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- Your gover nment's Position on negotiations with the CI ilService As ication o O no. The Government of Ontarlo has offered the CSAO an average 20% pay increase over one year andaim prepared to go to arbitration. CSAO Ieadership has refuised this oller and also refuses to go to arbitration. We believe, as your gomerment, we have offered a fair and reasonable contract. For almost three months now the Government of Ontario bas been trying to negotiate a new collec- tive agreement with the Civil Service Association of Ontario covering sonne 19,000 civil servants in the Operational Services Category. With less than two weeks* -negotiating time left before the current contract expires and the CSAO Sthreatening an illegal strikeon January lst if it doesn't have a new agreement by then,' we thought it was time to, let you, the taxpayers of Ontario, know directly howand where things stand. After ail, it is your tax dollars that wilI be used to pay for any wage settlement we make with Q. these employees. And it is your services that wilI be threatened with disruption if the CSAO carnies out its threat of an illegal walkout. The. gov.ranunt has tfled to negotiate in good faith. The CSAO first served its demands on the govern- *ment on September 27th. The Association told us then it wanted a 611/2 per cent wage increase in a one-year contract for 1975. That didn't seem to goverrnment negotiators to be a serious or realistic demand on which to base negotiations and we began a series of meetings with CSAO representatives to try and discover where the real bargaining area lay. We met twice in October and againi for two days early in Nove mbe r. During those meetings we set for-th our counter- proposaIs. First, we suggested a two-year contract, with wage increases, of 10 to 16 per cent'in the first year and 8 per çent in the second. Despite written assurance that this was a negotia- ble offer, the CSAO leadership însisted on taking it to iîts membership and, on that basis, on getting a mandate for an illegal strike if there was no agree- ment byiJanuary 1 st. The CSAO membership vote took two weeks and it wasn't until Decemiber 2nd and 3rd that we were able to sit down again with Association rep- resentatives. At these meetings, as they had from the outset, CSAO negotiaitors refused to move from their initial demnand for a 611/2 per cent wage increase-an increase that would cost you, the taxpayers of Ontario, almnost $100 million in additional wage bis in 1975. Given this situation, government negotiators decided a major move was ncsay Since the CSAO had been insisting that the goverinment make an offer it could take back to its member-_ ship, on December 3rd ouir representatives put their fuît mandate on the bargaining table.' The. govemment has made a fair and reasonable wage off or. The offer tabled by governiment negotiators on December 3rd represented a considerable move from 'our initial position. ln recognition of -the uncertainties caused by Canada's çurrent infla- tionary climate,,we proposed a one-year contract which would allow both sides to return -to the bargaining table in 12 months when we could review the economic situation at that time. For the 12 months of 1975, we proposed- wage increases averaging 20 per-cent for the 19,000 employees involved. The increases actually ranged from 15 to 23 per cent, depending on the employee group involved, but more than 80 per cent of the civil servants would receive 20 per cent or more. The cost to the taxpayers of these increases would be $32.7 million in 1975. The governiment made this proposai in a sincere attempt to be fair and reasonable with its employ- ees, while, at the same time, recognizing its wider responsibilities to the taxpayers and economy of our province. Our research, based on surveys of more than 120 employers in Ontario, indicated that our wage levels would be competitive with those paid elsewhere in the province for compara- ble work. In fact, the 20 per cent increase for one. year compared with an average annual increase.of 14.5 per cent in contracts signed in redent months by private employers in Ontario,. Tii. government is mioving to improve the collective bargaining siyste m. Concurrently, but separate from the actual wage negotiations, government representatives have been discussing with the CSAO and other em- ployee organizations possible changes in the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act whichi governs collective bargaininig fo r public servants. On December 5th the Hon. Eric Winkler. Chair- man of the Management Bourd, introduced the government's proposed amendments in the Legis- lature. The Bill recomrnends i numberof changes in the Act, including thý e, highlv significanit ones: (1) It proposes a rLvision iii the method of ap- pointing arbitration bad (the ultimate recourse under the law to s.ettle differences) to ensure that the makeup of 1hese, boards does not *appear to favor either side. U gder the proposed change, the employee agent and the employer each would name onme member to the board and they. in turn, woulId agree.on the choice of a neutral third person as chairman. This amendment responds directly to one of the major demands made by the CSAO in its campaign against the Act. (2) Similar changes would be.made to ensure fuîl and equal em-ployee representation on the Public Service Grievance Board and the Ontario Public Service Labor Relations Tribunal, the other two major bodies established under the Act. (3) If these amendments oare accepted by the Legislature, employees frenceférth would be able to bargain on ýsuch maiýitters as prom otions, de- motions, transfers, layoffs and the classification and job evaluation system. Under the present law, ail of these are considered management's prerog- ative. The proposed amendments also provide an opportunity, short of actual bargaining, for cm- ployee representatives to discuss and review with the employer the governing principles of the menit system, training and development, appraisal and super annuation. The govemment wants a settiemont- but it must be pr.par.d for San illegal stnke. During recent days, there bas been one new devel- opment. On Decemrber I 3th the CSAO, for the first time, formally dropped its demand for a 611'/2 per cent wage increase and said, instead, it wanted a 4 1 per cent hike for 1975. At the time this state- ment was prepared the government had ieplied that it could flot in aIl responsibility accept a demnand of that magnitude. The government, for lits part, remnains ready to negotiate seriously and in good faith within the framnework of its December 3 rd proposaI. We have already offered to subm-it the issue to an arbitra- tion board to be set up on the basis of the proposed amiendmrents to the Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act. In the meantime, since January lst isn't far away, the governmnent has had to formulate contingency plans in the event the CSAO !leadership persists in calling an illegal strike. We hope that doesn't happen. We eèxpect that our employees won't break the Iaw. But if they do, we are determined to meet our- responsibility to maintain those services you rightfully expect to receive from your govern- ment. W. believe w. have been fair and reasonable with our em-ployees and responsible to you as taxpayers and to the economy of our province. This statement represents the status of negotiations as of publication deadline. Ontario Gîovergnmer.t of Ontarlo Managemnent Board -i