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Members will recall that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the APUO negotiated in the wake of Bill 124, Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generation Act, 2019 being ruled unconstitutional, was ratified on November 1, 2023. As per this MoU, the Employer had until February 29, 2024 (i.e., 120 days from November 1, 2023), to implement salary adjustments and retroactive pay. In January 2024, the Employer provided the following timeline for meeting its obligation:
- adjusted salaries would be applied as of Members’ February 15, 2024 pay;
- retroactive pay would be processed in two stages:
- the period following the launch of Workday (May 2023 to January 2024) to be paid on February 15, 2024; and
- the period preceding the launch of Workday (May 2021 to April 2023) to be paid on February 29, 2024.
The Employer has since informed the APUO that some 198 current and past Members did not receive their retroactive payments on February 29, attributing the delay to problems with Workday and the complexity of the individual member’s files. The affected members should have received their payments on March 15, 2024. Affected members who did not receive their payment on March 15 are invited to communicate with the APUO at their earliest convenience.
The APUO has filed an association grievance against the Employer for its failure to respect the Memorandum of Understanding.
On a related note, the APUO has asked the Employer about when Members can expect to receive statements outlining the breakdown of their adjusted pay rates. uOttawa’s Payroll Service hopes to issue such statements this month (March) but has not provided a specific date. We have been told Members will be able to view these statements by accessing the “my Documents” section of Workday.
We will, of course, share any further information regarding salary statements when we receive such details from the Employer.
In our December Mini-Bulletin, we informed Members about two association grievances the APUO had filed regarding Workday. The first grievance relates to systemic shortcomings with the implementation of Workday and the multiple failures of the platform. The second grievance relates to the transfer of tasks traditionally performed by support staff to APUO Members following the implementation of Workday.
The APUO met with the Employer about each grievance on December 8, 2023. However, the parties were unable to resolve these matters. In mid-January, the Employer refused the APUO’s offer to go to mediation. Consequently, both association grievances will be scheduled for arbitration in the upcoming months.
We will update Members about developments on these grievance files in the months ahead.