Why isn’t the collective agreement retroactive to May 2018?
The AJC bargained hard with Treasury Board in an effort to get a compensation deal that would be retroactive to 2018. Numerous options were pursued with the Employer in order to accomplish this. While the Employer listened to and considered the AJC’s proposals on retroactivity, they were all rejected – primarily on the basis of the significant cost associated with this retroactivity. In the end, it became clear that the deal which was ultimately struck would have been jeopardized if the AJC had insisted on retroactivity to 2018.
In addition, if the joint pay studies had been completed and the issue of compensation had proceeded to arbitration, there was a restrictive path to retroactivity to May 2018. One option open to the arbitrator was to award a percentage economic adjustment uniformly applicable to all LP levels effective May 2018. This option would have precluded a compensation award comparable to what has been achieved by the tentative agreement.