News

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) announced today that a tentative agreement has been reached with the Treasury Board Secretariat for the Economics and Social Science Services group, also known in the federal public sector as the EC group.

The TR bargaining team met again with the Employer and the mediator on March 21, 22 and 23. The tone was civil, and the Employer submitted updated versions of its offers on the two remaining contentious issues: remote simultaneous interpretation and wages.

Monday, CAPE filed a complaint against Treasury Board for its return-to-office mandate during the statutory freeze period while negotiating the renewal of the EC collective agreement.

The Library of Parliament bargaining team met the Employer in October for a two-day session and in December for a half-day session.

As mentioned in our previous message, we met with the Employer and the mediator on February 7 and 8, and for an additional half day on the 9th.

We would like to share with you a quick update since the last one in December. CAPE met with the Employer for a mediation session on February 3. The parties were able to discuss and agree on a few outstanding issues.

In our most recent update, we informed you that mediation was still underway before going to arbitration. On February 7 and 8, your TR bargaining team will participate in a mediation session with the Treasury Board, under the supervision of the mediator appointed by the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.

As you will recall, after declaring an impasse at the TR table in June, CAPE felt that before submitting the application for arbitration, it would be appropriate to give the parties one last chance in a mediation process. The Employer and the Association, therefore, made a joint application to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board, which was approved by the Board.

We wanted to send a quick update before the holidays. The parties are moving forward with arbitration and CAPE has named someone to be a member of the arbitration board. The Employer has also appointed someone. The two nominees will now work together to appoint a third person to form the board. All three nominees will then hear arguments from both side and deliver a binding decision.

The EC bargaining team has met with the employer on November 3rd and 4th for a mediation session.