The Day After The Vote Before

The federal general electoral turnout in Canada hit a high of 79.4% in March of 1958.  Since then the trend has been decidedly downward reaching a low of about 58.8% in October of 2008.  The turn out of membership to vote for the recent Collective Agreement is very likely south of 50%.  I am guessing based on my observations of mobilisation turnouts and my own unscientific polling, but I would challenge anyone to prove me wrong.

Who votes in the General Elections? The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on his website states that the lowest number of voters come from the 18-20 age group with a percent turn out of 35.6% with the highest turnout coming from the 65-74 age group with a percentage turnout of 68.4%.

What are the reasons behind the year over year declines, or the clear segmented turnout by age group?  There is a lot of research attempting to address this question and I won't burden you with the mountains of links I could give you here.  What is important is that there are people gathering this information, analysing this information, and proposing fact based theories as to the causes of the declining turn out.

As in any democratic country citizen engagement like membership engagement is an absolute necessity to a healthy and resilient country or organisation capable of withstanding the forces that would like to see its demise.

Yet if one was to ask the questions of AMAPCEO - why do we have such a lack of member engagement or why was the member turnout so low for a substantial agreement that will impact their lives and the lives of their families for years to come?  Our honest answer would be "I don't know" and our worst response would  be a shrug. Both amount to a shameful lack of insight into our membership. We just don't have the factual evidence to answer the questions.

We are clueless and will remain clueless until we start asking our membership the hard questions.  Only afterwards can be begin formulating and testing theories -- and courses of action that will increase engagement and ultimately turnout to mobilisation efforts and penultimately voter turnout.

If we don't take this opportunity so soon after the voting for the Collective Agreement we will loose the chance to ask vital and basic questions before the membership replaces their reasons for voting or not voting with the mundane trivialities of everyday living.

I'll also leave you with some additional information to mull over.  According to the Top OPS Workforce Facts as of June, 2014, 62% of overall new hires in the OPS are 34 years of age or younger.  According to the website of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada the age groups 34 years of age and younger only vote 37% of the time.  Is this a enduring characteristic of this cadre?  Will they hold to this character trait as they age and replace the older members? What does that mean for our long-term viability as an association?

In closing I would also challenge the reader to consider what it means if my earlier guestimate is true and less than 50% or less than 5554 of our 11,500 members felt strongly enough to cast a vote on such a critical issue.  Moreover, is it honest to say that the ratification vote resulted in a 96.6% YES vote or is it a white lie since not all the facts were revealed? I will just ask the questions and leave it to the reader to decide and act ...or not. 

But I feel that these questions and others must be asked and this sort of fundamental information that MUST be gathered, shared openly and discussed with the membership, and included in any strategic planning that will occur in the near future.

THE TIME IS NOW !

Writing a note to your MPP - regardless of their party affiliation to protest the Employer's Collective Agreement proposals

Letter writing campaigns can be remarkably successful.  AMAPCEO has requested that its membership write a letter to their MPP to let them know that we consider their latest negotiation tactics and proposal to be unsatisfactory and mean spirited. 

AMAPCEO has a suggested letter template located on the website that members can use as the basis of a letter to their MPP. AMAPCEO is also encouraging members to personalise their MPP letters.  During mass campaigns, this helps letters to stand out.

For example, I'm providing a letter written by AMAPCEO activist Maryanna Lewyckyj, a former journalist (see letter below). I have taken the liberty of posting Maryanna's letter.  The letter has been circulated amongst a small group of people as an alternative to the one posted on the AMAPCEO website. Her letter includes some background information to support AMAPCEO's request for a fair deal. 

Whatever approach you take, the important thing is for people to get involved and let their MPP know how they feel.  I have included a link to each MPP's contact details that you will find useful.  Click Here.

______

As a constituent and public servant, I’m writing to you to draw your attention to a situation which former Secretary of Cabinet Tony Dean has described as “a recipe for low morale – just at the time we want public servants to stand tall and be their best.”

It concerns ongoing negotiations for the 11,000-plus members of AMAPCEO, the second-largest bargaining agent in the Ontario Public Service. AMAPCEO members have already made key sacrifices to meet fiscal restraint goals:

• In the last contract, AMAPCEO fixed-term contract workers had fewer vacation days than the minimum entitlement under the Employment Standards Act.
• The 2013 Ontario budget noted the agreement included a two-year wage freeze and the restructuring of merit pay, short-term sickness benefits and time-off provisions, which would result in cost avoidance of $24.6 million in 2012-13 and $30.4 million 2013-14.

The Liberal government has boasted that Ontario ranks lowest among all provinces in terms of public sector employees per capital (6.5 public sector employees per 1,000 people in 2012, compared to a national average of 9.7 employees per 1,000 people).

Despite this, the government is proposing drastic changes for AMAPCEO workers including:

•  Freezing pay: Through a new incentive pay structure where 60% of AMAPCEO workers (even those deemed fully effective) would not receive incentive pay. It would be possible for a fully effective employee to work an entire career without reaching the maximum of his/her salary range.
•  Massive healthcare cuts: Replacing paramedical coverage, currently $1,200 per family member for most services (physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage, etc.) with a $600 Health Care Spending Account for all family members for all services. 
• Forced retirement: Long-Term Income Protection benefits would cease the moment a recipient is eligible for an unreduced pension (instead of age 65). Forced retirement for those on LTIP means that workers must retire, even if they were expecting to fully recover and return to work.

Meanwhile, it’s estimated Ontario is missing out on more than $18 billion a year in revenues because of tax cuts dating from 1995 onwards. A good chunk of the tax cut largesse isn’t being pumped back into the economy. In 2012, former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney criticized Canada businesses for amassing a cash hoard of $526 billion of ‘dead money’ that wasn’t being invested productively or returned to shareholders. Since 2012 that cash hoard has continued to balloon. 

A recent International Monetary Fund report looked at the amount of ‘dead money’ held by non-financial firms, and found corporate Canada is leading the G7. The cash stash in Canada has almost doubled between the mid-1990s and 2012. At $626 billion, the amount exceeds the national debt. Ontario must look at ways to get corporate Canada to loosen its purse strings and stimulate the economy. Attacking public servants won’t achieve this goal. 

Running Canada’s biggest province requires a lot of brainpower, dedication and attention to detail. There’s a fine line between targeting savings and shooting yourself in the foot. Please ask the government to seek a fair deal with AMAPCEO workers and other civil servants rather than ripping apart the fabric of the Ontario Public Service benefits safety net. 

Labour shortage…. or is it just an unwillingness to pay the market rate?

During the negotiations leading up to the 2012 Collective Agreement AMAPCEO President, Gary Gannage told us during a town-hall that the Employer told the bargaining team that “Because of the down-sizing of RIM and other places we are going to be able to get IT folks at a dime a dozen. That’s what they said. I don’t agree with it, but that is what they said. Now that being said, there is no forecast that says that people will be red-circled for five years.  I don’t know how anyone gets that impression.  It is possible that there could be constrained for that period of time.  That being said we are back at bargaining in two years time and we’ll have to find out where things are going to lay at that point.”

Well that point is now.  RIM is still here, albeit a slimmer version, as are most ‘other places’.  Has anything really changed?  Despite the Employer’s disingenuous assertion IT folks are a dime a dozen IT folks are not a dime a dozen, in fact it is quite the opposite. While it may seem intuitive that the rapid growth of both consumer and business technology would make Information and Communications Technology (ICT) one of the most desirable fields for new job-market entrants, Industry Canada data shows that in 2011 the year before the last agreement was signed that the number of ICT workers as a percentage of the total workforce declined from 3.6% in 2002 to 3.3%.  Another research study released 2011 this time by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) projected an across-the-board increase in demand of 106,000 IT workers in Canada (or about 19%) between 2011 and 2016 with few new market entrants available to fill them.

The Canadian Business Education Partnership, a not-for-profit organization that advocates on key issues impacting career exploration and workforce development cites a 2011 study undertaken by them that indicates Canada will be confronting a shortage of information and communications technology labour over the next five years. The CBEP says that in Ontario, about 51,000 information and communication technologies jobs will need to be filled in the next five years.  Some dime.  Some dozen.

Moreover, in a press release dated October 28^th, 2013, the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) and Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) that the reality is that while the ICT industry’s unemployment rate is less than 3% their research shows that over 100,000 critical ICT jobs will need to be filled by 2016.  The report’s author John O’Grady of Prism Economics and Analysis, says too that declining enrolment in post-secondary programs and increased difficulty bringing temporary skilled workers to Canada, those employees will be difficult to find. 

 So now the Employer’s argument that IT folks are a dime a dozen is contradicted by both Industry Canada and empirical studies conducted by industry organisations, yet our Employer continues to pare down the number of internal IT positions. One really has to begin to wonder why.  Clearly the evidence would point towards an argument that IT folks are indeed a scarce resource that should be encouraged to stay within government.

But moving on, the shortage of skilled ICT professionals has not been lost on people such as Chris Alexander, Federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, who in September of 2013 while speaking to attendees at a National Bank of Canada event conveyed his concerns about Canada’s labour shortage.  Alexander pressed business owners to communicate with the government and help raise awareness for the specific skills needed to sustain this country’s labour force.  “Skill shortages are literally on our doorsteps,” he warned. “Let’s not forget how competitive this [immigration] market is … the fierce competition for the most competent people.”  Yet our Employer denies that the reality of the skills shortage in the ICT sector and implies that there is a glut of talented ICT people in the market place - at least to us but to the voting public they are a little less disingenuous and recognize the need and admit to shortages.

As recently as February 19^th our own Immigration and Citizenship Minister Michael Coteau said Ontario could set targets for attracting more skilled immigrants.  Couteau then goes on to say the changes would help Ontario lure experts in fields like information technology, where there are shortages, and run a larger program than the one that now brings 100,000 new residents annually.  “We’ve seen skilled immigrants choosing other jurisdictions and other provinces in North America because there are opportunities.” I guess that would happen when you chose not to pay them a fair market salary.

Stepping back two years, in a September 11, 2012 article in the Financial Post, Sharif  Faisal, chief economist for the ICTC  writes “All Employers are being very cautious about giving [pay] raises and holding onto their cash, but that’s not the case for ICT professionals,” “They’re constantly getting raises. They’re 3% higher [today] than what they were getting in January.”  Except of course where the salaries are frozen and if the Employer has their way will remain frozen for another four years.

This all makes me wonder what the real end game is. Is it simply cost cutting?  After all IT folks are amongst the highest paid in the provincial government and therefore an obvious target if you are a bean counter who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Or does this behavior over the last few years point to another scenario?  Perhaps one where the object is for government to get out of the business of employing full time IT folks with the endgame being to hand over the entire operation to third parties such as IBM, HP, or some other large IT outsourcer who will in turn outsource the work to a poorly paid, well educated, workforce in India.  Or is it simply short-sightedness brought on by a looming debt crisis caused on by spend thrift politicians out to garner votes at any cost.

If you are particularly interested in more important discussion about the shortage of skilled information and communication technology (ICT) workers in Canada (Industry Canada (2010) Improving Canada's Digital Advantage; IBM (2012) Fast Track to the Future; and Information and Communications Technology Council (2011), Outlook for Human Resources in the ICT Labour Market, 2011-2016).

Create a Sunshine List for Private Contractors working within the OPS

In a recent Toronto Star Article OPSEU President Smokey Thomas has voiced an idea that many of us with the OPS IT community have been trying to be made heard. The idea is that a equivalent Sunshine List be created for Fee for Service consultants.  The Toronto Star article quotes Smokey as saying that the legislation “doesn't go far enough” and the sunshine list of public servants earning $100,000 a year and up should be expanded to include private contractors working for governments.  Thank you Smokey for unknowingly supporting what many IT workers in AMAPCEO have been talking about. 

The most recent count that we have tells us that there were roughly 1800 Information Technology Fee for Service Consultants working within the OPS during this fiscal year. The projections are that there will be more Fee for Service Consultants hired in the new fiscal year as new business requirements result in new projects that require Information Technology to become reality.  

Lets look at what some Fee for Service Consultants can make using the daily rates set by the Government of Ontario.  I'll use IT Architects as the example because I am one and am most familiar with that group.  Lets annualise those rates over a fiscal year. It becomes readily apparent that the payments to Fee for Service Consultants are much higher than that paid to AMAPCEO represented employees for equivalent services.

Role	Min Salary	Avg Salary	Max Salary	Median
Application Architect 1	$      73,515	$     125,071	$     152,945	$     124,722
Application Architect 2	$     104,273	$     156,436	$     198,575	$     156,325
Application Architect 3	$     122,525	$     188,083	$     236,600	$     185,900
Business Architect 1	$      73,515	$     125,229	$     156,832	$     126,750
Business Architect 2	$     104,273	$     156,982	$     194,350	$     158,860
Business Architect 3	$     122,525	$     188,170	$     236,600	$     185,900
Data Architect/Modeller 1	$      73,515	$     120,443	$     152,945	$     118,300
Data Architect/Modeller 2	$      98,020	$     149,459	$     186,238	$     149,143
Data Architect/Modeller 3	$     122,525	$     180,764	$     228,150	$     179,732
Information Architect 1	$      73,515	$     122,949	$     158,860	$     122,525
Information Architect 2	$     104,273	$     153,974	$     194,350	$     152,100
Information Architect 3	$     122,525	$     185,152	$     236,600	$     185,900
Security Architect 1	$      73,515	$     128,132	$     160,550	$     126,750
Security Architect 2	$     104,273	$     161,147	$     202,800	$     160,550
Security Architect 3	$     147,030	$     193,618	$     245,050	$     194,350
Solutions Designer 1	$      73,515	$     113,087	$     147,030	$     114,920
Solutions Designer 2	$      94,978	$     140,910	$     183,872	$     139,425
Solutions Designer 3	$     114,920	$     166,054	$     214,630	$     167,141
Technical Architect 1	$      73,515	$     125,450	$     160,550	$     125,060
Technical Architect 2	$     104,273	$     155,440	$     194,350	$     155,903
Technical Architect 3	$     122,525	$     185,581	$     228,150	$     185,731

It is clear to see from here that almost all the Fee for Service Consultants make it to the Sunshine List if they are paid the minimum rate let alone the average salary.

Just for reference a new employee entering any of those positions will earn at most $99,600 while the Fee for Service person sitting in the next cubicle is making much much more -- without their salary being frozen.  At these pay rates the OPS unionised employee will beat out any Fee for Service Contractor if they were required to compete for work within the OPS.

So I say bring it on!  If the Wynne government wants to be transparent and accountable post the Fee for Service Sunshine List and let the Ontario Tax Payer know exactly how much they are paying for private contractors.  Let the Ontario Tax payer decide where they are getting value for money.

Revitalised Position Strengthens AMAPCEO

As OPS staff and AMAPCEO members we have taken much for granted over the years.  We have had satisfactory pay scales, sufficient vacation days and working conditions have been comfortable.  Up until two years ago, we were all pretty happy and complacent.  We have one person to thank for that quality of working life  – Gary Gannage.  Without Gary, AMAPCEO would not have the strength of its members that we have today.  In 2014, he continues to lead the charge.

But what happens if anything happens to Gary.  It is a question an organization has to answer when so much has been accomplished by one person.  AMAPCEO’s answer is simple - bring the role of Vice President out of the closet. 

I say “bring it out of the closet” because we have the position as part of our constitution but, as a Board of Directors, we have not been utilizing the position in a proactive way.

Utilizing the VP position is simply a smart governance move designed to create a succession planning process that ensures continuity of leadership. But for AMAPACEO,  it was very much a strategic move too.

In the past, AMAPCEO has been a fair amicable partner supporting the challenges faced by our employer. However, given its antics of the last two years, our employer has shown itself as a management group that has changed. No longer is the bargaining process fair or amicable.  For some reason the OPS, as an employer, has taken to not honouring commitments, bargaining in bad faith and taking action that requires AMAPCEO to seek and sometimes take legal action. 
 

Unfortunately, AMAPCEO has had to strongly push back. Bringing forward the VP position sends a signal that AMAPCEO is changing too. We are no longer the friendly bunch who assumed our employer appreciates what we do as staff. The resurrection of VP position and the changes the Board of Directors made to the job description strengthens its role to be significantly more  active and critical.  The VP role will help make our employer realize that AMAPCEO is unified, prepared and a force to be reckoned with now more than ever. Specifically the VP role held by Sally Pardaens, will be actively involved with or lead:

• AMAPCEO Central Employee Relations Committee (ACERC) 
• Job Evaluation Joint Steering Committee and Job Evaluation Appeals Committee 
• Joint Benefits Review Committee (when required as Association spokesperson). The Joint Benefits Review committee is a bilateral committee, consisting of an equal number of AMAPCEO and Management Board of Cabinet (MBS) representatives, established under the Collective Agreement to deal with issues such as the adjudication of benefit denials, monitoring of carrier performance, communication regarding group health plans and other matters related to benefits.
• Classification Review Sub-Committee (when required as Association spokesperson). The Classification Review sub-committee is a panel consisting of equal representation of three (3) Association representatives and three (3) Employer representatives convened to review classification matters that remain in dispute after being reviewed by the Enterprise Classification Unit (ECU).
• Article 27 Committee (when required as Association spokesperson) A committee established under Article 27 – Dispute Resolution of the Collective Agreement it hears any complaint concerning Article 27A may be referred by either party to the Article 27A Committee composed of a minimum of three (3) representatives of each party, and a maximum of five (5)
• Meetings of all bargaining agents with the Employer. 

The expanded duties will include working closely with the Board of Directors, the new Chief Administrative Officer (to be hired in the few months) and senior AMAPCEO staff to develop policies and procedures to effectively and efficiently realize our strategic and operating plans. This close working relationship will further ensure that AMAPCEO safeguards its values and meets established goals and priorities. 

The revised job function will see Sally be responsible for developing and strengthening the various Chapters, AMERCs, and the ERCs.  This expanded role will help the Association strengthen the grassroots leadership so important for developing our leadership pipeline.

As a member of AMAPCEO, you will see Sally at committee and membership meetings including mobilisation meetings.  Part of her role as VP is the 2014 mobilisation efforts freeing up the President so he can focus his efforts on the current round of Collective Bargaining and the day to day running of the Association.  

Equally important, Sally will now accompany Gary or attend on his behalf, all meetings with senior government officials including but not limited to political leaders or Deputy and Assistant Deputy Ministers. This is an extremely important change in the role of the Vice President in as much sends a very strong message that while our leadership roles have expanded, AMAPCEO  leadership is united and acts as one.
  

Click comments and leave a congratulatory message for Sally. She’s IN it for you.

Demanding a fair wage based on Market Studies

I have to confess a bias right from the start.  I work in Information Technology and confess to writing my first computer program using both mark-sense cards and a key-punch machine at the tender age of 16.  I'll let you all do the math to guess my age.  Nevertheless one could say that I've been working within Information Technology for a while.  During the time that I've worked in the Information Technology Industry I've seen enormous change.  I've also seen the enormous and almost invisible impact that Information Technology has on our daily lives.  I say almost invisible because it is ubiquitous it is everywhere and seen nowhere.  Even if we hold it in the palm of our hands we fail to see that it was innovation within the Information Technology industry that allows us to speak to people thousands and thousands of kilometres away as if they were standing right next to you or perform intensive computational feats beyond the scale of any computing platform that I learnt on. 

That ubiquitousness is very much a plus to the public but it is also very much a minus to information technology workers in the OPS.  While we all accept and embrace the use of information technologies in our everyday lives, the public fails to understand or value,  the knowledge, training, and talent that goes into making all that possible.

It would appear too that the Employer also fails to understand that all of its services and programs available to the public and the bureaucracy are there because of information technology, because of the decades of accumulated knowledge, the years of training, the information strategies and architectures that provide the planning foundation for the millions upon millions of lines of software code written by a highly intelligent -- and mobile workforce.  That workforce, especially when there is an uptick in the economy and the private sector decides to spend money, are quickly courted and romanced with generous bonuses and benefits. 

The Employer seems to have forgotten the real value of the Information Technology worker to its ability to implement policies and provide services to the people of Ontario or even to the day to day running of government.  Otherwise why would it force below market salaries onto its information technology workers and risk alienating them.  Is it arrogance or ignorance?  

During the last Collective Agreement information technology workers and their contribution and importance to the delivery of services to the public and the bureaucracy was  disrespected and disregarded by the Employer when AMAPCEO was forced to concede to a set of pay levels based on what is now widely regarded as an incompetently implemented job evaluation system. For comparative purposes I am including a excerpt from the salary scale under which information technology workers are graded and paid.   

I have also included a table from a salary guide report authored by a very influential and respected company that regularly comments on, amongst other things, the salary outlooks for workers across many business sectors and regions. But first is the pay scales imposed by the Employer during the last round of bargaining. Most AMAPCEO represented technology workers fall into the level 6 category with a handful of outliers falling into level 7.

Government of Ontario IT 2013 Salary Guide

Classification Levels	2013
5	$64,605		$  90,300
6	$69,680		$  99,600
7	$75,000		$105,740
8	$85,000		$116,210

You can see for yourself how ridiculously low the Employer compensates information technology workers compared to what those information technology workers could be paid in the private sector.

Robert Half Technology 2014 Salary Guide

Job Title	2013				2014				% Change
Database Manager	$96,500		$129,250		$102,000		$136,500		5.8%
Database Developer	$77,500		$109,250		$  82,750		$116,500		6.7%
Database Administrator	$77,000		$105,000		$  81,000		$110,500		5.2%
Data Analyst/Report Writer	$68,750		$  94,500		$  72,250		$  99,250		5.1%
Data Architect	$97,250		$132,750		$104,000		$142,000		7.0%
Data Modeler	$81,250		$110,500		$  85,750		$116,750		5.6%
Data Warehouse Manager	$93,750		$126,500		$  99,250		$133,750		5.8%
Data Warehouse Analyst	$86,000		$117,000		$  91,000		$123,750		5.8%
Business Intelligence Analyst	$76,000		$105,750		$  81,750		$113,750		7.6%
Portal Administrator	$68,000		$  92,500		$  71,500		$  97,250		5.1%
Quality Assurance (QA) & Testing (c)
ONTesting Manager	$76,750		$102,750		$  80,500		$107,750		4.9%
QA Associate/Analyst	$64,500		$  90,250		$  67,250		$  94,250		4.4%
Internet & E-Commerce (d)
Senior Web Developer	$84,750		$109,500		$  89,750		$116,000		5.9%
Web Developer	$62,000		$  89,750		$  65,750		$  95,250		6.1%
Web Administrator	$62,250		$  81,750		$  64,500		$  84,500		3.5%
Web Designer	$65,250		$  90,000		$  69,000		$  95,250		5.8%
Electronic Data Interchange (ED I) Specialist	$66,250		$  92,000		$  69,750		$  96,750		5.2%
E-Commerce Analyst	$66,000		$  94,750		$  69,750		$100,250		5.8%
Messaging Administrator	$63,500		$  80,000		$  67,000		$  84,500		5.6%

Now in the current round of negotiations the Employer will place even more pressure on the Association to keep the salaries scales where they are, to trim back your benefits to a point where they are laughable, and to NOT provide any merit incentives to even employees deemed “fully effective” by their managers. Under this proposal, only those that the Employer deems to be the very highest performers would be rewarded with a merit increase, reduced from current levels. Moreover, the Employer is pushing to eliminate the majority of your current paramedical provisions, and drastically reduce the eligible drugs the plan will pay for.

Meanwhile, private sector information technology workers enjoy market rate salaries, pay for performance bonuses, good health-care benefits, and year-end bonuses that number in the thousands of dollars or tens of thousands of dollars.  All the while you are stuck at a below market salary.

Should you be angry with the Employer's attempt to decimate your benefits package, and to continue to again freeze your salary -- up to you but I am mad as hell and am not going to take it!  Make your voice heard and your presence felt!

Post the AMAPCEO posters and fly the AMAPCEO flag at your desk, Wear the AMAPCEO lanyard and badges to meetings.  Make the employer aware that you too are as mad as hell and aren't going to take it any more.  You gave at the office last time! 

If you have any questions and comments about bargaining direct them to opsbargaining@amapceo.on.ca