News shirts and used socks: Senate, union at odds over uniform issues

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OTTAWA — A contentious battle over uniforms between the Senate and a union representing employees of the red chamber has raised a vexing question: Do employees have to return used black socks when they leave?

Uniform issues are one of two outstanding points preventing the Senate from signing a new agreement with the 79 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s (PSAC) operational group after more than 18 months of bargaining.

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So contentious is the issue that a federal arbitrator had to step in with a ruling last month.

In an interview, PSAC national negotiator Morgan Gay said uniform replacement is a longstanding issue for operational group employees, who work in the Senate mail services, maintenance, printing services and committee room support.

“To someone on the outside, it might sound absurd. But it’s a real irritant for people and they live it every day. Every day, there’s a hole in their boot or their uniform and they want to get it fixed,” Gay said. “But the Senate drags it out … so it pisses people off. They’re blue-collar people.”

Every employee who is required to wear a uniform is provided one by the Senate when hired. The items vary depending on the role and can include shirts, pants, safety shoes, sunglasses, toques and even winter coats.

The current practice is that when an item gets worn out, the employee must return it to the Senate, which will order a replacement.

But by the Senate’s own admission, it takes six to eight weeks for replacement items to arrive. According to PSAC, “employees are having to use worn hats, boots, and other items of clothing while the order is outstanding.”

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The union argued the Senate should replace every clothing item yearly, a proposal the Senate called “wasteful and costly.”

The Senate countered that it’s the employees’ fault for not telling their employer sooner that they’ll need a replacement.

The parties were so deadlocked over the issue that the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) had to sort it out in a ruling published in mid-July.

“Both PSAC and the Senate acknowledged that there are workable solutions to these problems and accused the other party of digging in on ideological grounds,” FPSLREB member Christopher Rootham wrote on behalf of the panel with Joe Herbert and Steve Chaplin.

“The Board agrees that there are workable solutions to these problems, and it wants the parties to go find them,” Rootham added in a line that betrays the panel’s irritation at the deadlock.

Since negotiations began in February 2023, there appear to have been few concessions by either party on the uniform issue except on the socks question.

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The Senate requires departing employees return every piece of work clothing given to them, right down to the socks.

“PSAC also proposes that employees be permitted to keep all of their clothing when they leave the Senate unless the item has a Senate identification on it (which the Senate must keep for security reasons). PSAC had no reason why the Senate should do this,” Rootham wrote for the board.

“Similarly, though, the Senate had no reason why it wanted old clothing returned to it. It instead relied on the principle of ownership: It owns the clothing, so it wants it returned — at which point it throws it in the garbage,” he added.

Rootham said the Senate was willing to drop the requirement.

Even the traditionally most contentious issue — wage increases — was resolved by the FPSLREB panel, which ordered a middle-of-the-road 11.25 per cent increase for the employees over three years (PSAC wanted 13 per cent, the Senate offered 10 per cent).

The panel also ordered the parties to set up a new wage grid for the workers, helping resolve the only other outstanding issue at the bargaining table.

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But when it came to the outstanding issue of uniform replacement, the Board’s ruling was clear: Get back to the bargaining table and figure it out in 90 days.

To help the parties with their negotiations, the FPSLREB took the uncommon step of telling them what the Board would not order if the issue isn’t resolved by then.

It said it would not order that every item of work clothing be replaced annually, nor would it accept a promise by the Senate to improve the delivery time of replacement clothing (though it encouraged the employer to do that).

Marie-Pier Albert, the Senate’s director of parliamentary and legal affairs, said in an email that current talks don’t amount to a “conflict” but are part of regular negotiations. She declined to comment further until a deal is signed.

National Post

nacnardi@postmedia.com

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