Bargaining Update #1

The AJC Negotiations Team (NT) has been very busy since filing our Notice to Bargain...Here's what you need to know:

· The input survey has now been completed and the results are being analyzed. Many thanks to the members that engaged in this most important exercise as it will form the basis of our proposals for the next round. We will be sharing more information with you about this very shortly. Should you have missed the opportunity to participate in the survey, you can forward any feedback, ideas or suggestions relating to bargaining can be forwarded to your Governing Council representative.

· After a successful Request for Proposal, which was sent to ten firms specialized in labour and employment law with a focus on the federal sector, the Negotiations Team interviewed the top four firms. The quality of the candidates was outstanding!  The team chose to retain Sean McGee and Chris Rootham, Senior Partners with Nelligan, Payne O'Brien, as offering the best overall fit to lead the AJC's Negotiations Team into the next round of bargaining.

· Luc Presser will be our new Treasury Board negotiator; we are hoping he will remain assigned to our bargaining unit throughout the entire process.  

· We also have sent tentative meeting dates set for November 23 to exchange proposals and December 17-19 for bargaining.

· Treasury Board has agreed in principle to a joint pay study and we will soon be discussing details in the hopes that we can agree on the scope and related methodologies.

· And finally, while this promises to be a lengthy process, we have filed a judicial review application of the conciliation decision issued by Mr. Brault.  We do not anticipate that the application will have any impact on TB's ongoing duty to comply with retroactive payment obligations under the existing award or on the negotiation timeframes for our current round as the parties continue to have a legal duty to negotiate in good faith and the application is a separate matter.