New Brunswick Occupational Health & Safety Act (OH&S)
What is it for?
OH&S is the discipline concerned with protecting the health and safety of all stakeholders in the workplace from exposure to hazards and risks resulting from work activities. It is administered by Worksafe NB.
Do we fall under it?
Yes
New Brunswick Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA)
What is it for?
To enhance collective bargaining and constructive employer-employee relations, reduce conflict and facilitate labour-management cooperation and the fair resolution of disputes.
Who administrates the PSLRA?
Duty to Accommodate
To accommodate means to modify or adjust policies, practices and facilities to eliminate their discriminatory effect.
Duty to accommodate rights and obligations are legislated under three NB provincial Acts:
With the 2017 tax season almost here, overpayment situations caused by the Phoenix system can become particularly stressful for government employees. Pressed by public service bargaining agents, the government has taken a number of steps to ensure public servants are not out-of-pocket as a result of an overpayment.
Most important among these, the government is asking its employees to register any overpayments in order for them to avoid tax issues in the months ahead. To do so, employees should call the special call centre for public servants at 1-855-686-4729 (7 am – 7 pm EST), or visit the Tax and repayment information for employees website for any Phoenix tax-related questions. PIPSC advises its members to keep a record of this call. If employees report their overpayment by January 19, 2018 (a deadline imposed by the government), the latter will recover the exact amount of the overpayment received. The above site also lists the repayment options available to employees.
Additional information on overpayments and other Phoenix-related issues can be found at:
The Ontario Regional Executive is looking for volunteers to participate in the formation of an Ontario Youth Advisory Committee.
Your CRPEG Bargaining team has met a number of times to prepare for the next round of negotiations. The team met on December 21st with the employer for one day of bargaining to start this next round of negotiations. Your current collective agreement will expire on December 31st. The Teams will again use the services of the Federal Mediation and Conciliations Services to conduct Interest Based Negotiations (IBN). Dates have been set in January and February 2018.
From your AV Group Executive representing AU-CO-PG members
Ray Paquette, Peter Gabriel, Raymond Poon, Lynn Morris, Jean Laberge Jennifer Mollins, Darlene McKay, Tom Georgas, Margaret Bigras, Jacques Laperriere, David Chu and Andrew Wigmore
On December 15, 2017 the Collective Agreement was approved by the Governor General in Council. All parties have now approved the Agreement and will be scheduling a date for signing early in the new year. Once the Agreement is signed, the Employer has 120 days to implement the terms of the Agreement and make payments reflective of the negotiated retroactive economic increases. Please stay posted as the Agreement is finalized.
The National Executive is pleased to announce that the 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Applied Science and Patent Examination (SP) Group will be held on Saturday, April 7th. Details related to location and delegate selection will be made available in the coming months. This early notification is intended to address the concerns raised at previous AGMs that adequate advance notice was not provided.
-Your National SP Executive