May 2012

It has been a stressful few months at NRC.  There have been so many changes over a relatively short period of time.  NRC has been going through its restructuring as well as its budget setting exercise.  It also introduced the CTE and ultimately mapped all employees to some part of the organization.  During this time, many members have expressed frustration with the lack of information being provided to them.  Employees wanted to know where they were going, what they were going to do and whether they would have a job.  Until the tabling of the 2012 Budget, much of this information was unavailable.  The 2012 Budget was a bit of a surprise.  While NRC does have to find savings and make cuts, the extent is far less than what was originally anticipated. That does not mean that the impact will not be felt by RCEA members, it just means that we recognize that it could have been worse. 

Prior to NRC’s announcement of staff reductions, the RCEA negotiated a revised Work Force Adjustment policy (WFA).  It has not yet been signed into effect, however, as Treasury Board has yet to give its approval.    Treasury Board initially tried to tie the signing of the new WFA to the negotiation of all collective agreements at NRC.  This has never been the rule in the past and came as a complete surprise to the RCEA, PIPSC and the NRC.  The RCEA and PIPSC sent a joint letter to John McDougall, asking him to contact Treasury Board in hopes that they would reconsider their decision.  The President did this.  We have been told that TB has now backed off this requirement that all 10 collective agreements be signed, however, the WFA is still not signed and we have not received any indication on when it will be signed.  We encourage NRC to get this signed as soon as possible. 

I was shocked to learn of the decision to close IBD, to lay-off most of the staff and to sell the buildings.  This was entirely unexpected.  The notification to staff of the closing of IBD in Winnipeg and Calgary took place on April 17 2012.  Twenty-one (21) continuing and eleven (11) terms affected in Winnipeg and Calgary will see their jobs disappear.   Cuts are also taking place in Corporate Services Division and the Strategic and Operational Planning, the Knowledge Management and Communications groups.  Four (4) continuing RCEA members have received notices and 9 positions are included in ROM exercises, which will result in a further reduction of 6 positions.  Joan and I traveled to Winnipeg on April 20 to meet with the affected members.  Affected PIPSC members were also included in our meeting.   The meeting was intended to inform and answer any questions members had on the application of the WFA policy and to encourage members to complete their employee profiles and CVs.

At this time we do not have any information on future cuts.  We are in continuous communication with the NRC to ensure that affected members are treated properly and fairly and receive all the support and help needed during these difficult times.

Sincerely

Serge Croteau
President