Classifications Implementation: February Update

Posted
February 13, 2025

Most HSA members covered by the HSPBA collective agreement have had a fairly smooth transition to the new profile-based classification system since it was fully implemented on December 6, 2024.
 
In many cases, the new system has resulted in an additional pay increase for members, and if that’s you, please take a look at the new wage schedules to confirm that you’re being paid appropriately. If you’re entitled to retro pay, please keep an eye on your pay stubs as you should receive it no later than February 28.
 
But a lot of members are still facing problems because the employer is digging in.  This is a particularly difficult issue for pharmacists, and advanced practice and supervisory roles in medical imaging and medical laboratories.
 
It’s an extremely challenging situation, and HSA is working hard to help members where the employer is objecting to our position, so we share your frustration. We are now working through the processes needed to address these problems, and this bulletin aims to provide you with an update on how that is going.

Union Stewards and Staff are Working Hard to Support Grievances
 
Hundreds of classification grievances have been filed by HSA members, stewards and staff in the weeks since the new classification system was implemented in December. Stewards at many worksites have been incredibly busy advising and assisting members, filing grievances, and consulting with labour relations officers. Staff in your union’s classifications department are working flat-out to assist members and stewards, file grievances, and review job descriptions.
 
This workload means that, even with additional staff, we are focussed on meeting members’ needs. We want to give frequent updates, but the reality is that we must prioritize our time and resources appropriately and only distribute updates when there is something meaningful to share. We ask for your patience and understanding that stewards and staff, at this time, are not in a position to provide regular updates unless they have a meaningful update. In many cases the union has already advanced matters to the employer, who seem to be moving at a glacial pace.
 
Stewards and LROs are also being contacted by members who would like to see changes made to the classification system. This is not the time to submit these suggestions to your union – the deadline to submit bargaining proposals was last fall. Classifications are part of your collective agreement, which means that changes must be made through bargaining. Your bargaining committee is preparing for negotiations right now, guided by the proposals – including over three hundred related to classifications – that were submitted to, discussed at, and prioritized by elected delegates at last fall’s Bargaining Proposal Conference. Please click here to learn more about the bargaining process or talk to your regional director to learn how they and your bargaining team are already planning to advance classifications concerns during negotiations in the coming months.

Anomalous/Unique Classifications
 
Several hundred members are still waiting for the employer to properly classify and pay their jobs; in the meantime, the employer has classified these members’ positions as “anomalous/unique”.
 
These members largely fall into three groups:

  • Supervisory/leadership roles with no clearly designated FTEs on the organizational chart;
  • Multi-profession jobs (jobs that can be performed by members from multiple health science professions, with multiple wage schedules); and
  • Supervisory/leadership positions who supervise teams comprised of multiple health science professions

 
Your union has been raising the issue of these classifications since the spring of 2024 – with no meaningful response from the employer. As a result, your union filed policy grievances on these three issues on December 20, 2024. Classifications staff are moving these grievances forward and have already met with the employer, with more dates scheduled in February and March.
 
However, based on the limited response to date from the employer, we believe that these grievances may need to be transferred to our legal department and set for hearing by an arbitrator, which is not a quick process. We will work to update affected members whenever we have meaningful updates to share.
 
If your job has been classified as anomalous/unique, please ensure that your union has a current personal email address for you on file. If you feel that you are being paid per the wrong classification or wage schedule, you should also contact your steward to file an individual grievance.

P2A Special Procedures/Techniques
 
The P2A special procedures/techniques profile is for jobs that “involve a specialized area of practice [within your specific profession] which in turn requires a recognized level of expertise or competency obtained through specialized education, training and experience which is over and above the P1 working level and is required in order to carry out the duties”. Essentially, this means that your job involves work that couldn’t be done by another member of your profession who doesn’t have your specialized education, training, and experience.
 
There is no time limit for adding work to the P2A profile, as this is a new and ongoing collective agreement right. There is also no requirement for each individual member to make a P2A submission – we only need to submit once per profession.
 
To date, your union has moved forward with thirty-three submissions for ten professions that we feel meet the definition of a special procedure/technique. Classifications staff continue to review the significant number of member submissions and, where we have all the required information and the work meets the definition of a special procedure/technique, submit them to the employer as potential new P2A procedure/technique.
 
Your union’s classifications staff believe that the P2A claims that we have made to the employer have merit, but we are waiting for the employer to respond to our submissions. Pending upcoming discussions, we may need to advance some, possibly many, of our P2A special procedures/techniques claims through the grievance process, which may be protracted should arbitration be necessary. We ask for your patience and understanding that we are not in the position to respond to update requests nor provide regular updates as we move through the P2A process. However, please know that we will update members, by profession, when we have meaningful news to share about the progress of P2A claims.
 
When we are successful in adding new procedures/techniques to the P2A profile, members who perform the special procedure/technique and who work in jobs classified as P1 will be entitled to retro pay back to the date the P2A submission was made to the employer (in many cases December 6, 2024). Members who perform P2A work for the majority of their work time will be paid at the P2A rate for all hours worked; members who perform P2A work for less than the majority of their work time will be coded up (for either 4 hours or the entire shift) on days when they perform P2A work.
 
If your job is classified as P1 and you perform work that you believe is a P2A special procedure/technique for less than the majority of your work time, we encourage you to start to keep a personal (not shared with the employer) record of all your work time that should be coded up. These records may be needed to help your union ensure you receive the correct amount of retro pay.

Where can I learn more?
 
There are many resources available on the HSA website, including:

Topic
Health Science Professionals
Type
Bulletins

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