To all proud IT Group Members,
Your Bargaining Team met with the employer for the first session of negotiations from February 11 to 12. As IT Group President and Bargaining Officer, I made opening remarks to set the tone for this round of bargaining. These remarks spoke about the difficult times that public servants are facing such as workforce adjustment, return to office, and the priorities of the group such as telework, the cost of living and the contracting-out of our work. IT Group members were praised for their dedication in continuing to serve Canadians despite these difficult times.
Most of our efforts were spent on a high-level review of the proposals packages to ensure that each side understood the intent of each proposal without getting into the finer details. In subsequent sessions we will begin discussing the proposals in detail.
It quickly became clear that there are two major divisive issues facing us this round: Workforce Adjustment (WFA) and Telework. The employer would like to delete the Workforce Adjustment appendix from the collective agreement. They suggest that we would then be covered by the WFA language in the National Joint Council (NJC) agreement. Your bargaining team wholeheartedly disagrees with this proposal as this would compromise the WFA protections that are currently enshrined in our collective agreement. The bargaining team would like to introduce a new Telework article that would make work-from-home arrangements an option for IT Group members where operational requirements permit. The employer has always opposed including Telework language in the collective agreement and, further, announced a return to office mandate of 4 days per week. This mandate, we suggest, ordered with no union consultation and in the middle of negotiations with several bargaining units - when the terms and conditions of employment are meant to be frozen, demonstrates an unfair labour practice by the employer. As such, PIPSC has filed an unfair labour practice complaint – stay tuned for further details on this matter.
As is normal in negotiations, we will be discussing non-monetary issues before we start discussing salary. We are currently working with PIPSC researchers and economists to develop our pay proposal. The details of our pay proposal will be shared with the membership soon after we table it with the Treasury Board.
The foundation of success at the bargaining table is your support. Any demonstration of that support, however small, has an impact. The IT Group National and Regional Organizing Committees will be reaching out to you through your Sub-group and asking that you participate in showing your colours, posting pictures and videos on social media, attending information sessions and future rallies. We cannot stress more that the level of member activity parallels the level of our success in negotiations.
The next bargaining session will take place March 31-April 1, 2026.
In solidarity,
Robert Scott
IT Group President and Bargaining Officer
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