PSAC has reached a tentative agreement that provides increases to wages, no concessions, improved working conditions and a breakthrough increase to the shift premium rate for nearly 10,000 members of the Operational Services (SV) group under Treasury Board. 

In addition to these successful talks, SV members will also be awarded a Phoenix damages settlement to compensate members for the pain and suffering caused by the broken pay system. Please read the update which provides greater detail on the general Phoenix compensation portion of the settlement, as well as the expansion of the claims process for out-of-pocket expenses and for those who suffered major losses because of Phoenix. 

SV Group settlement  

The PSAC bargaining team successfully secured fair wage increases averaging at 2.11% per year. SV group members would receive the following wage increases:  

In addition to these wage increases, the following group-specific wage adjustments and allowances were also secured: ​ 

• An increase of 12.5% to the flat rate amounts for the firefighter Long service pay 
• A wage adjustment of 9% in the 3rd year of the agreement for lightkeepers (LI) 
• An increase to the allowance for refrigeration HVAC technicians (GL-MAM) from $8,000 to $8,480 
• An increase to the lightkeeper’s supplementary allowance from $2,237 to $2,371 for one- and two-employee stations, and from $1,917 to $2,032 for four-employee stations  
• An increase to the meals and quarter allowance for ships’ crews (SC) from $10.50 to $13 for workdays less than 12 hours and $11.50 to $14 for workdays more than 12 hours. 
• An increase to the rescue specialist allowance for ships' crews from $136 to $175 per month 
• An increase to the armed board allowance for ships' crews from $158 to $175 per month 
• An increase to the diving duty allowance for ships' crews from $821 to $858 per year 

Other improvements to the SV collective agreement include: 

• An increase of 12.5% to the shift premium from $2.00 to $2.25 per hour
• An expansion of the definition of family for the purpose of care of family, family-related leave responsibilities, and bereavement leave articles 
• An increase to the meal allowance for overtime from $10 to $12 
• Improvements to travel time to pay for up to five hours of compensation for any stopovers

Common issues settlement

When we obtained a settlement for the PA group, PSAC also reached a settlement for Treasury Board issues common to all groups. Some of the key improvements include:  

• A one-time payment of $500 in recognition of the extended collective agreement implementation deadline and an additional $50 for every subsequent 90-day delay 
• Ten days of paid Domestic Violence Leave
• Better language on return to work following a Maternity or Parental Leave, giving more flexibility to parents who wish to change positions within the federal public service. 
• Improvements to Parental Leave pay 
  • Updated language to match the new legislation including a new extended leave option and the sharing of Parental Leave 
  • Expanded supplementary allowance for every week an employee is on extended or shared Parental Leave 
  • Additional weeks for parents covered under the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, when both parents work in the public service. 
• New Memorandum of Understanding to explore the issues related to childcare in the public service 
• Updated and improved language to match the new legislation on Compassionate Care and Caregiving Leave 
• Better language to allow the use of employer facilities for union activities 
• New Memorandum of Understanding to protect certain working conditions of civilian members of the RCMP 
• New Memorandum of Understanding on mental health in the workplace to support the work of the Centre for Expertise on Mental Health 
• In the event of workforce adjustment, the education allowance has increased to $17,000. 
• Deletion of Memorandum of Understanding on Supporting Employee Wellness. As a result, Sick Leave will remain untouched. 

Full text and next steps   

We will share the final text and full details of the SV group tentative agreement, and common issues agreement, as soon as it becomes available. Shortly thereafter, SV members will be invited to participate in online ratification votes. Details about the votes will be shared as soon as possible. 

The PSAC bargaining team unanimously recommends the ratification of the tentative agreement.  

To ensure that you receive all updates and can participate in the ratification process, please ensure that you have either updated your contact information on PSAC’s member portal, or that you create an account if you have not done so already.