Amendments Introduced for Civil Service Collective Bargaining Act

Collective bargaining rights will be extended to seasonal and casual workers in the Nova Scotia civil service sooner under amendments to the Civil Service Collective Bargaining Act introduced today, Nov. 30, by Human Resources Minister Carolyn Bolivar-Getson.

"Seasonal and casual workers are an important part of government's ability to serve the needs of Nova Scotians," said Ms. Bolivar-Getson. "Nova Scotians rely on seasonal workers when our provincial parks open and the tourism industry is in full swing. And casual employees are hired throughout the year to work in various government departments."

Section 11 of the Civil Service Collective Bargaining Act restricts employee status from a variety of groups, including those employed on a casual basis for less than 12 months or on a temporary or summer basis for less than six months.

The proposed amendments to the act will allow these workers to be considered civil service employees after working for more than 10 continuous weeks.

After 10 weeks, those employed to do bargaining-unit work will become part of the bargaining unit, represented by the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU).

"In light of the June Supreme Court of Canada decision on bargaining rights, we feel this approach is fair and reasonable," said Ms. Bolivar-Getson.

This fall, the Public Service Commission met with the NSGEU to discuss possible changes to the act and to the Civil Service Master Agreement.

The parties have agreed to amend the Civil Service Master Agreement to ensure that those doing bargaining-unit work will be paid the same wages as civil servants in the bargaining unit.

Also discussed was how and when employees would gain access to various employee benefits, such as health and dental, paid vacation, group life insurance and other benefits.

If approved, the amendments will be effective Feb. 1, 2008.

The additional annual cost to government is currently being calculated, however, it is expected to be between $3 million and $10 million.

In the 2006 calendar year, there were about 1,990 seasonal or casual workers who worked with the province for more than 10 weeks.

BROADCAST USE:

Collective bargaining rights will be extended to seasonal

and casual workers in the Nova Scotia Civil Service sooner under

amendments to the Civil Service Collective Bargaining Act

introduced today, Nov. 30, by Human Resource Minister Carolyn

Bolivar-Getson.

Ms. Bolivar-Getson says that seasonal and casual

workers are an important part of the government workforce,

working in provincial parks and the tourism industry, and

throughout the civil service.

The proposed amendments will give these workers bargaining-

unit status after working for more than 10 continuous weeks. The

current threshold is six or 12 months.

If passed, the changes would be effective February 1st, 2008

and cost between three-to-10 million dollars.