Should I give up my relief posting now?

The City of Calgary has over the years and different departments developed many solutions to address the operational needs of our current labor force. A few years ago in Water Services, a shift in practice occurred when Waterworks and Wastewater combined. Management moved almost entirely away from posting permanent positions as was done in Wastewater, to a labor pool type relief lists which is common in Waterworks. From managements point of view having multiple relief operators for a single job takes the load off staff shortages and filling absent spots. It creates a fluid work environment. Why doesn't this relief system work the way it sounds? It comes down to money.

The greatest concern to the relief posted workers is probably a tie with pay and working within seniority lists. Relief seniority is graded differently than department seniority. Relief fortifies the issue of keeping a large amount of workers trained and in what order they slot in those positions. Relief lists circumvent how seniority works by short circuiting the employees department time and instead bases seniority on when you showed interest and applied for the position in question. It creates a race for being accepted for relief positions. This relief race will clog the system with employees that will never be expected to do the job.

It is important to all employees who are in relief positions to know where they fit in each relief seniority list. Just as it is important to know your department seniority, your pay or lack thereof will be determined by relief lists. The current method works as long as you want to move around but if you don't you and other workers are faced with a choice. Should I give up my ticket?

I am going to give you my situation to act as an example. This is not true of everyone, but I thought I would use my job status as a means of showing you where the system is going. I have over 10 relief positions within Water Services. I am willing and able to do any one of those many reliefs because I like to see the different areas of Water. I like knowing a little about a lot of things. My reality is that don't see more than 3 of those relief positions. Manpower is faced with a dilemma, and it comes down to money. I can't be paid less than my current base position (unless I request it).  Some positions by less than a dollar. In the past paying someone for a job they were not doing was costly. I talked with a Leader and he told me the City was overpaying people enough to employ 2 full time Local 37 members.
This practice had to end.

When a person is paid for what they do instead of what they could be doing it saves money, but also has contributed to overloaded relief lists. When a person is qualified, they get accepted to the relief posting. Sometimes they can't be placed in the position because it pays less and management is forced to put another positing out. Bottom line it never ends. Maybe this is what happens when you try to move around basic seniority clauses, maybe it’s just what happens when a system grows for 30 years without a reset, maybe a fluid workforce just isn't doable, or maybe the system is waiting for something to correct the issue of money. I think this is the case, whether anyone realizes it or not.

My advice to Local 37 employees... wait before you give up your ticket. For most of you money is number one on your reasons for working in the position you are in right now. Giving up your ticket may sabotage the position you will be working in down the road.

You will have a question and a choice to make. The question is "Why am I working for the City?" If it is the benefits, money, and work schedule, be prepared to choose. A fluid workforce is coming, and it may solve more problems than you think it will cause.

The current Job Evaluation system (JE) is starting to see the finish line.  It's been 4 years since ratification of the Terms of Reference but I can see the finish line and I, like three other Local 37 employees, have been sitting on the inner track.

I am a believer in this new JE system. It will reset a workforce that has relied on evaluating jobs based on compensable factors that used a point system developed 30 years ago. A lot can happen in 30 years (e.g. we have positions in the collective that don't exist anymore, some positions make dimes more than others, etc.). Members can, at this moment, primarily rely on collective wage increases to reflect changes in jobs. For some of our top wage earners, out-of-schedule or market rates may also have worked; for the rest of us, the current job evaluation system (called Position Analysis Questionnaire or PAQ) is contending with changes that cannot be properly evaluated because the factors don’t measure the new responsibilities.  Over the last 30 years, negotiated salary increases have been equally applied to all employees (e.g. 3%). That means that a job in a lower pay band makes less real dollars than a job in a higher pay band that receives more real dollars. The new JE system is not going to act like the old one; it is going to better reflect the changes in jobs, both up to when the JEQs were written and then in the future.  This new JE system will be a new way of valuing jobs. It's not a perfect solution but in my opinion, the new JE system is a better one then what we have right now.

For many of you, the new JE system is about money. On a deeper level job evaluation is more about measuring work that is done today. I’m not going to win a money argument. Compensation in a corporation such as ours is bigger than just your job and how much you think you should earn. I will admit, I was there, with you, before I became a member of the JE Project Team. It took more than a year for me to change my opinion, and frankly, we are now very near to ratifying the new JE system. For the rest of you, I hope you consider that money is one of the final outcomes of the evaluation equation. The current evaluation of your job is based on a system developed 30 years ago. Imagine what your job was doing 30 years ago. For most of us our jobs have changed. Responsibilities have been added, removed, and our idea of what our jobs are will vary differently from what was written down years ago.

The City may not realize this but from my vantage point the new JE system will probably solve their relief list overloading problem.  If the pay bands are expanded and all of the relief jobs you hold make the same rate of pay, you will be one of many candidates that will be moving based on managements’ needs and a variety of jobs paid at the same rate of pay.  A re-jigged pay structure is coming. It happened to our sister union Local 38 and they now have 15 bands.  For me, it could mean that out of the 10+ reliefs I hold, 6 or 7 of them may now make the same rate of pay.  I would then have many more opportunities to work in a wider variety of jobs that are paid at the same rate.   I'm okay with this, but I can guarantee that a larger part of the departments will not be.

Relief lists will start being tested and the workforce will finally need to make a choice on whether they want to work in the relief positions they have applied for.

Of course it could work the other way and the City's re-training budget may need to be quadrupled. If you hold multiple relief postings, you will be expected to have been trained as well as be proficient in the day-to-day responsibilities of that job. That in itself is a daunting task for the corporation.

So don't give that ticket up just yet. Money, location, and scheduling reasons for keeping your relief will be different from others in the City. A short term view on the current relief lists you hold may affect your long term jobs prospects if you give it up before the new Job Evaluation system is in place.

Why is safety important?

Productivity, health, and monetary concerns are a few that pop into my head. Recently there was another reason that was brought to my attention, preventing the “Nut Island Effect”.

The Nut Island Effect (NIE) is a five stage process in which management and the workforce become indifferent to each other and eventually cause a disaster that together they would have been able to prevent. You can read about it here and see what I am talking about.

The basics are quite simple and you can see the stages in many corporations that have been able to downplay mundane but very important issues against trivial hot topic items. This can happen when politics and processes collide.

Safety is a great example of the NIE. Fully legislative safety laws exist to protect workers, and employers. The laws are very dry, clear cut rules that are designed to protect people from real dangers that exist to the workforce. Yet we still fail to use them 100% of the time.

In theory the idea conforming to safety is paramount from the top management downward. No one wants to see a worker injured and no one wants to go to jail or pay massive fines because safety wasn’t followed. In theory we know what we must do to be safe, but in practice we fail for different reasons. The idea that we are responsible for the safety of those around us can be a difficult concept. Who am I to decide that a task is dangerous for another person? We all want to have autonomy in our jobs, or at least the illusion of autonomy. It is that autonomy that can cripple if left unchecked.

In the field the idea of safety can be downplayed or seen in different context. In many publicly viewed circumstances the pressure of completing a task swiftly can reinforce the negatives of following clear safety procedures. When we reflect on the jobs coming under budget or finishing under the timeline, we forget or fail to mention safety procedures were not followed. Management sees a productive workforce that for all they know is following the safe practices and the workforce leads the management team on while they ignorantly follow their own set of rules. Over time the short cuts seem to pay off, but eventually something goes wrong.

It could be an accident; it could be a comment that forces upper levels to act. In either event the system tries to do a soft reset by educating new workers, and re-educating the current workforce. It’s not that people aren’t doing a good job. In fact both management and the ground staff think they are doing a great job according to their own environment. They just aren’t doing the job the way it was expected.

Safety is important to all of us. It should connect management to the mundane issues of getting the work done properly. It should protect the workforce in doing the job the right way no matter how it affects the politics of the situation. It connects the two sides from “making due” with what they have and forcing the two sides to see the issues for more than “what worked in the past”.

Quick Update.

The post underneath previous to this one was a report that was hiding in the drafts folder. I thought I would just put it out.

Day 3 at the CLC: Today we hear Layton, more resolutions and perhaps have an election.

We started once again into finalizing resolutions. Like I said before, the CLC chomps through resolutions like a carnivore. I believe the super resolutions encompassed 41 regular resolutions and about a handful of constitutional resolutions. Consider the absolute number of resolutions covered... quite impressive.

The democracy over the issues can be palpable. The afternoon was rife with very open and honest views on the issues at hand. We started into constitutional changes over things like raiding. A very open and interesting conversation emerged. Many on the floor detest the practice of raiding, but no one group could be singled out as a culprit. Needless to say the convention floor was adimate that raiding was not acceptable, and that by changing some rules, we would be able to better control the practice. I'm not sure about that, but I can tell from the reaction on the floor, the intention was clear. Stop the practice, and get back to organizing the unorganized.

Changing the constitution can be quite disruptive to groups, and the first late day referral was in my opinion the right move since the super resolution in question was so watered down it looked nothing like the combination of resolutions that created it.

The young workers put on a forum panel which I attended. The result was good conversation with a union representative from Wisconsin and many interesting developments on the moment of the young workers in Canada. Afterwards the band Conscience, originally from Calgary, performed for us a few of their new tracks. I was impressed and finally tuckered out. Long days for me are a great motivator on why you sent us here in the first. place.

Everyday we have a special guest start us off. A musical Que that we are starting and it is time to find our seats. These women were wonderful in their fan dancing. Previous to this we had a jazz band, and a duet guitar set.

Here is our president Paul Moist shaking hands with the microphone muffins. A tireless job, for which I will explain in compete detail in a bit. The big story today was the visit by Jack Layton.

 This was the big event. Jack in all his glory came from the political world to shine his light on us. A joyous time in the room with everyone standing. Jack made his entrance with the ambiance that goes with the official opposition. Some people were even crying to see him here. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak about a year ago. In that moment I was able to go up and shake his hand. Here I think I may have been taken down by one of his RCMP colleagues. As soon as he was here, he was gone. It was nice to see that the guy who says he will be fighting for us and our ideals came by to say thanks. As with all politician I am of the belief that their actions are what will speak volumes. With a Conservative majority I think it will be a very tough road waking up society to a world where private industry sneaks into public facilities. I only hope we along with the NDP shout thought provoking messages that rally Canadians. Either way it was nice to hear from him.

The next part of the afternoon was filled with acclimations since none of the positions were being fought for. I guess the current positions were held by responsible members of the house of labour. It's my first time at convention so perhaps in 3 years I will have a different outlook. Congrats to all of the acclaimed members. We will have our ear to the ground.

A speaker from Wisconsin was able to share about their fight, and how it is our fight as well. I was interested in how people from all over came out of the woodwork to fight for their issues. Of course the fight is not over, but the reinvigoration of union members was impressive.

Of course we discussed more resolutions and all of them passed with flying endorsements. I think this afternoon I saw no one at a con microphone. Ken Georgetti pointed out that while the young workers were impressive with their show at the microphones, he wanted to highlight that because the were able to make their point fast or within the time limits, many more speakers were able to make their point before calling question. I think it was a great display from the chair and I personally wish many of the veterans CLC members could follow the lead of the young workers. It sometimes seems that the presidents or leaders of each provincial or national area like to hear themselves talk a little too much and dare the chair to shut their microphone down. I have to admit the more to the point a person who has the floor is, the less problem I have against tuning them out.

A good end to another long day. I think tomorrow I will go into explaining the fabled "Mic Muffin" and tell you what I think about it overall. I had the pleasure of being one today and seeing how it worked from the position itself.

JE still ongoing. New Benefit Carrier.

We found out last night that our Job Evaluation system is still ongoing. The specialist is still waiting on information from our Employer and will get the information this week. We  should hear back from them soon. I know this stage has been frustrating but there is a method to this process. Please be patient, ratification should be coming sooner than you think.

Other pretty big news is MEBAC. We (The City) are moving from Alberta Blue Cross to Green Shield. I am told the change over will be fairly smooth and the online forms are going to mean faster repayments. I don't know the exact details but the city is working on the info packet to all those involved. It is a big move and I am sure many Blue Cross workers will lose their jobs because of this. The infomation I have is that the plans will be the same and the benefit to our MEBAC admins will be far greater than Blue Cross. Time will eventually tell.

Election Packages are Out.

If you haven't received your package watch out for it. They went out yesterday and they are hitting boxes today.

Please vote.

Building Bargaining Strengths Final

My final thoughts on this conference is positive because I made the most of this conference. The setup on this weekend was a little loose for most people that had their local send them to build bargaining tools. This conference was more of a reflection of where we are going and what has happened to other locals. I learned a lot from the veterans because I only thought about bargaining as a member. Bargaining is in fact more complex and not only the members recommendations are used when building a proposal. Even time spent on  bargaining, knowing who and why those at the table are present come into play.

The overall setup of the conference was probably a little loose for some others at the conference. I felt as if it was a perfect situation for me to learn, but it wasn't set up like a regular weekend event.

I will be taking advantage if I am allowed a week long bargaining course. It is one of only a few more tools I need to feel confident in my drive to represent the members.

If you are interested here are some pitures that were taken of the event.
Bargaining Pictures

Building Bargaining Strengths Day 2

The day was interesting for me at least. I am not sure how it fared for others but I was getting the most out of it.

Building Bargaining Strengths

Five our your executive have been sent to Edmonton to participate in a conferences on bargaining. I am one of these individuals and I am excited to be able to start learning about bargaining. There is a different thought process that goes on when you are on the bargaining committee. Some have recently described it as trench warfare. I personally have not been able to sit on a bargaining committee yet but I hope that very soon I will be. This is all about building the tools I need and with this conference I will understand some of the nuances that go with bargaining in general.

We got off to an interesting start yesterday. The conference started at 7pm and we participated in a "World Cafe" where we did sort of an icebreaker mixer on where we all are with bargaining. Local 38 is here as well and I am curious about their strategies since we are very closely connected with them in our own coalitions but even more so because we share the same employer.

Of course I found that the social event was of great benefit for myself. I got to speak with old comrades from other locals across the province and we dive a little deeper into bargaining conversations when we are informally chatting among each other.

I am looking forward to today and will report back this evening or tomorrow. They have asked me to talk about a moment I had in Vancouver at CUPE National where I spoke up in a Pension Forum. I'm not sure I can talk for a full 15 minutes but I will try my best.

On a side note, the hotel we are staying at has been great so far. The local wanted to save some money so we are walking about 10 minutes to the conference location. For me this is great because I can pick up a snack on the way and the walk is quite good for me. We even managed to save some money by carpooling. It is nice to be able to save the local money on things like carpooling and hotels. These expenses which are essential to going to events like this can add up when many people go to conferences from our local.

Till tomorrow.

Thanks for coming by.

2012 Elections

The Official List of those who are running. You should be getting this in the mail with your ballots.