The RE Group is pleased to advise you that PIPSC has resolved its policy grievance against Treasury Board concerning your collective agreement right to conference attendance.
The federal Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures instructed departments to limit the number of public servants permitted to attend any given conference to the amount necessary to achieve the departmental objective. This conflicted with article 19.03 of the RE collective agreement which provides that, subject to operational requirements, the Employer will make every effort to approve an employee’s request to attend a conference which the employee deems relevant and beneficial to her/his research program or career development. Achieving “the departmental objective” is not a limitation found within article 19.03 of the RE collective agreement.
Treasury Board will send a clarification bulletin (attached) to the Chiefs of Labour Relations and Chiefs of Finance of all departments in the Core Public Administration by mid-January, and post a web link to the bulletin in the Directive by March 8k, 2019. The bulletin confirms:
- Conference attendance constitutes an integral part of RE employee professional activities. Departments who employ REs can consider attendance of these employees at conferences as part of meeting their departmental objectives.
- When the applicable authority has determined that an RE member’s conference attendance is for training or operational activities, that employee’s associated expenditures should be excluded from other conference costs requiring event approval.
- A researcher’s request for conference attendance, may include, but is not limited to, consideration of factors such as:
- Presenting the employee’s own work
- Sitting on a panel discussion
- Chairing or co-chairing sessions
- Ongoing participation in the planning activities of the society organizing the conference
- Supervision of students presenting at a conference
- Judging submissions of other conference participants
The elements above should not be removed from justifications submitted by researchers during the approval process and must be considered in a reasonable and non-arbitrary manner.
As per the above, RE conference attendance does not require the (often lengthy) event approval process. Further, in the regular travel approval process, it is important that your managers reasonably consider all relevant factors when you request attendance at a conference, and not base their decision on a limited number of arbitrarily selected factors.
Your Group Executive will continue to emphasize the importance of conference attendance, but it remains critical for individual members to assert their collective agreement rights with their managers.
If you experience any issues with the implementation of the forthcoming bulletin or have other issues with conference attendance, please follow the steps in the How-To [link to: https://www.pipsc.ca/groups/re/re-group-denied-conference-attendance-heres-what-you-can-do], including contacting a local steward or a member of the RE Group Executive.
Article 19.03 of the RE collective agreement
The objective of this bulletin is to clarify the interaction between the Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures and subparagraph 19.03 (a) (ii) of the collective agreement for employees in the Research (RE) group.
A. Article 19.03 of the RE collective agreement
Clause 19.03 of the RE collective agreement reads as follows:
19.03 Conferences and professional development
The parties to this agreement recognize that attendance at professional or scientific conferences, symposia, workshops and other gatherings of a similar nature constitutes an integral part of an employee’s professional activities and that attendance and participation in such gatherings is recognized as an important element in enhancing creativity in the conduct of scientific research or professional development. In this context, the parties also recognize the importance of research networking with national and international peers and active participation in the business and organization of relevant scientific and professional societies.
(a) Professional or scientific conferences
(i) An employee will attend professional or scientific conferences when it is deemed by management that such attendance will benefit the research program or the employee’s career development.
(ii) Each employee will have the opportunity to attend conferences, symposia, workshops, and other gatherings of a similar nature, which the employee deems relevant and beneficial to the research program or the employee’s career development. The Employer shall make a reasonable effort to approve the employee’s request subject to operational requirements.
Clause 19.03 recognizes the importance of conference attendance in RE career development.
B. Subsection C.2.2.2 of the Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures
Subsection C.2.2.2 of the Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures reads as follows:
C.2.2.2 Limiting the number of public servants attending a conference from a department to the minimum necessary to achieve the departmental objective;
The intent of subsection C.2.2.2 of the Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures is to promote the responsible and effective use of public resources in arriving at decisions related to conference attendance.
C. Interaction between the Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures and article 19.03 (a) (ii) of the RE collective agreement
Subsection C.2.2.2 of the Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures and subparagraph 19.03(a)(ii) of the RE agreement outline managerial requirements in making conference approval decisions. Subparagraph 19.03(a)(ii) of the RE collective agreement provides that each employee will have the opportunity to attend conferences, workshops, etc. which the employee deems relevant to his/her research program or career development. Management is required to make a reasonable effort to support and approve requests from employees under the RE agreement subject to operational requirements.
As conference attendance constitutes an integral part of RE employee professional activities, departments who employ REs can consider attendance of these employees at conferences as part of meeting their departmental objectives.
The provisions of the collective agreements apply at all times and the rights of the employees including researchers under their collective agreement remain unfettered. In other words, collective agreement provisions must be respected when applying the Directive. While reiterating that reasonable efforts must be made to approve the employee’s request to attend conferences and conventions in accordance with the provision of the collective agreement, one should not expect every request will be approved.
A researcher’s request for conference attendance, may include, but is not limited to, consideration of factors such as:
• Presenting the employee’s own work
• Sitting on a panel discussion
• Chairing or co-chairing sessions
• Ongoing participation in the planning activities of the society organizing the conference
• Supervision of students presenting at a conference
• Judging submissions of other conference participants
The elements above should not be removed from justifications submitted by researchers during the approval process and must be considered in a reasonable and non-arbitrary manner. Upon request, an employee who is refused attendance at a conference must be provided with the reason for refusal in writing.
As per the Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures and the Guide to Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, event approval is not required for training and operational activities. When the applicable authority has determined that an RE member’s conference attendance is for training or operational activities, that employee’s associated expenditures should be excluded from other conference costs requiring event approval.