of such a dedicated group of union activists.

“I soaked up every word,” she added.

“These individuals give so much of their own time, away from their families, to strengthen our union – and to help to fight injustice and inequality. It’s exciting for me because I think I was born ‘all about justice’. It’s why I’m so proud to be a part of our union and the UNE team.”

Let's bring people together

Everyone knew that I was ‘different’ – everyone except for me.

My family tried very hard to take the concept of “different” out of my understanding. Others took great pride in pointing out my disability to my parents and siblings – and to me. Some, believe it or not, thought that they were being helpful. Some just intended to be funny; others meant to be cruel.

All I know is how it made me feel.

I learned early that I would have to toughen up if I was going to be able to deal with being ‘different’. After all, I was reminded of my disability every day. Sometimes it was intentional and sometimes it was accidental – but I was reminded nonetheless.

I remember riding in an elevator with a father and his young son. As I left the elevator, I heard the child ask his father, “Why does that man walk like that?” His father quickly and softly replied, “Don’t ask questions”.

Why not? What is the fear? The fear of offending? Walk around me, ignore me or laugh at me – will I not be offended then? Is it the fear of embarrassment? Whose embarrassment? Yours or mine?

I wish that everyone had the self-assuredness of that young boy; I wish they had the courage to ask their nonjudgmental questions so that they could come to an understanding to satisfy their curiosity. I wish everyone would simply accept me just as I am.

Yes, I am different. But so are you. We need to be! Imagine how boring life would be if we had 8.3 billion copies of the same person.

We all need to learn ways to bring people together, not force people apart.

Unity in Diversity should be celebrated every day. On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, make it a point to ask someone to share a part of their story with you – and yours with them.

You may be surprised at what you find out – about them, or about yourself!

Michael Freeman is the Union of National Employees’ Regional Representative for Human Rights in Ontario.

Conference Newsletter

The Occupational Health and Safety Conference is off to a great start – and definitely keeping us very engaged (and busy!). If you couldn’t attend, you don’t have to miss out on the highlights. We’ve got you covered!

The Review is the UNE’s official conference newsletter. Best of all, this time, it’s been put together with the kind help of amazing members just like you!

October 19, 2012 | Issue #1
October 20, 2012 | Issue #2

Psst!! Don’t forget to fill out our online survey!