Thank you, Mr. Chair.
CAPE represents 12,000 Canadian public servants, some of whom you may already know very well. They include the Library of Parliament analysts, research officers, translators and interpreters working on the Hill and, last but by no means least, the economists and political analysts who advise you.
Allow to briefly review the situation for you. Approximately 10 years ago, Treasury Board decided to reduce the number of groups with which the government negotiates agreements. The recommendation was that the number of professional groups, anywhere from 65 to 70 at the time, be reduced to 25 or 30. Bargaining agents like CAPE participated in the exercise in good faith, and some groups did merge. The economists and other professionals represented by CAPE were faced with a fait accompli, namely the creation of a new group, the EC group. No one knew exactly what lay in store, but the group was composed notably of economists and sociologists.
To facilitate the process, it was suggested that a new classification be created. The general classification standard that the government was considering at the time did not apply, for a variety of reasons, So then, to facilitate the process, salary scales were merged to create a single pay scale, with different levels, for all of the employees in the group. The final phase of the process—and all parties at the table clearly agreed on this—was the negotiation of new pay scales. That was supposed to have happened in 2005-2006. Unfortunately, work on the new EC classification standard was not far enough along to allow for the negotiation of the new pay scales at that time. Consequently, the union signed a one-year collective agreement. We were given a formal commitment that during the next round of bargaining, new pay scales would be negotiated.
In the fall of 2008, the government presented a final offer to the union, one that was just recently accepted by our members, on the understanding still that the pay conversion issue would eventually be resolved. Unfortunately, when we saw Bill C-10, in particular Part 10, we realized that there had been one exception made, which my colleague alluded to earlier. Several members of the Canada Border Services Agency were able to benefit from pay conversion, whereas our members who, while they may not be protecting our borders, nevertheless provide valuable services to the Canadian government, have been overlooked. A classification conversion occurs only once during a person's career. Our members have been waiting for this day for 15 or 20 years, and the next opportunity won't likely come along for another 20 or 30 years. Our members won't see this during the course of their career. This was their last chance.
Given that the legislation provides an exception for the border services group, we would like to recommend to you that, for the sake of a healthy bargaining process, a short five-line clause be added to the text of the bill. It follows the exact same model as the exception provided for employees of the Canada Border Services Agency and would allow the negotiation of pay conversion for our group members to move forward in a dignified manner.
Thank you very much and good evening.