More than 1,300 members in the Statistics Survey Operations (SSO) bargaining group are expected to be covered under the Program and Administrative Services (PA) collective agreement. We compiled these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) as a reference to help members of Statistics Survey Operations bargaining group understand the process.

Is the decision to offer SSO members positions in the core public administration the result of negotiations with the Union?

No. Although the Union has always held the position that SSO members should be fully integrated into the core public administration, this is an Employer driven process.

Will SSO members be offered full-time positions at the core?

As far as we know that is not going to be the case. The Employer has informed us and the members directly, that all employees will be offered positions at the core that are equivalent to those they currently hold at SSO (term to term and indeterminate to indeterminate). The employer has indicated that “hours are not expected to change as a result of these appointments” at this point.

Will language skills affect members’ chances of being offered a position as part of the move to the core public administration?

The Employer has stated that all PSAC members at SSO will be offered positions at the core. However, in order to determine who will be offered a bilingual position, language tests will be administered prior to the move.

Will member’s seniority (years of service) count when the move to the core takes place?

We believe that seniority (years of service at SSO) should be counted for determining the new terms and conditions at the core including rates of pay and probation. However, the Employer has indicated that years of service with SSO will only “count towards establishing your continuous employment for pension purposes, as well as service in establishing leave entitlements, in your new position”.

Will SSO members have to serve a new probationary period once they move to the core? What is the length of this new period?

According to the Employer, a new probationary period will have to be served. We do not think this is fair and we are following up with the Employer on this issue.

Will this affect the bargaining timeline?

The current collective agreement between SSO and PSAC expires on November 30, 2023. Should the move to the core public administration occur prior to November 30^th you will be covered by the PA collective agreement which has just been signed and has an expiry date of June 20, 2025. The PSAC will serve Notice to Bargain to SSO at the end of July in order to protect our bargaining timelines. In case the move is not be completed by November 30^th, we will be ready to commence bargaining for a new collective agreement.

Will there be a new bargaining team?

Should the move to the core public administration not proceed or be delayed beyond November 30^th, 2023 a new bargaining team will be elected to lead the next round of negotiations.