The Numbers

I’ve created this spreadsheet to try and help members estimate the financial implications of the recent strike and tentative agreement. Please remember these numbers are all my best guess approximations based on the information available at the moment. Actual numbers may end up different.

 

You can input your own gross annual rate of pay in box B4, and see what numbers that produces.

 

If you need to look that up, you can find it here:Program and Administrative Services (PA) – PM: Programme Administration Group Annual rates of pay (in dollars)

 

The rate of pay numbers should be pretty accurate, but to get a back pay estimation we need to guess when the employer updates our rate of pay to the new rates.  They were pretty quick (a few months) on that last time.

 

I’ve therefore put 3 lines for potential back pay estimates. 

 

1.       The first assumes they instantly update our rate of pay as of June. This is trying to represent the lowest possible back pay you’ll see.

2.       The second assumes it takes them until September to update our pay.  This is probably the closest estimate to what you’ll end up seeing.

3.       The last assumes they aren’t able to update our pay until December.  This is less likely.  However realistically is when they’ll actually issue funds to us.

 

Please also note: If your rate of pay changed since June 2020, the math gets more complex.  I’d recommend putting your lowest rate of pay in to see the results, and then put your highest rate of pay in.  You can then accept that your back pay estimate should end up between those two numbers. If you did not start working with the commission until after June 2020, your back pay would only be for the period you actually worked. This sheet won’t accurately reflect that scenario.

 

I also tried to show how much you gained by going on strike. To do that I compared what your back pay would have been based on the wage offer we had before we voted to go on strike, with what we obtained in the tentative agreement.

 

I’ve also highlighted the difference in rates of pay moving forward as a result of the strike.  I used June 2023 as the reference date for that.

 

Finally I tried to estimate the cost if picketing for 8 days.  This is based on an estimated net daily rate of pay, less the $125 strike pay (PSAC $75 + CEIU $50). And then of course, if our members approve the local topping up strike pay to everyone’s net pay, and the local had sufficient funds to do so, there were no financial costs of going on strike. If the local did not have sufficient funds to fully top up our members, CEIU Ontario Region has the option of covering any shortfall, if they had sufficient funds to do so. Those last few steps are quite complex, and require further approval of members.  So they will take a little longer to implement than the initial $125 a day payments.

 

Remember, these are just the numbers. There were also non-monetary benefits are in addition to that.

 

If there was any doubt, reviewing the numbers highlights that going on strike was well worthwhile.

 

In solidarity,

Sandy Snider
Local 581 Union Treasurer

Full disclaimer: Any numbers estimated as a result of this post are estimates only. Your local holds no liability if actual numbers end up being different.