Union seeks territorial relief workers
As government works to expand program, UNW expresses concern over 'wanton waste'
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Friday, September 23, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Union of Northern Workers believes there may be territorial government employees currently receiving some benefits who have not worked in years - some even up to a decade.
Union of Northern Workers President Todd Parsons says the union has resorted to ads and e-mailers to get statistics on the number of relief workers involved in grievances. - NNSL file photo |
This is one of a number of concerns that has come to light as part of collective agreement negotiations that have been ongoing between the GNWT and the union since January.
The employees are relief workers, due-paying members of the Union of Northern Workers (UNW), who are employed by the GNWT to fill in for full-time employees at workplaces that operate daily throughout the year.
UNW president Todd Parsons estimates there are around 400 relief workers employed by the territorial government but he said exact numbers are hard to isolate, as data provided by the government is limited to employees paid each pay cycle.
"We first became aware of it through the collective bargaining process when the employer said, 'We want to use more relief employees,'" said Parsons.
But he said since then, the GNWT hasn't been "forthcoming" with data. He said alarm bells started to ring when the union noticed discrepancies, like some employees on the books for a decade without a shift and others working in excess of the agreed upon hours for a relief employee without being offered even a short-term contract.
"A lot of the problem we're having is the employer is not forthcoming with any information around the use of relief employees, which makes it very hard for the union to ensure that the terms and conditions of the collective agreement are being followed," said Parsons.
So, the union has started a public call-out, including ads and e-mails asking relief workers with grievances to come forward. Relief workers, according to the collective agreement, are used to cover vacation, sick leave and other short-term absences. They can also be used to help the GNWT cut costs by cutting down on things like overtime. They are not meant to work for longer than 21 days at a stretch. They can include people like firefighters, nurses, and corrections officers.
 | Inappropriate human resource practices | 
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Parsons said relief workers are not meant to be used as substitutes for full-time employment, but that's exactly what's happening to many. Meanwhile, he says others are eligible for Public Service Health Care Plan benefits, medical travel assistance and a dental plan – with fees paid by their employer, the GNWT – without being offered a shift in years. Others are retired government employees who are still receiving their pension plan while being rehired as a relief worker.
"There's a lot of inappropriate human resource practices," said Parsons. "There's some wanton waste in the use of relief employees if they're not using those relief employees to backfill the indeterminate employees … We're not looking to get rid of them, but we don't want to expand the use of them."
Additionally, relief workers are not eligible for a pension plan and they do not earn paid leave, instead earning 14 per cent of their regular pay in lieu of vacation, sick or special leave. They're "at-and-when workers," meaning they're expected to be available during times when regular workers are not, like holidays and, like retail workers, if there's no work when they arrive for a shift, they can be sent home after four hours. However, they're not meant to replace a full time staff member.
"You're not supposed to … use a series of relief employees to avoid filling a full-time indeterminate position," said Parsons.
For example, Parsons said there are about 140 corrections officers currently employed by the government of the Northwest Territories. There are approximately 80 relief corrections officers.
"I'm going to say somewhere around 40 per cent of the corrections officers employed by the Government of the Northwest Territories are relief employees," said Parsons. "So they're not managing their relief as it was intended to be in the collective agreement."
He said during the collective bargaining process, GNWT representatives expressed an interest in expanding the program, which began in November 2005.
"What the employer indicated through our conversations was there was an interest to backfill relief employees," said Parsons.
"Relief for relief is what they suggested. The employer acknowledged that there may be a violation there, but they suggested to us that it was a one-off, and we asked them to do an audit, provide us with the information, and they weren't prepared to do that."
The Department of Human Resources declined to comment on an ongoing negotiation and would not provide Yellowknifer with additional statistics or information about its relief-worker program.
